Tech Talk: What the heck is Nano Banana? Here's a breakdown of Google's powerful Gemini AI image editor with the quirky codename, how to use it, and why it's so great

Welcome to Tech Talk, a weekly column about the things we use and how they work. We try to keep it simple here so everyone can understand how and why the gadget in your hand does what it does.

Things may become a little technical at times, as that's the nature of technology — it can be complex and intricate. Together we can break it all down and make it accessible, though!

You might not care how any of this stuff happens, and that's OK, too. Your tech gadgets are personal and should be fun. You never know though, you might just learn something ...

What is Nano Banana?

Nano Banana is a goofy codename (like Android Ice Cream or Android Oreo) for Google Gemini's image generation and editing model, officially known as Gemini 2.5 (or Gemini 3 for the Pro version) Flash Image. It's also something you see talked about and have seen countless blog posts written about, like everyone knows what the heck it is. Well, now you know, too.

This is one of those times when knowing what it is isn't the important part, though. People don't love it because of the quirky name; they love what it can do, how easy it is to do it, and the fact that the free version is great.

It goes beyond most image generation AI software because of its consistency. By that I mean you can make a million edits, and the parts you're not changing look just like they did at the beginning. You can edit your images so they look better, turn yourself into a robot pirate, or turn your dog into a pet chicken made out of lemon peels. It's pretty wild or mild, depending on what you want. Here's how you can get started.

How to use Nano Banana

The best part is that it's really easy to use. You can use the Google Gemini app for your phone, Google Messages, or visit Gemini on the web, and the results are the same, but I'm going to use the web version for my example because I'm sitting at a computer right now writing these words. The steps are all the same, though.

I went to Gemini on the web and was faced with a text box. Right under that box was a little button marked "Tools," so I clicked it and chose Create Images to get everything fired up. Then my "creative" side takes over.

"Create an image of a cat bowling. Draw it as a comic with the cat walking on two legs." I asked. So it did. Pro Tip: Being very specific in your prompt saves you a lot of time.

The result was pretty much what I expected, and the whole thing took about 10 seconds. From there, I could save or share the image and give feedback on how Gemini did.

You can do this sort of silly thing with most image generators. Where Nano Banana really shines is its consistency. I went through and asked for a bunch of silly changes like having the cat wear a cowboy hat and a green tuxedo, making the bowling ball glow like an alien orb, and having the bowling pins be fried chicken legs. Nano Banana was happy to do all of that, but the cat still looks exactly the same as in the original, albeit more cartoonish and brighter because I asked for that, too.

For the pièce de résistance, I asked Gemini to "Turn the cat into a 1/7 scale collectable figurine on a desk with toy packaging beside it." You've seen these pictures shared all over social media using that exact prompt. I think the result speaks for itself here, and I love it!

Remember, all this started when I asked Gemini to make a picture of a cat bowling.

I used Gemini to create the cat image, but you can use nearly any image you like. All of this can be done with a picture of yourself or your little sister. Gemini will stick to its guardrails so it doesn't create anything it considers inappropriate, but the same sort of shenanigans can still occur.

More importantly, you can use Nano Banana to make edits to your favorite photo. It can enhance colors, adjust lighting and tone, or even make you wear a green tuxedo, and it all looks very realistic and natural. That's why it's embedded with metadata saying it was made with AI; it can fool anyone.

Nano Banana Pro takes things a step further. You have to be subscribed to Gemini Pro, but you get access to the more powerful Gemini 3.0 Flash Image model. This allows your images to be translated into multiple languages, ties into Google Search so images can be context-aware, and lets you add up to 14 reference images to create the final version. All cool stuff, but you probably don't need any of it enough to pay for it.

You need to try Nano Banana if you haven't. Now you know how to get started, and I promise you'll have a lot of fun even if you're not making collectibles of yourself to share on Instagram. Those are hella cool, though.