If you watched Samsung’s major keynotes for the year, as well as Google’s Pixel launch event not too long ago, you’ll notice that there’s been a whole of talk about Circle to Search. Google is clearly very proud of it as a pretty significant improvement to the search experience on mobile.
Up until now, Google and Samsung have had an exclusive little club as the only two manufacturers to have phones with this feature. However, this exclusivity looks set to end sometime soon, as it seems a phone from an unlikely manufacturer might be the third in line. Also, is the feature even worth all the hype? We’ll talk about that.
Tecno’s Phantom V Fold 2 Could Be The First Device From Another Manufacturer To Support Circle To Search
Just yesterday, we talked about the latest foldables from Tecno, a Chinese manufacturer that markets primarily towards developing markets, most particularly Africa. They made the clamshell Phantom V Flip 2 and the bigger Phantom V Fold 2 official, and both are pretty excellent foldables, especially the latter which undercuts similar-sized foldables by quite a lot.
Speaking of the Phantom V Fold 2, it seems that Tecno has actually informed some reviewers of the device that Circle to Search will be available on the device from next month. It’s yet to happen, but there’s no reason to doubt it considering it comes from official sources.
If it pans out, it’ll mean that the search feature would have finally broken out of its exclusivity. This could mean other companies finally throwing Circle to Search our way. Google did say that it wants to bring the feature to 200 million devices by the end of 2024, and it’ll definitely need the help of other OEMs to get there. We can expect a lot of updates from other manufacturers to enable Circle to Search before the year ends.
The Question: Is Circle To Search Even Worth All Of This Hype?
I’m fortunate to be using a new Samsung device that was equally fortunate enough to get One UI 6.1, so with that, I also got Circle to Search. If you’re on a OnePlus, Honor, Motorola, etc., you simply haven’t had the chance to use this feature yet and you might be wondering if it is really worth all the hype. I’ve used it quite a bit and I’ll give you my opinion.
The most useful aspect of Circle to Search is identifying an object. You see a car on the street in a video, an item of clothing on a celebrity, or a product that you just have to get your hands on? Circle to Search is probably the easiest way to know exactly what it is. Plus, if it something that retails everywhere, you’ll even get links with the price.
However, Circle to Search is hardly a one-trick pony. It can listen to the music playing around you like Google Assistant can, but it can also listen to the music playing from your phone which is something Google Assistant can’t. You can also use it to translate text and even solve math problems.
Of all of these, I’ve used it to identify songs and I’ve also used it to figure out products that I’ve added to my wishlist. However, it is not a feature that I use every single day, though I certainly use it every week, and where I do use it, it’s a lifesaver. I’m sure there are people who use it more than I do, but if you ask me, Circle to Search is as good as they make it out to be.