Google Goggles/App, Search, Augmented Reality, Free
Google , US, 2009
“This Guy!”

Google’s on a roll this week, adding massive new features to Google Analytics, a pile of new Labs features to Maps for mobile devices, announcing that they’re moving one step closer to Star Trek translator devices in the next year, and this two-fer: launching real-time web search along with an Android visual search app, Google Goggles. “Visual search” means pretty much what you’d think it means: you take pictures of stuff with your camera and Google searches for matches.

You may be somewhat familiar with the concept from SnapTell/Amazon apps, but Google Goggles isn’t about taking pictures of products and getting shopping results. I mean, it is, but that’s not even close to all of what’s it about. No, Google Goggles is an app that, eventually, intends to search Google for just about everything, using your phone’s camera.

Does it work all the time? No, of course not. But it’s pretty freaking good, and it’s only been out for a day. C’mon. It’s search. It’s Google.

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So right off the bat, I can’t do anything but run Google Goggles through the same pieces of art I subjected PlinkArt to the other day.

Google Goggles Test 1: Kandinsky

Google Goggles missed it, only…not really. The books it found have the painting on their covers…

…and there at the bottom is the link you need.

Voilà!

I gave it three stars. The Kandinsky stuff should be at the top.

Google Goggles Test 2: Rothko

Ruh-ro…

However, I tried another Rothko…

That’s better. Must be all that red in the first one. To be fair, I reinstalled PlinkArt and tested it and it also found this Rothko painting. And then look at the rest of the results:

The poor PlinkArt review stands. Poor, poor PlinkArt.

Google Goggles Test 3: Grosz

Google Goggles Test 4: Kollwitz

Same deal as the Kandinsky – books with the image on the cover came up first. Another three-star rating, but still…matched the image and the artist.

Google Goggles Test 5: Pollack

Piece of cake.

So Google Goggles wins any art identification competition handily.

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Of course, Google Goggles does a lot more than identify art.

For one thing, you can uninstall all your barcode apps. Scanning’s a lot easier when you don’t even have to hold the phone steady while it scans, you just take a picture and the software does the rest.

And Google Goggles does…

…and it does…

…and it does…

…and it also does…

…and it does…

…and a whole lot more.

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Google Goggles is also supposed to identify businesses, signage, and landmarks, but I haven’t given that much of a try. However, if you’re standing right in front of said business, Google Goggles has another trick up its sleeve: an augmented reality layer, much like Layar or Wikitude’s. The AR data only comes up when the camera’s in landscape mode.

Pressing on the tabs launches search results, naturally.

Yep, Chuck’s is right there in front of our house.

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Google Goggles also provides a search history you can turn on and off. It’s a little glitchy – if you build up too long a history, it hiccups and starts repeating images instead of completing your history. This just requires exiting and restarting the history, but it’s still a pain. Please fix the history, Google.

Every search doesn’t work, obviously – and Google provides photo tips with the app (along with a tutorial video) – but Google Goggles is off to such an amazing start, and is already an immediate replacement for a whole slew of apps, from ShopSavvy to iXMat Scanner to…well, PlinkArt. Even with a few glitches, Google Goggles easily qualifies for a This Guy!, our highest honor.

Not available on iPhones, thus far, just like Google Voice and Sky Maps and so on and so on and so on…

EDIT: Google says they’ll try putting Goggles on iPhones and maybe Apple won’t ban the app and then lie to the FCC about it, this time. And this is because Google is the evil company, of the two.

Free

^RNL