Microsoft has just released its Visual Search tool for smartphones. Built into Bing and Edge, the search tool is designed to bring “visual search capabilities” to your mobile.
Users will now be able to search for information from photos they have taken of objects and locations. Visual Search will bring up information from photos of buildings, clothes, plants, etc.
Microsoft's visual search tool is based on Bing's Intelligent Search features, which use artificial intelligence to provide information from various sources on the web to present accurate results.
The tool can be used by Microsoft Launcher for Android devices, the Bing search engine app for iOS, and the Edge browser app for iOS and Android.
Designed along the lines of Google Lens, which launched last year, this tool isn't quite as effective. It can't detect Barcodes and QR codes on its own. You have to click a button to scan barcodes, which isn't very convenient for a visual search tool. Additionally, Google Lens also allows users to scan and copy text from images with the help of OCR technology.
Microsoft isn't the only one competing with Google in the visual search space. Samsung's Bixby Vision is also a strong competitor, being quite accurate and displaying search results within seconds.
A lot of work needs to be done to make it effective and surpass its competitors, but it's not a bad tool to start with.
