Mountain View, California — The days of Sudoku could be on the brink, thanks to Google. The puzzle that shook the world by storm with its simple grid of digits and empty boxes can now be solved instantly by any mobile phone — no matter what the level of difficulty. Google Goggles, the smartphone app designed by Google Inc., got a major upgrade on Monday, is apparently powerful enough to recognize barcodes and adverts — and beat a Sudoku champ at her own game.
Google Goggles is a pretty impressive app, the application that lets users point their phone’s camera at a variety of things and get search results by taking a picture. This can be quite handy if you can not think of how to describe something in words, like a building, a magazine ad, or even a Sodoku puzzle.
The latest version 1.3, announced Monday for Android, featuring instant barcode scanning and print ad recognition, is faster and smarter, according to Google. It can scan barcodes “almost instantly,” the company says. And as an added bonus, Goggles 1.3 can also help you cheat on Sudoku.
“Open Goggles and hover over the barcode or QR code,” says a blog post from a couple of Google software engineers. “Within a second the phone gently vibrates and presents results, without requiring a button press. Simply tap on the result to read product reviews, check in-store availability and compare prices.”
The newest version of Google Goggles for Android got a speed boost for its barcode scanner, enabling it to scan barcodes pretty swiftly. Also, all versions can now recognize ads in reputed magazines and newspapers and Google maintains that you can scan any add appearing after August 2010.
The barcode scanner empowers shoppers to research products offline with a couple of taps. Goggles 1.3 also expands upon a marketing experiment launched in November. The app can now recognize photos of print ads and return search results, rather than just the brand’s mobile website.
To demonstrate the breadth of its new barcode-scanning technology, Google pit Goggles 1.3 against a Sudoku master. A newly updated mobile phone application, uses a phone’s camera to capture a picture of any Sudoku puzzle and then sends it back to Google. The company’s servers crunch the numbers and sends the answered image of the completed puzzle back to the user. Depending on the speed of the phone’s internet connection, the results can be back in seconds.
Google’s new version of its Goggles image recognition app can solve Sudoku puzzles instantly.
“Our favorite weekend distraction is a quiet 15 minutes spent solving a Sudoku puzzle. But even that can be [a] frustrating experience if (like us) you make a mistake and are unable to solve the puzzle,” wrote Google software engineers Leon Palm and Jiayong Zhang in a post on the company’s mobile blog.
“Now, Goggles on Android and iPhone can recognize puzzles and provide answers to help make you faster than a Sudoku champ. So if you ever get stuck, take a clear picture of the entire puzzle with Goggles and we will tell you the correct solution.”
Phil McNeill, the Daily Telegraph’s Puzzles Editor said the move was “a sad day” for puzzle fans. “When you finally solve a real mind-bender, it brings a rush of achievement. I hope Google’s new tool would not diminish that feeling,” he said.
The video also displays what would appear to be a new tagline for Google Goggles — “Solving life’s problems, one puzzle at a time.”
In the video below, a Goggles-equipped Google software engineer competed against reigning Sudoku champ, Tammy McLeod. The phone won.