Google's AI Project Gemini 2.5 Pro: Live Features, Connected Apps, and More Explained
Google's Artificial Intelligence (AI) model, named Gemini, is becoming increasingly prominent across various digital platforms. From news and media to pre-installed apps on top-tier Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices, Gemini serves as a Large Language Model (LLM) at the heart of Android, Chrome, and numerous Google devices.
The specific capabilities of Gemini vary depending on where it's used or how much a user pays for it. For instance, the recently launched Gemini 2.5 Pro is Google’s most sophisticated AI model yet. Equipped with Deep Think and Flash, it offers enhanced performance in deep reasoning and complex tasks.
As of now, Gemini 2.5 Pro is accessible for free on the web and Android and iOS Gemini app users. However, other versions such as Gemini Pro, Nano, Flash, Live, and more may be utilized on different devices, making it challenging to keep track of each one's capabilities.
AtAndroid News, we have extensively covered Gemini AI since its rebranding from "Bard" and aim to help readers understand the ins and outs of Gemini and whether it may be a preferable choice over other AI solutions like ChatGPT—and whether it's worth investing in Gemini Advanced.
How Google's Gemini AI Works
Much like Google Search, Gemini answers questions by drawing from internet sources to provide answers. The key difference lies in its attempt to format conversational responses rather than simply highlighting third-party sources. Google's Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) and its open-source "Transformer" machine-learning model enable Gemini to mimic human responses and restructure information from the internet.
When a Gemini AI Overview appears in Search results, it offers a summary of information from a few high-ranking sources, with obvious links available under the "Show More" button. However, it's essential to note that the AI itself cannot verify the accuracy of these sources. Occasionally, users may receive incorrect responses based on satirical websites or misinformation from Reddit comments.
Caution is vital when relying on Gemini's answers, as the AI is capable of "hallucinating" inaccurate information. Google implements restrictions on sensitive political queries to minimize the amplification of misinformation. Yet, there have been instances where Gemini spouts nonsensical responses, and it's crucial to verify sources when possible.
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Despite its ability to fabricate information, Gemini offers a web version that focuses on straightforward queries. On Android and iOS devices, the Gemini app functions as a digital assistant, generating text and images, and performing actions within other Google apps such as Maps and Drive. Google has recently ended Gemini support on the Google app for iOS and encourages users to access it via the Gemini app instead.
The mobile Gemini app offers Gemini Live, enabling natural conversations with the AI without requiring wake words and retaining past questions and context for addressing future questions.
Gemini is designed to be multimodal, capable of interpreting words, images, and video, as well as producing multimedia. Certain versions like Gemini Advanced can perform additional tasks, such as generating code, analyzing, and summarizing reference materials, and solving complex math problems.
Depending on the version, users receive varying quantities of "tokens," which determine the data the AI can process at a given time. Versions like Gemini Nano or Flash have fewer tokens than others, but are designed for quicker, on-device applications.
The Origin of the Name "Gemini"
Originally called "Bard," Google renamed the AI "Gemini" due to an evocation of Shakespeare and a primary focus on LLM- and GenAI-focused aspects of AI. The term Gemini has Latin origins, meaning "twins," and is associated with a famous Zodiac constellation containing two stars. Additionally, it bears historical connections to NASA's original moonshot program, before the Apollo missions, with Gemini spacecraft having enough space for two astronauts.
According to a Google blog post, the Gemini AI name was inspired by the collaboration of two Google departments (DeepMind and the Google Research Brain team) and the monumental effort of training LLMs, which resembled the spirit of launching rockets. Aside from the marketing appeal, the name Gemini is less restrictive since the AI is not just a generative AI, but also capable of performing numerous tasks.
Google Gemini Versions and Spin-Offs
We will briefly discuss several essential Google Gemini versions to provide better clarity on the diverse options available:
- Gemini 2.5 Flash: Designed for efficiency, speed, and lower costs, Gemini 2.5 Flash offers improved reasoning, multimodality, code, and long context performance at even greater efficiency.
