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Google Goggles comes into iPhone focus

The Google Goggles visual search feature has now made its way into the Google Mobile App for iPhone.

Jessica Dolcourt Senior Director, Commerce & Content Operations
Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).
Expertise Content strategy, team leadership, audience engagement, iPhone, Samsung, Android, iOS, tips and FAQs.
Jessica Dolcourt
2 min read

Google Goggles on iPhone
Google Goggles is now part of Google Mobile App for iPhone. Google

It's been almost a year since Google released a beta of its Goggles visual search app for Android phones, and now it's time for a new milestone in the product's life cycle: Google Goggles for iPhone. Google Goggles (spell that 10 times fast) creates a visual search out of what the smartphone's camera sees through its lens. In other words, the app will scan your image when you focus on a landmark, a sign, a label, and so on, and search for matches in its database. Google refers to the Goggles search method as "computer vision."

We found Goggles to be hit or miss when we tested it on Android, and Google is quick to point out the feature's roadblocks. The company has wisely kept Google Goggles a Labs product, the experimental nature of which insulates it somewhat from external scrutiny. Goggles works better with product logos, the covers of books, DVDs, and games, and famous landmarks, says Google. It falters (or fails) with flora, fauna, and food. In our testing experience, Google's caveats have always held true.

Though for the most part we've rarely reached for Goggles as a reference tool, it has come in handy more than once while trying to identify a label on a foreign adult beverage.

Google Goggles for iPhone isn't a separate app; instead it's built into the Google Mobile App for iPhone. The update will begin rolling out today, but it hadn't hit our App Store at the time of writing--stay tuned. Goggles supports English on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, both running iOS 4. See our real-world test of Google Goggles when it initially launched, below.

A real-world test of Google Goggles visual search (photos)

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