Google Launch New Android Camera by Voice Command

Android's search app understands "take a photo" or "take a video" instructions -- but opening the search app may be just as much trouble as launching the camera app.

An update to Google's search app lets Android users launch their phone's camera, in photo or video mode, with a voice command.

"With the Google Search App on Android, you can just tap the microphone or say 'OK Google,' then 'take a photo' or 'take a video.

Google will launch your camera app in the preferred mode," Google said in a Google+ post on Wednesday night.

I couldn't get it to work with video in my test today on a Nexus 5, but the "take a picture" and "take a photo" commands worked, presenting a choice of installed camera apps to finish the command.

For the command to work, most people will have to first launch the search app, which means pulling up from the bottom of the screen on most phones and swiping left from the home screen on a Google Nexus 5. That's potentially a lot harder than just tapping the camera icon.

But don't consider today's interface to be done. The Touchless Control feature on some Motorola phones is always listening for the words "OK Google," and that approach could spread widely especially as devices like smartwatches and Google Glass spread the idea of voice controls.