Google Search for Android recently gained the ability to activate the phone’s (or tablet’s) camera in snapshot mode or video mode (Marketingland). You do this by saying “OK Google” and then either “take a photo” or “take a video”.

This may seem trivial since it is easy to get to the camera even from a locked screen. But, it does have two useful features: If your camera is in snapshot mode, saying “take a video” takes you directly to video recording mode without tapping the screen a couple of times to switch to video recording mode. And, once you leave the video recording mode launched from Google Search, activiting the camera again puts you back in snapshot mode. This, again, saves a couple of finger taps and valuable time when you want to quickly capture a photo.