Earlier this year, we introduced interactive weather information in mobile search results and now this feature is available in 33 more languages. Now when you search for ‘météo’, ‘tempo’, ‘날씨’, or ‘weather’ in your language, you’ll see the current temperature, humidity level and wind speed for your location. You’ll also get an overall forecast and the weather outlook for the next few days. To see weather conditions at various times throughout the day, move the slider across the next 12 hrs; that way you’ll know if you’ll need a light jacket in the afternoon or perhaps an umbrella in the evening.
Give it a try by searching Google for ‘weather’ in your language on your Android or iOS mobile device.
Mobile phones are great for keeping in touch with the latest information, but when there’s a lot of data to look at, a small screen can be a drawback. For financial queries, where you might want to see stock quotes, the latest news, a market overview or portfolio details, we’ve just launched a new approach in Google search.
To try it out, go to google.com on your iPhone or Android-powered device (2.1 or later) and search for your favourite stock ticker symbol.
The first thing you’ll see is an interactive graph shown on a card - you can switch views to different date ranges by tapping on the buttons below the graph.
If you swipe the card from right to left, you’ll get the latest financial news for the company.
Swipe again for a market overview, and if you’re logged in to your Google account and have created a Google Finance portfolio, a further swipe will show a summary of your stock portfolio. Give it a try on your mobile device now to see how it works.
This feature is available in English with support for more languages coming soon. We hope you enjoy it and find it useful.
Posted by Yu Chen, Software Engineer and Robert Hamilton, Product Manager
Instant Previews provides a fast and interactive way to evaluate search results. Starting today, Google Instant Previews is available on mobile for Android (2.2+) and iOS (4.0+) devices across 38 languages. Similar to the desktop version of Instant Previews, you can visually compare search results from webpage snapshots, making it easier to choose the right result faster, especially when you have an idea of the content you’d like to see.
For example, if you’re looking for a webpage that has both photos and descriptions, you can use Instant Previews to quickly identify these pages by navigating across the visual search results with a few swipes of your finger. Or perhaps you’re looking for an article, a step-by-step instructions list, or a product comparison chart—with Instant Previews, you can easily spot pages with the right content without having to navigate back and forth between websites and search results. And when the mobile version of a website is available, we’ll show you a preview of the mobile page.
To use Instant Previews on your mobile device, do a search on www.google.com and tap on the magnifying glass next to any search result. A side-by-side comparison view of the webpage previews for the first page of search results will appear. When you find a result you like, tap on the preview to go straight to the website. It’s as easy as finding a recipe for poaching an egg:
You can learn more about Instant Previews for mobile in our Help Center. We hope that you enjoy finding the right result faster with Instant Previews!
Posted by Brian Ngo, Software Engineer, Mobile Search team
Over the past few months, we have launched several new mobile search features for iPhone and Android-powered devices that make it easier to find local businesses. In the US, we launched an “open now” feature which lets you filter local search results to show only businesses that are open right now, based on their listed hours. When you’re hankering for pizza at 1 o’clock in the morning, this can be really handy:
Other local search options available globally include filtering by star ratings (find a highly-rated restaurant for your first date) and by distance (especially handy when you’re on foot).
You may have noticed other improvements as well, like the addition of images, reviews from around the web and bigger buttons for viewing a map or calling a business directly. Each business’s open hours are also shown in the result snippets.
If you haven’t used local search recently, now is a great time to try it out. Just go to www.google.com in your browser, tap on the “Places” link at the top of the page, and do a search. You can also access these features when searching for businesses on Google Maps for mobile on Android devices.
Posted by Yoshi Matsumoto and Keiji Maekawa, Software Engineers
We’d been wanting to build a fun, useful, app-like way to display weather information on our search results pages in the mobile browser. So we pulled together a user experience designer and team of engineers and built a new weather search results snippet that lets you actually play with the results. To try it out, just go to google.com on your iPhone or Android-powered device and search for ‘weather’.
