On 7^th December 2009, Google has unveiled its new Google Goggles visual search tool for Android 1.6 or later mobile devices. It is bringing a high-tech mobile search feature for everyone to access information on the go. There is no need to type or speak any words, you just need to open the application, snap a picture and wait for the search results.

Search for Product

Google Goggles uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to recognize the text, logo and labels to aid for the search, So Google Goggles is possible to let you search from your mobile phone by simply snapping a photo of an object. When it ran through Google Goggles, the result would show about the brief information of the object.

Search for Landmark

Beside the OCR technology, the seamless integration of GPS and compass functionality assist Google Goggles to deliver live augmented-reality results. When a picture is taken, Google Goggles breaks the picture down into object-based signatures, then compares those signatures against every item in the image database. The results will be shown and ordered by the ranking after a short while. For example, you can snap the photos of a books, DVD, landmarks, logos, contact information, artwork, businesses, products or even the bar codes.

Normally, the search results page will show the Web Results, text matches, similar images, other matches and suggested results. If you are taking a picture of a business card, you will get links to search for the person, email or call them directly, visit their company URL or add them as a contact on your phone. If you snap a barcode, it will provide a link to Google product search so you can quickly compare the prices globally.

According to the news, Google does not charge the users to access Google products from a mobile phone, but it depends on users’ service plan and their could be charged by their mobile provider for text message or data network usage.

Information via google.