Joe Mark / Android Authority
In Google I/O 2024, Google introduced the world to “asking photos”. It was a new Gemini -driven search experience for Google Photos that would enable you to use natural language to easily find pictures in your library. The pitch looked very good and like AI’s legitimate use.
Unfortunately, ask the implementation of the photo. I’ve been using images that have been asking for the past several months, and in almost every scenario, this has been significantly worse than the old search experience. Between slow load times and really uncertain UI, ask photos have frustrated the search for things in Google Photos.
Ask for new
Joe Mark / Android Authority
Old Ask Photo (left) and Ask new photos
Earlier, Google Photo Search experience was primarily divided into two versions. If you have used images you ask, you will find an answer to your search or question which will have a handful of pictures in a strange, horizontally scrubball list. See more results in the vertical list. You can tap the “View More” button below, or use the “Classic Search” in the upper part of the page to perform the same search using Google Photo’s standard search tool.
The initial results in this horizontal list were often very limited, while the “see more” option showed a long list of additional images in a random order with no organization. The classic search still worked well, but there was no way to change it, such as changing it as a default option on space photos, which would make it more complicated than access.
Ask the oldAsk the oldAsk the old
With this new version of the inquiry, Google has essentially taken the old version of this feature and mixed it with a classic Google Photo Search to create another intuitive search experience.
Old Ask Photo Screenshots above, a Gemini written response and a horizontal list of about a dozen images below it. Taping “More” shows extra pictures of my dog, but they are in a random order that I have no control over it. If I want a systematic list of results, I have to tap “Use the Classic Search”, which takes me to a separate page to see my pictures like this.
Ask new photosAsk new photosAsk new photos
In comparison, ask for new photos, the top of the screen highlights the “best match” images, with the same gymnasium answer below. You can tap TAP to watch more of these “Best Match” photos, or start scrolling to see the reverse historical list of images you get from the search term – just just as the classic search did. There is also a checkmark button to select all the pictures from a particular date, as well as a drop -down arrow that shows other pictures from that day.
Now, instead of placing two separate pages of the search results, new asking images show both the Gemini AI’s results and the classic search results on the same page. It’s so clean and much easier.
Although this is the biggest and best change, there are also other opportunities I love.
Joe Mark / Android Authority
When you look for something in the new asking images, it initially shows that the historical list of pictures reverses and then shows the best results of the match and the “written response” loading bar before spitting the AI summary. If you do not care about these things, you can tap the stop button with “writing” responds to keeping the gym equipment away from your search results. In addition, easy search questions (such as finding a person or pet name) do not come with AI-Writined summary.
And if you want to go one step further, you can completely disable Gemini by appearing in your search. To do this, tap Your profile icon Top right and then Image settings ..> Preference ..> Features in Gemini Photos.
Do you prefer new or old asking photos?
7 votes
This is what the photos should always have been
Joe Mark / Android Authority
Now after spending one day with this new version of the photo, I am seriously impressed how well it works and is so confused that Google has not sent the first place.
While old -fashioned images felt like a bad experience that only worsened the search in Google Photo, this better version feels like a legitimate upgrade not only on older asking images but also about the classic search.
I am seriously impressed by the new asking photos.
Now, is it perfect? I am not sure I will go to this far away. Loading time can sometimes be a bit slower than my choice, and some recommended search questions (ie, “write a poem about me” are just stupid. But compared to what we had before, it is undoubtedly better.
Google says new asking images are “starting for more capable users in the United States”, so it can be a bit before staying straight on your phone. But I hope you get it soon, because it has taken one of the worst aspects of modern Google photo and made it the best.
