Nano Banana: Google’s new favorite fruit

Nano Banana makes creators faster, but only if you know how to prompt it.

The real story of Google’s Nano Banana (aka Gemini 2.5 Flash Image) isn’t just the shiny features Google markets, it’s how effectively you can talk to it. For casual users, tossing in a quick “make me an action figure” prompt is fun and yields shareable results. But the real power shows up when creators learn to craft precise, detailed prompts, sometimes even with the help of other AI tools like ChatGPT to unlock consistent characters, stylistic fidelity, and usable outputs.

When Google launched Nano Banana via Gemini and DeepMind, the hype had already reached a fever pitch. Personally, I have been using the software relentlessly. It promised a slew of features that sounded like the next frontier: image generation and editing via text prompts, preservation of identity (people, pets, objects staying recognizable across edits), design/style mixing, multi-turn editing, and even claims about turning 2D images into 3D models. But what’s real, what’s half-baked, and how are users and creators actually using it? Here’s a full take with my own testing and opinions.

How people are actually using it

Almost immediately, casual users and professionals began experimenting. One of the biggest viral trends is figurines or collectible-style self-portraits: people upload selfies or snapshots of their pets and ask Nano Banana to render them as lifelike figurines posed on desks or in toy boxes. The results are undeniably charming for Instagram or X posts, even if, under the hood, they’re still just flat JPEGs with the illusion of depth, not exportable 3D objects.

That limitation has already disappointed some who expected true rotatable models. However, my own father was able to easily make a figurine of himself in his racing gear using just a prompt and an image.

Another widespread use is the “action-figure adventure” or “AI Bollywood saree portrait” trend. Users feed prompts like “turn me into a classic Bollywood hero” or “make me an action figure storming the Colosseum,” generating shareable, attention-grabbing images. The social value here is obvious: Nano Banana content has flooded TikTok, Threads, and YouTube Shorts, driving millions of new users to Gemini.

Photo restoration has also become a surprisingly strong niche. Creators and everyday users are colorizing old black-and-white family photos, repairing faded prints, and even cleaning up scanned images with scratches or tears. Reviews praise how natural the colorization looks and how well lighting and textures are preserved, though some complain the tool occasionally over-smooths faces or slightly alters skin tones, making them look less authentic. As an example, I took a random black and white image of Einstein and asked Gemini to recolor it.

Small businesses and ad creatives have utilized Nano Banana for product mockups and marketing purposes. It’s now common to see e-commerce sellers placing a product shot into lifestyle scenes or swapping outfits on models to test campaign ideas. The ability to merge two images, say, a coffee mug and a Paris café backdrop, saves time and budget. But some marketers gripe about distorted logos or warped text when fidelity really matters.

Interior designers and hobbyists are feeding Nano Banana room photos and asking it to redecorate: mid-century chic, boho, or Scandinavian minimalism. The AI handles ambient lighting and shadows better than many older tools, making it handy for imagining renovations or mood boards. Complex rooms with many objects, however, can confuse the model, producing cluttered or inconsistent results.

Storytellers, comic creators, and brand designers have found another sweet spot: character consistency. They can generate multiple images of the same character in different poses, outfits, or backgrounds without the identity drift that plagued older AI models. Nano Banana can sometimes lose accuracy after many edits, but overall, this has been a standout feature for people building narratives or brand mascots.

I was able to improve the workflow process with ChatGPT, describing the image I wanted to make by feeding an image to GPT to engineer an extremely detailed prompt. I then fed this prompt to Gemini for a final output, turning my coworker's image into a new, unique Godfather poster. The first image is a screenshot of the chat with the original image attached. The second image is the final result.

The key takeaway here is that I never mentioned 'The Godfather' to Gemini, nor did I show it a photo as reference. The prompt I generated via ChatGPT was the only thing I used to output the images above.

Compare this to when I showed Gemini a picture of The Godfather poster and asked it to recreate my coworker's image in the same style and design language: it failed miserably. Considering the limitations of the generation model, you have to be detailed in the prompts you provide if you want to generate a desired output.

Artists are using creative blending to combine multiple unrelated images, merging skies, products, and textures, to create surreal composite art or to shift a scene’s mood (like turning a sunny day into a neon-lit cyberpunk night). When Nano Banana nails the lighting and perspective, the composites can be stunning. But as with most AI, extreme creative mixes occasionally betray mismatched shadows or unrealistic geometry.

What the creator community thinks

Feedback from creators is mixed but generally positive. Many highlight Nano Banana’s improved identity consistency as a major leap forward; it’s finally possible to build a comic panel or advertising campaign where the character doesn’t mysteriously grow a new face in each frame. Others praise its speed and prompt responsiveness. Even if Meta AI sometimes feels quicker, Nano Banana often understands nuanced instructions better and maintains context across edits.

Reviewers also commend its versatility as restoration, stylizing, composites, and marketing tasks feel within reach. Nano Banana can also replicate specific styles, signatures and catchets, something that Meta and Midjourney occasionally struggle with.

But there are sore points, like the confusion with "3D models". Creators who expected exportable 3D assets felt misled when Nano Banana only outputted flat images with simulated depth. Fine details such as hands, intricate patterns, or logo text can distort, especially after multiple rounds of editing. Watermarking and synthetic provenance markers also worry professionals who need clean assets. And, despite its polish, Nano Banana doesn’t yet offer a truly unique capability; every function it provides exists elsewhere, often free.

Many are frustrated by the credit limits on Nano Banana’s standalone site. Two free generations without automatic refills feels miserly next to Meta’s unlimited free generation. This has pushed most users to access it through Gemini, which is clearly what Google intended, but it also means the direct site isn’t attracting much traffic.

Competitive landscape and strategic outlook

Compared to Meta AI or Stable Diffusion, Nano Banana is less experimental in artistry but better at practical, identity-preserving edits. In comparison to ChatGPT’s image tools, it is faster and more consistent with multi-turn editing. Against MidJourney, it’s more utilitarian than visionary.

Its real strength is integration: by baking Nano Banana into Gemini and AI Studio’s Build feature, Google has made its ecosystem more sticky for developers, influencers, and businesses.

The creator community’s wishlist is clear: honest marketing about its capabilities, fewer credit restrictions, better fine detail rendering, and if Google wants to deliver on its big promises, true 3D export. There’s also appetite for more customization, such as control over lighting, lens effects, style parameters, and support for higher resolution or professional formats.

Verdict

Nano Banana is a capable, polished, and fun tool that strengthens Gemini’s hand in the AI arms race. It produces more relevant and intelligent images than Meta’s free image generation model and outperforms ChatGPT in terms of speed and consistency. But it’s not revolutionary, and Google’s marketing overreach on the “3D model” front risks undermining trust. After extensive in-house testing and trying out various use cases, it’s a solid 8/10: definitely worth using if you’re already in Google’s ecosystem or if you want cleaner, more consistent edits, but not enough to completely abandon other platforms. The direction is promising: Google is edging Gemini toward becoming a one-stop creative shop, but Nano Banana itself is just another banana in the bunch, not the golden fruit it’s billed to be.