At first glance, you’ll see content that we’d previously shown you before: current conditions and a forecast for the next few days. But by moving the slider over the next 12 hours, you can now see a detailed hour-by-hour breakdown of the changing weather conditions. As you do this, keep an eye on the temperature, wind speed and humidity and see how all these conditions are expected to trend across the day. You may also notice that the background color changes throughout the day. Of course, as you scroll further down you’ll see our regular web search results for your query.
This new weather search experience is available only in English, but we have more updates on the way. We hope you’ll enjoy using it!
Posted by Nick Fey, User Experience Designer and Michael van Ouwerkerk, Software Engineer
As mobile apps continue to proliferate in stores like Android Market and the iPhone App Store, finding relevant information on the web about these apps is becoming more important to help you decide which apps to download. In addition to helping you find the mobile app information you’re looking for, Google Search for mobile now also makes it easier for you to get the actual apps themselves while you’re searching.
As of today, if you go to Google.com on your iPhone or Android-powered device and search for an app, we’ll show special links and content at the top of the search results. You can tap these links to go directly to the app’s Android Market or iPhone App Store page. You can also get a quick look at some of the app’s basic details including the price, rating, and publisher. These results will appear when your search pertains to a mobile application and relevant, well-rated apps are found. For example, try searching for download shazam on your Android-powered device or bank of america app on your iPhone.
Mobile app search results are available today in the US, with other countries and devices planned for the future.
Posted by Milena Nikolic and Paul Hadfield, Software Engineers
When you do an image search, we find that it is typical that you will look through many pages of search results. So in the redesign of Google Image Search for mobile, available today for iPhone 3.0+ and Android 2.1 devices, we focused on making it easy to quickly see as many image thumbnails as possible:
The thumbnails are square to maximize the number of images we can get on the screen at one time so you can scan them quickly
You can swipe to see the next or previous page of results, or tap the large, stationary 'Next' and 'Previous' page buttons
We optimized for speed so that the images appear quickly when you browse
When it comes to viewing the images, we now make them as large as possible by introducing a special image viewing page:
The black background emphasizes the image and the buttons fade after a few seconds so you can just see images with little distraction
Easily browse through the images by swiping from picture to picture
To try this new version of Image Search, just go to www.google.com on your phone and tap on “Images.” The new experience is available in 38 languages worldwide. Whether you like to look through pictures of prom dresses, impressionist paintings or 猫 ジャンプ we hope you love this update to Image Search for mobile.
Update on 6/2 @ 5:40 pm: This version of Image Search is now available for all Android and Palm webOS devices.
Posted by Leo Ting, Software Engineer, and Nick Fey, User Experience Designer
Last fall, we launched Place Pages which organize relevant and useful information about places on Google Maps. Since then we've been developing a version, available now, which gives you access to the same useful information optimized for your mobile phone. For example, in the video below, the Place Page for Mama's restaurant in San Francisco shows location information, customer ratings, opening hours and what people are saying about the restaurant in summary format.
To get more details on opening hours or on customer specific comments related to the food, service or ambiance, simply click on those respective sections to show more information instantly. The Place Page also provides links to useful websites where the user can read full reviews about the place. Lastly, if address and cross street information is not enough, click on the map button and you will be taken to a full screen dynamic map which is pannable and zoomable. In this way you can quickly see the restaurant's location in the context of the entire neighborhood.
To try this yourself, go to google.com on your phone's browser and search for "mama's sf". On the search results page, click on the listing for Mama's restaurant to go to the Place Page. This mobile optimized Place Page is currently supported on Android-powered devices and iPhones/iPod touches in the US.
Posted by Dan Zivkovic, Software Engineer, and Karen Groenink, User Experience Designer, Mobile Search
Google is always looking to make it easier for you to search and explore the web on your phone. We recently launched Near me now, which lets you explore what's around you from the Google home page, and a category browse feature on Local Search with categorized business listings. Today, we're happy to announce Popular Images which lets you browse and find interesting images.
This feature is accessible from Google Image Search on Android-powered devices and iPhones in the US. To try it out, go to www.google.com on your phone browser and click on "Images". Under the search box, you will see a few of the top images along with a link to "Browse Popular Images".