- Gemini 2.5 Pro: This top-performing model leads the way in academia and real-world benchmarks such as LMArena, recently incorporating a Deep Research mode following the I/O conference in May 2025. It features support for file uploads, extensions, and Canvas.
- Gemini Nano: Optimized for on-device smartphone applications, it works using a neural processing unit (NPU) without requiring a network connection. It's designed for background and edge tasks in Android apps, originally restricted to Google and Samsung apps but now accessible for all Android apps via the AI Edge SDK. Its primary functions include transcribing conversations, summarizing information, and analyzing images for information.
- Gemini 2.0 Flash: Known for speed, it might not be as in-depth as Gemini 2.5 Pro. However, the experimental Gemini 2.0 Flash actually outperforms the 1.5 Pro in various benchmarks, such as coding, math, reasoning, and following instructions. It currently outputs only text responses, with plans to soon generate images or video. It supports 10 requests per minute or 1,500 per day. Variants like Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental can handle complex math problems and scientific questions.
- Gemini Live: This conversational AI is likely what you've seen in Google's recent commercials. It offers a voice-first version of the chatbot on both Android and iOS, featuring multiple languages and voices. It retains past questions within a specific conversation.
- Gems: Gemini Advanced allows users to create a customized version of Gemini, often referred to as a "Gem." By setting parameters like "you're my running coach, give me a daily running plan and be positive, upbeat, and motivating," users can speak to a "Gem" with the designated tone and underlying goal. There are pre-made Gems to serve as examples and experimental Gems like a chess champion, brainstormer, or coding partner.
- Gemma: Google's open AI spin-off of Gemini offers developers the ability to build their own AI projects. Different Gemma builds share technical and infrastructure components with Gemini but are specialized, such as CodeGemma for coders and RecurrentGemma for researchers. Gemma 2 offers general smarts upgrades with 9-billion and 27-billion variants, all available through Google AI Studio.
- Vertix AI: This enterprise AI development platform encompasses various Gemini versions, as well as over 160 other open-source AI platforms such as Gemma and Llama. It is the most extensive option but is only worthwhile for businesses.
- Imagen: Announced at Google I/O 2024, Imagen 3 offers text-to-image generation, capable of producing photorealistic art based on text prompts. Imagen 4 was unveiled at I/O 2025.
- Veo: This text-to-video model generates high-quality, 1080p resolution videos that can exceed a minute in length, spanning various cinematic and visual styles. It will soon be available on the VideoFX tool and YouTube Shorts and is built upon several AI models, including Gemini. Veo 3 recently added audio generation.
- Lyria: Based on generative AI, Lyria produces a continuous stream of music controlled by user actions. Lyria 2 powers Music AI Sandbox.
- Project Astra: This multimodal AI, built upon Gemini 1.5 Pro, focuses on answering contextual questions based on visual data. Google recently announced Android XR, a software program for mixed reality headsets and smart glasses. Astra may serve as a prototype for this platform.
- Project Mariner: A project designed to handle browsing needs, Project Mariner was introduced as a prototype Google Chrome extension. The agents within Project Mariner enable the software to research information, book shows, and conduct research on topics all at once. Google DeepMind's CEO hopes to morph Gemini into a "world model," and he believes it's this level of multitasking that can contribute to that transformation.
- Google AI Studio: This website provides the starting point for users to work on Gemini projects, offering the Gemini API and tools like a code "Cookbook" and prompts to help users get started. This is also where Google's Veo 2 video-generation model is available.
- The Gemini AI, also known as Google's Large Language Model (LLM), is not just a generative AI but a multifaceted AI capable of interpreting words, images, and video, and producing multimedia.
- Depending on the version, such as Gemini 2.5 Flash or Gemini 2.0 Flash, the AI offers varying levels of performance in tasks like coding, math, reasoning, and following instructions, with some versions even generating video or images.
