New Google Search App: Chrome Enters Apple’s Walled Garden By Increments – ‘Book Mystique Review
I like Google’s Chrome Web browser a lot more than I do Apple’s Safari. I keep Chrome up and running all the time on my Mac, but can go for weeks without ever starting Safari. However, Chrome isn’t available on iOS devices.
To be fair, relatively speaking, the iOS version of Safari holds up a lot better in comparison with other Web browsers that support the iOS, like Opera Mini, Dolphin, Diigo, Mercury, and more. Actually, I would rate Safari at or near the top of the iOS pack along with Dolphin and Diigo, especially now that the iOS 5 version has real tabs. On the other hand, while I prefer Opera to Safari as well in their respective OS X versions, Opera Mini on the iPad has been a disappointment, with a clunky user interface and distinctly less lively performance than iOS Safari, Diigo, and the very speedy Dolphin especially. These are all pretty good Web browsers, but I do miss cool Chrome features like the slick and seamless Google Translation for non-English language Websites. Until now.
This week Google released its new Google Search app for iOS, hard on the heels of a new Google Gmail app a week or two ago. I’ve downloaded both, and between them, they can cover a large proportion of what I do with Web browsers, without a browser.
Google’s Gmail app works pretty much the same as Gmail does on a browser page, which is to say well. It’s a convenient addition to one’s email tools if you’re a Gmail user, but the new Google Search for iOS is just outstanding. This is a lovely piece of work, obviously tailored and carefully optimized for the iOS, working with the same speediness, fluidity and smoothness I’ve come to expect from the Chrome browser for OS X. It’s not quite Chrome for iOS, but in some respects it’s even better.
For one thing, one-click ease of machine translation for other language Web pages is there. Cool!
Also really great in the iPad version is an Instant Previews feature, that lets you display the various pages of a particular Website as scrollable thumbnails, and a new picture preview mode in the form of an image carousel. Very slick.
As soon as you begin to type, Google Instant starts to display results, so you aren’t obliged to even press the Search button. It’s also easy to switch back and forth from the search results to Web pages (in tabs) and vice versa quickly.
Google Search also serves as a handy frontend gateway to the constellation of Google Web apps and services, somewhat like Google’s Chrome OS does, only bringing it to iOS through the back door, as it were. There’s an application launcher for 16 Google apps like Gmail, Google Reader, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and so forth, on two pages, and easy navigation from one app to another without leaving the Google Search environment.
More features in Google Search for iPad include the aforementioned Instant Previews mode display of search results and websites side-by-side to quickly browse pages and results in a slide-out window to the right of the search results that will roll over to the search page swiping back takes you back to the search results page.
You can also swipe through the image carousel to see image results in full-size, and compare search results as web-page “snapshots” of pages you’ve visited. Tap on any image result to summon the image carousel. The image you selected will expand, and you can then swipe through the carousel to see other images.
You can use Google Instant and search suggestions to get to search results faster, and revisit past searches with the new Visual Search History visual UI. You can also highlight what you want to see on a web-page with the new Find button, there’s a new magnifying glass tool to help find the things you’re looking for on a Web page and you can easily recommend or share pages and +1 sites. From the Apps Menu you can quickly switch to Google services. Click the Gmail icon, for example, and you’ll be shunted directly to your email.
Google Search for iOS also supports Voice Search, allowing users to search by voice without typing, Google Goggles that lets you snap a photo of what you see to find more information about products, landmarks, famous paintings, or what-have-you, and Search Nearby that lets you find places near you without typing your location.
The iPhone version gets some minor bug fixes, and now supports full-screen mode for search results and pages
I’m giving the new Google Search app for iOS a full 5 out of 5 rating along with congratulations to Google’s software engineers for a job well done. Did I mention that I really like this app.?
Happy Thanksgiving!
System requirements:
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.
For more information, visit:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/google-search/id284815942