Google Mobile App (Free)
REVIEW – “Hands free Google!”
Google has long been one of the most significant developers of free internet tools. With the “Google Mobile App” they have attempted to make Google’s search feature even better on the iPhone, as well as make their various web tools even easier to access.
This app has an extremely simple interface. When you open the app up you get a screen that shows you the various applications you can open from here. These include Google mail, calendar, docs and more. Unfortunately, none of these are native apps, nor do they run within the app in a browser window. Instead, if you click on the “Gmail” button, for example, you automatically exit the application and open up Safari. This really makes this page nothing more than a glorified bookmark list for Google utilities.
So while this app doesn’t really make Google applications easier to access, what it does do is make searching a breeze on the iPhone. There are two ways to search with this app. The first is the traditional way. You go to the “Search” page from the menu at the bottom and type in your search query at the top of the page. This will search not only the Google search engine, but also your contacts list. The second way to search from this app is to simply move the phone up to your ear as if you were about to talk to someone on the phone. Once you hear the little “beep” noise you then just say out loud what you want to search for. Once you are finished the sound byte you recorded is sent to the internet and translated into text that is then automatically entered into the search field of the search page.
As I used this app, I was very impressed with the accuracy of the voice search feature. You just have to make sure that you speak quickly, and enunciate your words properly. The only downside is the way that the app processes the voice data. Since there is no voice recognition software built into the iPhone 3G the voice data is sent out to the internet, translated, and then sent back to you. Now if you are on a Wi-Fi connection, you probably won’t even realize that this is happening. If however you are on the Edge network and you try to use voice search it takes forever!
All in all, while this program does not have a lot of features, it does do what it says quite well. Even if you are not on a Wi-Fi or 3G connection, the search functions work well and you can easily type your search queries out with the help of Google’s autofill feature that help you not have to type every word.
The question is, since the only real feature is the enhanced search, does this app make searching simple enough that it is worth having another application just for searching Google? Especially with the new 3.0 software that allows you to search your contacts without an app like this, I would have to say no. I believe that the potential for this app is there, but if Google wants to make this an app worth having, they are going to have to do a better job of integrating their web resources into a native app.
-David H.
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Developer – Google Mobile App
URL:
http://www.google.com/mobile/
DEVELOPERS NOTES
Google Mobile App is the fastest, easiest way to search Google.
Avoid typing full search queries – or don’t type at all – with such features as these:
*Search by voice – speak your queries in American, British, or Australian English accents
*Google Suggest – tap suggested web search queries that appear as you type
*Search history – quickly search again for queries you recently performed
*My Location – avoid typing your current location when searching for nearby businesses (e.g. “pizza” or “starbucks”)
Google Mobile App also links to Google’s other applications so that you can easily navigate to them.
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