Next in line is a scribble-inspired search feature called “Circle to Search.” This feature saves you the chore of taking screenshots and then launching a search task in another app. All you need to do is circle, tap, or highlight an object on the screen, and relevant search results will pop right inside the app you were using.
All you need to do is long-press the navigation bar at the bottom or the home button, perform the selection gesture (tap, highlight, or draw a circle), and find relevant entries pulled up from Google Search related to it. Circle to Search also ties in the multi-search facility described above and works across a wide range of apps; be it YouTube, social media, messages, and more.
Circle to Search will start rolling out on January 31, but will be exclusive to Google Pixel 8 duo and Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series phones. These phones are leveraging Google’s cloud and generative AI chops, so for now, these features will be device-exclusive. Just like the Pixel 8 Pro, the Galaxy S24 is also capable of running the Gemini Nano language model on-device, speeding up AI-driven tasks, and ensuring personal data never leaves the phone.
As part of the partnership, Google is also extending on-device Magic Compose to Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series phones, alongside the ability to create custom emojis from photos saved in the local gallery. Android Auto will also soon summarize texts and offer shortcuts to ensure users are focused on the road.
