If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone in your pocket but didn’t pay top dollar, we don’t blame you. The tech giant’s Most Expensive Phones go all the way up to the £1,799 Galaxy Z Fold 6, and while that price doesn’t guarantee they’re the best phones, it usually means they get the latest features and software updates.
Fortunately, Samsung knows a thing or two about taking care of its customers and is bringing a very handy software feature to its popular mid-range Galaxy A series Android phones. Called Circle to Search, it was released in January on the Galaxy S24 series, but has since appeared on other phones like the Google Pixel 8.
“This improvement highlights Samsung and Google’s continued dedication to providing the best mobile technology to as many users as possible,” Samsung said in a press release.
“Circle to Search is constantly evolving to improve its usability and intuitiveness, including full-page translation, homework help, and QR and barcode scanning features.”
Circle to Search is a feature developed by Google that allows you to freeze an image on your screen and then circle the image or text you want to search for. Then it will quickly (when you have a signal or Wi-Fi connection) do a Google search and give you the results.
You can summon Circle to search by pressing and holding Android’s home button or the gesture navigation bar, depending on whether you’re using Android’s three buttons or gesture control. It’s very intuitive to circle someone’s face to remind them which famous person it is, but it’s also worked in product testing.
If you see a pair of running shoes in an Instagram post, you can quickly figure out what model they are, and since this is Google, you’ll probably find a way to buy them there in the search results.
But since this all works from images, you’re not limited to specific apps. You can search at any time, with anything on your screen, so it’s in any app, any web page, and any photo. You can even hold your Galaxy camera’s viewfinder up against, say, a monument while you’re on vacation and hold the home button to freeze, then rotate to find what it is.
In our experience, it works well and is a great example of smartphone AI that’s really useful. Samsung announced that it will release the Circle to Search software update for the following Galaxy phones:
- Galaxy A55
- Galaxy A54
- Galaxy A35
- Galaxy A34
The company is also adding the feature to the Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Tab S9 FE+ update, the latter of which we reviewed last year and thoroughly recommend. It’s a mid-range version of Samsung’s pricier S9 range of tablets, but it’s more than powerful enough for most people, and unlike any iPad, it comes with a stylus for drawing and note-taking.
