The explosion in popularity of the Internet has been accompanied by the creation of some of the most powerful search engines in the world. In Europe, and in a large part of Western countries, the obvious dominator is Google, which has a market share that borders on a monopoly, even if there are other alternatives. This has been transferred to mobile phones, with the agreement with Apple and the integration into Android.
In recent years we have seen that more and more young people are searching directly on applications such as TikTok, Instagram or YouTube, but the hegemony of the Google search engine remains overwhelming. This could start to change with new applications and services based on artificial intelligence.
[Apple estaría probando hasta cuatro modelos de IA para preparar su revolución para Siri]
The arrival of ChatGPT was an alarm for Googlewho had to react quickly with their own AI systems, with the launch of Bard and with a marketing campaign that emphasizes that it was they, with their great language models, who made all this technology possible at this time. era.
AI on mobile
But if the popularization of applications and services with AI was fast on computers and laptops, it won’t be any less fast on smartphones. Google knows this and already with the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro it boasted of being able to perform actions that, until a few years ago, would have seemed magical. Another brand that has clearly opted for this route is Samsung, with its Samsung Galaxy S24. The S24 Ultra, its flagship model, has already been the subject of analysis, and the most notable has been its software.
[He probado la inteligencia artificial de los Samsung Galaxy S24: va a cambiar la forma en la que usas el móvil]
The debate is now open whether these software features will all be free forever or if a certain type of payment will be established at the end of 2025, until which time the company has confirmed that all these functions can be used without paying. What is curious is that AI functions developed by Samsung coexist within the S24, as well as others developed by Google, which is also studying payment functions.
Circle to Search feature on Pixel 8 Pro
Free Android
Those of Samsung are those related to translation and transcription, which allow for example to record a conversation, transcribe it, translate it and summarize it. And even use a real-time translator with a phone call. Google’s are based on Gemini, its latest language model, and include the one that was one of the least flashy, but one of the most useful, Circle To Search.
What is Circle To Search
The Google search engine was born as a place where you had to type to search, but An image search function was included many years ago. In this interface you can upload a photo and see if it’s already hosted elsewhere, provide information about what appears, etc.
Circle To Search on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Now this feature has been taken to a new level with a function called Circle To Search which allows you to select any item on the screen and perform a search. To do this, simply click the Home button, or the gesture bar if you use this form of navigation, then circle the item you want to search for. The results will appear without having to open any applications.
What Circle To Search can do
The obvious use of such a function is to identify something we don’t know about, but there are more options. For example, you can select a piece of clothing on a model, or on a person who appears in a video or photo, and It will be suggested where to buy it, with the price and a link directly to several websites where this product is located. You can even ask research-related questionsin the text box that appears.
Furthermore, you can do the same thing with a word the meaning of which is not known. Simply circle and search, and the system will return a definition, along with a link to Wikipedia and, if available, images or maps. The same thing happens with iconic buildings and monumentssomething that usually appears in series or videos, and with this function you can quickly locate it. Also valid for shops and restaurantssince the system will display a file directly from Google Maps, without having to open this application, search the site, type, etc.
The special one The limit, at least for now, is to search for people. Sometimes with historical figures the results are as expected, but with other people, even if they are influencers o youtuber, The system will indicate that it is not displaying results. This appears to be a conscious decision on Google’s part rather than a bug in the functionality.
An alternative
This function It is available on the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro as well as the three Samsung Galaxy S24s. At the moment it cannot be used on other phones, but There is a way to simulate the experienceusing an application generally pre-installed on smartphones, Google Lens.
To perform a search you need to take a screenshot then open the app. When you are in the interface, you must select this capture from the gallery area that appears at the bottom and the system will scan the image. Additionally, it will distinguish between texts, elements and you can select what you prefer.
Google Lens in a Samsung
You can also add a query to the search, and various results will appear in which you can read the answer. This is a slightly longer and more complex way to use this feature, but just as powerful. Additionally, Lens also enables other functions, such as translating texts, solving complex mathematical formulas, etc.
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