TECH

Microsoft Launches “Visual Search” Tool For Your Phone To Challenge Google Lens

Better late than never; Microsoft has launched its Visual Search tool for smartphones. Integrated into Bing and Edge, the search tool is touted to bring “intelligent visual search capabilities” to your mobile phone.
Users will now be able to search for information from snapped photos of objects and locations. The Visual Search will fetch you information from photos of buildings, clothes, plants, etc.
Microsoft’s Visual Search tool is based on Bing’s Intelligent Search functions which make use of artificial intelligence for sourcing information from several online sources to come up with precise results.
The tool can be accessed from Microsoft Launcher for Android devices, Bing search engine app for iOS, and Edge browser app for iOS and Android.

Designed on the lines of the Google Lens, which launched last year, the tool, however, is not as efficient. It cannot detect Barcodes and QR codes on its own. You need to click on a button to scan barcodes which is not handy for a visual search tool. Moreover, Google Lens also allows users to scan and copy text from images with the help of OCR technology.

Microsoft is not only competing with Google in visual search domain; Samsung’s Bixby Vision is also a strong competitor which is pretty accurate and shows search results within seconds.

Plenty of work has to be done to make it convenient and to rise above the competitors, but indeed, it is not bad for a start. What is your opinion on Microsoft’s Visual Search Tool? Share your views.



Amnol Sachdeva