Those of you who read iDB regularly know how particular I am when it comes to my apps. I like a clean and tidy home screen. One application that seemed to always find a spot on my iPhone was Google Mobile. It was simple, it loaded quickly, and the voice search option was extremely accurate. It was my go-to app for quick lookups.
Today, Google Mobile was replaced by Google Search. The name is different, but the concept is not too far off from its predecessor. It has an accurate voice search function, and uses your location to return local results. Although very similar, there are some notable differences in the new search app…
The updated interface is the first thing you'll notice. When you first launch the app, you are greeted with a nice tutorial. This will help you get better acquainted with the new UI. One of the things you'll want to take note of are the new multitouch gestures, as they make navigating through search much faster.
One of my favorite enhancements was the support for fast switch. One of my only complaints with Google Mobile was that you had to start your search over if you switched from the app though multitasking. Google Search will let you switch in and out of the application, without ever losing your place.
Google Goggles is also integrated, which you may or may not find useful. For those that haven't played with it, Google Goggles allows you to snap a picture of something and perform a web search based on your photo.
Overall, this was a nice revamp of the Google Mobile app. If you hadn't tried using a Google app to do voice searches before, give this a whirl. The voice recognition is spot on, and it makes looking up phone numbers completely painless. You can even dial the number from right inside the app. Goodbye 411 calls!
What do you think of Google search? Do you use a different search application? Tell us below!
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