Google Goggles
By Leslie Crenna,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Effective visual web search through your Android device.
A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this app.
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Google Goggles
Community Reviews
Based on 1 parent review
Not helpful whatsoever
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What’s It About?
Camera mode allows users to take individual pictures (or select from device gallery), while continuous mode scans constantly picking up distinct images when it identifies them. These images are saved to history, and a simple tap performs a full Google web search with the normal menu items: web, images, places, news, maps, videos. Images can also be cloud shared. While the app supports text-to-speech accessibility, only navigation is spoken, not the content of results.
Is It Any Good?
Google Goggles is strong with items like logos, UPC codes, book titles, landmarks, maps, business cards, and products in general -- basically easily recognizable stuff with a strong web presence -- but it's not all-encompassing quite yet, since general views, products or companies with a smaller web presence, landscapes, animals, food, and plants bring up images with a similar graphic composition but not necessarily a direct connection. Some really useful applications are product (and price) research while shopping, scanning in contact info from business cards, and nearly hands-free searching -- for landmarks while on a family road trip, for example.
While it's quite easy to use, and the Tips & Tricks page gives a simple, icon-driven list of "app-effective" items, the app lacks any kind of general orientation or explanation of what it does. Of course, users can find a video online at the Google Mobile page, and after a few tries, it'll be obvious to most users. The translation feature integrates Google's superb web-based translation website, but the app seems to struggle with categorizing text as text, so the translate button does not come up every time text is scanned.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Start an open dialogue with your teen that emphasizes web safety and privacy.
Read Safe Online Searching and Teach Your Kids the Secrets of Smart Web Searching.
Conduct searches together and get excited about the fantastic resources you find.
App Details
- Device: Android
- Subjects: Social Studies: exploration, Arts: painting, photography, sculpture
- Skills: Communication: asking questions, conveying messages effectively, Tech Skills: evaluating media messages, using and applying technology, Self-Direction: initiative
- Pricing structure: Free
- Release date: August 22, 2012
- Category: Productivity
- Publisher: Google
- Version: 1.9
- Minimum software requirements: Android 2.2 and up
- Last updated: July 13, 2020
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