Clicking the link opens up a categorized list of image searches and corresponding images.
We have organized popular images across a few categories like Movies, Sports, Cars & Bikes, Music, and Cartoons. You can click on individual categories to see related images corresponding to what's popular on Google Image Search. The queries are automatically categorized with an algorithm that will continue to improve over time. One special category is Trends, which shows image queries from Google Trends that have especially high recent activity.
Give it a try and have fun exploring images.
Posted by Jignashu Parikh and Varun Sharma, Google Mobile Engineering
Editor's note: today Google held a launch event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Fresh off the stage, we've invited Vic to highlight the mobile team's announcements, and the unique set of technologies that make them possible. (All [video] links point to event footage that will be viewable later today.)
A New Era of Computing
Mobile devices straddle the intersection of three significant industry trends: computing (or Moore's Law), connectivity, and the cloud. Simply put:
Phones get more powerful and less expensive all the time
They're connected to the Internet more often, from more places; and
They tap into computational power that's available in datacenters around the world
These "Cs" aren't new: we've discussed them in isolation for over 40 years. But today's smartphones -- for the first time -- combine all three into a personal, handheld experience. We've only begun to appreciate the impact of these converged devices, but we're pretty sure about one thing: we've moved past the PC-only era, into a world where search is forever changed.
Just think: with a sensor-rich phone that's connected to the cloud, users can now search by voice (using the microphone), by location (using GPS and the compass), and by sight (using the camera). And we're excited to share Google's early contributions to this new era of computing.
Search by Voice
We first launched search by voice about a year ago, enabling millions of users to speak to Google. And we're constantly reminded that the combination of a powerful device, an Internet connection, and datacenters in the cloud is what makes it work. After all:
We first stream sound files to Google's datacenters in real-time
We then convert utterances into phonemes, into words, into phrases; and
We then compare phrases against Google's billions of daily queries to assign probability scores to all possible transcriptions; and
We do all of this in the time it takes to speak a few words
Over the past 12 months we've introduced the product on manymoredevices, in more languages, with vastly improved accuracy rates. And today we're announcing that search by voice understands Japanese, joining English and Mandarin.
Looking ahead, we dream of combining voice recognition with our language translation infrastructure to provide in-conversation translation [video]-- a UN interpreter for everyone! And we're just getting started.
Search by Location
Your phone's location is usually your location: it's in your pocket, in your purse, or on your nightstand, and as a result it's more personal than any PC before it. This intimacy is what makes location-based services possible, and for its part, Google continues to invest in things like My Location, real-time traffic, and turn-by-turn navigation. Today we're tackling a question that's simple to ask, but surprisingly difficult to answer: "What's around here, anyway?"
Suppose you're early to pickup your child from school, or your drive to dinner was quicker than expected, or you've just checked into a new hotel. Chances are you've got time to kill, but you don't want to spend it entering addresses, sifting through POI categories, or even typing a search. Instead you just want stuff nearby, whatever that might be. Your location is your query, and we hear you loud and clear.
Today we're announcing "What's Nearby" for Google Maps on Android 1.6+ devices, available as an update from Android Market. To use the feature just long press anywhere on the map, and we'll return a list of the 10 closest places, including restaurants, shops and other points of interest. It's a simple answer to a simple question, finally. (And if you visit google.com from your iPhone or Android device in a few weeks, clicking "Near me now" will deliver the same experience [video].)
Of course our future plans include more than just nearby places. In the new year we'll begin showing local product inventory in search results [video]; and Google Suggest will even include location-specific search terms [video]. All thanks to powerful, Internet-enabled mobile devices.
Search by Sight
When you connect your phone's camera to datacenters in the cloud, it becomes an eye to see and search with. It sees the world like you do, but it simultaneously taps the world's info in ways that you can't. And this makes it a perfect answering machine for your visual questions.
