Google keeps updating Gemini with new features, and today we have a couple of Gemini-related news. First, a feature addition that will save you some time whenever you need Gemini to tell you something about an image.
That’s because with the newest version of the Gemini app for Android, you can now share an image directly to Gemini, by using the Android share sheet. You can then immediately ask it questions about the image you just sent it.
So if you don’t want to tap the Ask about this screen option to have a screenshot taken and sent to Gemini, or manually attach an image in the conversation screen with Gemini Live (which recently went live for everyone), this is another way to go about things, and one that doesn’t require that you download an image first, and also won’t clutter up your screenshots folder.
Next up, Gemini Nano, the on-device model, is now available for third-party developers to tap into. Nano is only running on a very small number of Android devices so far (mainly the Pixel 9 series and Galaxy S24 family), but it stands to reason that it will see a massive expansion in the coming months. Nano runs entirely on-device, so it’s fast and private.
Developers can experiment with Gemini Nano by using a tool called the Google AI Edge SDK. Currently, developers in question need to have a Pixel 9, but support for more devices will be added soon.
This opens the floodgates for Gemini Nano integration into third party apps, though at the moment only text-to-text prompts are allowed by Google. More ways of interacting (with images, for example) will be coming in the future.
