5 new features you can take advantage of in GBoard with Google Lens
Table of contents:
- Google Lens integrates with the Google keyboard
- Send text to keyboard
- Search information from the keyboard
- Scan and search products to buy online
- Share information and reviews about a book
Google Lens is one of the essential apps that cannot be missing from your mobile. Using the mobile camera and the rest of the Google apps, it can give you information on almost anything.
And now you will have all its functions available from the Google keyboard. Thanks to its latest update, Google Lens is integrated into Gboard.
Google Lens integrates with the Google keyboard
You won't see this option with the naked eye, since Google Lens is added to the hidden Gboard menu. So you will need to select the three dots menu to use Lens, as you see in the image:
Remember that this menu can be customized, so you can move the items to the position you want. You can drag and drop the Lens icon to the first row to make it easier for you to access its features.
Another thing to note is that while Lens is available on the keyboard for most apps, you won't find them when you do a Google search.
What are the advantages of having Lens on the keyboard? You can count on a series of interesting functions without depending on your app, as we show you below.
Send text to keyboard
One of the novelties that this Lens integration brings to Gboard is that you can copy text from anywhere and send it to the keyboard.
To do this, you just have to use the new option “Send to keyboard”, as you can see in the image:
So you can be chatting with your friends on WhatsApp and use Lens to copy text from a poster, note or book and send it directly to the chat. That will save you typing the text or independently opening Lens to do this whole process.
Let's review the steps to perform:
- Choose Lens from the keyboard
- You point the camera at the text you want to copy
- Select the words or fragment you want to send to the keyboard
- And as the last step select “Send to keyboard
Search information from the keyboard
Another possibility that is added with Lens is that we can carry out any type of search on our environment without leaving the keyboard.
If you want to tell your chat friends that there's a bird in the window, but you don't know its name, you can easily fix it with Lens. Without leaving the chat, look for Lens and choose the magnifying glass option so that it takes what it sees on the camera and begins the search.
And you can do this dynamic with images, text, animals, flowers, posters, etc. When you have the information, you go back to the keyboard and continue with your conversation.
Scan and search products to buy online
If you are one of those who go to the supermarket or shopping and need the opinion of friends to buy, it will be useful to use one of the functions of Lens: scan codes bar.
Without leaving the chat, select Lens from the keyboard menu and choose the shopping icon. This option will allow you to scan the barcode of the product. It will show you the product with results from the web, so you can send it to your friends to check all the details before giving you approval.
And if you find an object (furniture, clothing, decorations, etc) that you would like to buy online, just point the camera Lens so that it detects the itemand show you results from the web.
Share information and reviews about a book
Another function that you can take advantage of when chatting with your friends is the one that allows you to obtain information and book reviews.
If you want to suggest new reading to your friends, or have seen a book that you find interesting you can get more information by pointing Lens's camera.
Following the same steps as above, choose Lens from the Gboard menu and choose the magnifying glass option. Point the camera at the book title and you'll see all the information you need… summary, reviews, where to buy it online, similar books, etc.
