Google announces new accessibility and productivity features at MWC

Image credits: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Google today announced a new feature set for mobile phones, cars, and wearables at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. These features include composing messages with Gemini, captioning AI-generated images, summarizing text with AI for Android Auto, accessing passes on Wear OS, and more.

The company’s Gemini implementation for image generation has faced a lot of criticism. But that doesn’t stop Google from deploying it in other contexts. The company announced that starting this week, it will add in-app access to Gemini to Google Messages. This feature is currently in beta and only supports English.

Google is also rolling out features for Android Auto that read summaries of long text messages and explain the status of group chats. The feature, first announced last month, also provides quick suggestions for replies.

The search giant will also launch several accessibility-related features at MWC. First, the company’s Lookout app, which helps visually impaired people work with things like food labels and documents, will now generate AI-powered captions for images with missing or inaccurate captions or alternative text. Become. This feature currently supports English and is being rolled out to all users worldwide. Last year, Google updated his Lookout app with his AI-powered assistant, allowing users to ask questions about images.

Google is also rolling out improved screen reader support for Lenses in Maps. When users point their phone’s camera at their surroundings, TalkBack reads out information about locations and signs.

On the productivity front, Google is extending support for handwritten notes to documents on your Android smartphone or tablet using just your finger or stylus. You can choose different pen styles and colors to highlight specific points in your document.

Additionally, the company will launch support for Spotify through the output switcher on the Android home screen. This means you can resume listening to songs and podcasts from one source to another using Spotify. Previously, this feature only supported YouTube Music.

Google is also updating the Fitbit app to pull data from a variety of sources, including AllTrails, Oura Ring, and MyFitnessPal. The company redesigned the app last year with a new three-tab layout.[今日]The tabs display data such as exercise, steps taken, calories burned, floors climbed, and more. The “You” tab also shows data from various apps along with Fitbit’s own data.

There are also several Wear OS-related updates as part of this announcement. You can now access your Google Wallet passes, including boarding passes, event tickets, gym memberships, loyalty cards, and more, right from your watch. Additionally, you can use your voice to get transportation directions. Additionally, you have the option to mirror directions from your phone or get compass-guided navigation directions.