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Google PhotoScan, the app for scanning older photos to save digitally, has a new update rolling out that brings several improvements.  The new build is version 1.5 for those keeping score at home and is rolling out into the Play Store today.

The first change that users of PhotoScan will likely appreciate the most is the automatic saving of scanned photos to your Google Photos account.  Previously, when you scanned a photo, it was saved to its own library on your phone and you had to then manually sync that library with Photos.  Now when you scan a photo, it is automatically saved to your Google Photos library, eliminating the manual step.

Google Assistant is finally coming to tablets.  The news came from Google today in an announcement that also indicated that the personalized assistant will be coming to phones running Android Lollipop (version 5.x).  To this point, Google Assistant has only been available on phones and only on devices running Android Oreo (v8.x), Android Nougat (v7.x) and Android Marshmallow (v6.x).

The first step in getting Assistant to tablets will be an update on the cloud side from Google and then, likely, an update to Google Play Services.  Once the update rolls out, users will be able to long press the Home button/icon on their phone to active Assistant just as they do on their phone.  It is likely just a matter of users doing the long press of Home until they see the Assistant opt-in page pop up.  It should also be noted that this addition of Assistant to tablets will only be for US English devices.  If you have your tablet set to another language, even an English variant, you will not be getting updated.

Google+ has a new update rolling out for the community network on both Android and iOS.  The update brings a new advanced search function to the apps, much like the search functionality of Google Search itself.  In this new update, you will be able to use search operators to do specific searches within Google+

Google has already built a guide for these new search functions on the support site which will outline in detail how they can be used.  Some of these new functions include:

• From:  To identify a post from a G+ users
• Has:  Has an attachment such as an image or Google Doc file
• Before:  Before a specific date
• After:  After a specific date
• Commenter:  Search for a specific commenter on a specific post

As you can see, you can get quite specific in your searching to pinpoint a specific post or person.

Google Lens began a general rollout less than a month ago and at the time I said it felt futuristic and had a huge amount of potential.  Indeed, looking back on 2017, I thing that Lens could be one of the most significant product releases by Google for the year – or will prove to be in the coming 12 months.

Google’s Rajan Patel, the lead engineer for Google Lens, took to Twitter yesterday and highlighted some of the areas in which we are going to see Lens improve and grow in the coming months.

Shopping (apparel, home goods, etc) in the works. Natural world (flora and fauna) improvements coming. Team just sent me an amazing new OCR model. Experimental AR experiences coming as well…

— Rajan Patel (@rajanpatel) December 9, 2017

Before readers get too excited, it should be noted that Mr. Patel gave no indication on when we will see these new features and functionalities within Lens.  That said, it is exciting to read that Google is thinking about where to take the app & service next.  Truly exciting stuff!