If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone in your pocket but you didn’t pay top dollar then we don’t blame you. The most expensive phones from the tech giant push right up to the £1,799 Galaxy Z Fold 6, and while that price doesn’t guarantee that they’re the best phones out there, it usually means they get the newest features and software updates.
Thankfully Samsung knows a thing or two about looking after all its customers and is bringing a very handy software feature to its popular mid-range Galaxy A series Android phones. It’s called Circle to Search, and it launched back in January on the Galaxy S24 series, but has since appeared on other phones such as the Google Pixel 8.
“This enhancement underscores Samsung and Google’s continuous dedication to providing the best of mobile technology to as many users as possible,” Samsung said in a press release.
“Circle to Search has continuously evolved to enhance its usability and intuitiveness, including adding full-page translation, homework help, and QR and barcode scanning capabilities.”
Circle to Search is a Google-built feature that allows you to freeze-frame whatever is on your screen, and then circle the image or text you want to search. It then quickly (when you have a signal or Wi-Fi connection) performs a Google search and gives you the results.
You invoke Circle to Search by holding down the Android home button or the gesture navigation bar depending on if you use Android’s three buttons or gestures controls. It’s very intuitive to circle someone’s face to remind you which famous person that is, but it has also worked in our testing on products.
If you see a pair of running shoes in an Instagram post you can quickly find out what model they are, and because this is Google, you’ll probably find a way to buy them right there in the search results.
But because this all works from images you aren’t restricted to certain apps. You can search any time there is anything on your screen, so that’s in any app, on any webpage, and on any photo. You can even hold up your Galaxy’s camera viewfinder to, say, a monument when on holiday and hold the home button to freeze and then circle to search what it is.
In our experience it works well and is a great example of smartphone AI actually being useful. Samsung said it is rolling out Circle to Search in software update to the following Galaxy phones:
- Galaxy A55
- Galaxy A54
- Galaxy A35
- Galaxy A34
The firm is also adding the feature in an update to its Galaxy Tab S9 FE and Tab S9 FE+, the latter of which we reviewed last year and thoroughly recommend. It’s a mid-range version of Samsung’s pricier S9 tablet range but is more than powerful enough for most people, and unlike any iPad comes with a stylus in the box for drawing and note taking.