When Google first introduced Now on Tap a year ago it seemed like a potential game changer for Android devices. Press a button and get more information about just about anything on your screen.
But once the feature rolled out, many people found that it wasn’t all that useful. I’m not the only person that simply turned it off after deciding that it didn’t actually offer me the information I was looking for very often or save me much time.
But Google has been adding new features to Now on Tap that could make it a lot more useful. For example the latest update brings support for translating text on any page, among other things.
If you use the Google Chrome web browser to surf the web from an Android device, it can already translate text automatically. But if you use a different browser or any other app that may occasionally show text in a language you can’t read, now you can long-press the home button on your device and choose the “translate this screen” card.
Translation is initially available for English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian.
Another newish feature is the ability to use your phone’s camera app to identify famous landmarks or other items. Google rolled out this update in June, reviving a feature that was part of the discontinued Google Goggles app.
Now you can also use your camera to scan barcodes or QR codes using Now on Tap. Just scan the code on any item to do a Google search for that product.
Google has also added a new “discover” feature