Today, Microsoft announced new visual search features for Bing, allowing you to search the web using your phone"s camera. All you have to do is tap the camera icon, snap a pic, and Bing will search for similar things.
It"s not just going to search for similar images though. The idea is to allow you to find out more about an item that you"re looking at, such as a landmark or a flower. If you"ve ever been looking at a flower and wanted to know what kind it is, you now have a solution.
"Sometimes, it is almost impossible to describe what you want to search for using words," explained Vince Leung, product lead for Bing Images at Microsoft.
Obviously, it"s not limited to landmarks and flowers. You can use it for clothes, to find out the brand and where you can buy it. It"s meant to be what Microsoft calls intelligent search, or at least a new form of it. Bing is supposed to see the picture, and know what it means and what you"re looking for.
The new visual search feature isn"t just coming to the Bing mobile apps. You"ll also be able to find it in Edge for Android, and the Microsoft Launcher application starting today. Soon, the feature will also be coming to Edge for iOS and Bing.com.