The Google Play Movies & TV app for Android devices has added what could prove to be either an incredibly helpful or very annoying little feature which utilises Google’s Knowledge Graph.
Rolling out in the United States right now, the service is trialling through Google’s dedicated entertainment app running on Android 4.0 and above. At any point during the playback of a movie or TV show, purchased from the Google Play Store, viewers will be able to pause the action and a circle will appear on the screen surrounding an actor’s face. Tapping on this circle will bring a pop-up info panel with the actors name, age and place of birth, along with links to other areas in the Google universe.
Movie fans can access Google Search to find out more about the actor/actress, as well as seeing what other media this celeb might appear in that’s available on the Google Play Store. It’ll also bring up a visual filmography with movie posters, release dates and film durations, which come straight from online cinema authority iMDB.
This is very useful for those of us cinephiles who like to dissect the movie viewing experience to the finest detail but the immersiveness could prove distracting from the film itself! As well as naming the actors and placing the faces, Google’s Knowledge Graph also allows us to identify a piece of music from a film’s soundtrack which is actually pretty cool as we always find ourselves asking ‘what’s that song called?’ during a favourite action scene or sombre moment.
Google has made no announcement about a worldwide launch of this update but the Gadget Helpline loves its movies and TV so we’d be interested in expanding our own knowledge graphs!