Perhaps you're vacationing in a foreign country, and you want to learn more about the monument in your field of view. Maybe you're visiting a modern art museum, and you want to know who painted the work in front of you. Or maybe you want wine tasting notes for the Cabernet sitting on the dinner table. In every example, the query you care about isn't a text string, or a location -- it's whatever you're looking at. And today we're announcing a Labs product for Android 1.6+ devices that lets users search by sight: Google Goggles.
In a nutshell, Goggles lets users search for objects using images rather than words. Simply take a picture with your phone's camera, and if we recognize the item, Goggles returns relevant search results. Right now Goggles identifies landmarks, works of art, and products (among other things), and in all cases its ability to "see further" is rooted in powerful computing, pervasive connectivity, and the cloud:
We first send the user's image to Google's datacenters
We then create signatures of objects in the image using computer vision algorithms
We then compare signatures against all other known items in our image recognition databases; and
We then figure out how many matches exist; and
We then return one or more search results, based on available meta data and ranking signals; and
We do all of this in just a few seconds
Now, with all this talk of algorithms, image corpora and meta data, you may be wondering, "Why is Goggles in Labs?" The answer -- as you might guess -- lies in both the nascence of the technology, and the scope of our ambitions.
Computer vision, like all of Google's extra-sensory efforts, is still in its infancy. Today Goggles recognizes certain images in certain categories, but our goal is to return high quality results for any image. Today you frame and snap a photo to get results, but one day visual search will be as natural as pointing a finger -- like a mouse for the real world. Either way we've got plenty of work to do, so please download Goggles from Android Market and help us get started.
The Beginning of the Beginning
All of today's mobile announcements -- from Japanese Voice Search to a new version of Maps to Google Goggles -- are just early examples of what's possible when you pair sensor-rich devices with resources in the cloud. After all: we've only recently entered this new era, and we'll have more questions than answers for the foreseeable future. But something has changed. Computing has changed. And the possibilities inspire us.
Posted by Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering
Finding the exact information you need sometimes requires filtering and refining your search results. Earlier in the year, we launched a collection of tools called Search Options which enable you to easily and quickly do this from a computer. Today in the US, we are making Search Options available on Android/iPhone/Palm WebOS devices so that you can slice and dice your mobile search results as well. For example, suppose you are shopping at a store for a camera, and you would like to see what users have been saying about a specific model within the past week. You can do this simply by searching for the name of the product. Then, on the search results page, use "Options" to filter by "Forums" and refine further by choosing "Past week". See the screenshots below for a sample query. Try these and other Search Options yourself by simply doing a mobile search on google.com and selecting Options. Posted by Reza Ziaei, Software Engineer, Google Mobile Team
Sometimes I do a search on my desktop computer, only to find that I need to repeat the same search again later on my mobile phone. Today in the US we're launching Personalized Suggest for Android, iPhone and Palm WebOS, which makes it really easy to repeat your past searches on the go. For example, suppose that before I depart for the airport, I quickly check my flight status by searching for "american airlines 19" using google.com on my computer. Later, as I am hailing a taxi in rush hour traffic, I can open google.com on my phone, click in the search box, and choose "american airlines 19" from the list of search suggestions!
To try this yourself, make sure that you are signed-in to the same Google Account on your computer and on your phone when searching. In addition, Web History needs to be enabled for your Google Account. Mobile users can turn on/off history by selecting "Save searches" or "Do not save searches" under Settings on google.com.
Posted by Toshi Tajima, Software Engineer, Google Mobile Team
The mobile search team is always looking for new ways to make searching the world around you as easy and useful as searching the web. Today we're introducing a redesigned local search experience on your phone that integrates with Google Maps on your computer and includes browseable categories that let you search without typing. Let me tell you how I used these features on my recent vacation to Hawaii.
Before I left, I researched places to visit on Google Maps. I signed in to my Google account and starred the places I wanted to go. Once I got to Hawaii, by signing in on my phone, I was able to see the places I starred on desktop Maps under "Starred Places". I could then click through on place names to visit mobile-optimized versions of Place Pages for Google Maps that include opening hours, reviews, photos, and more.
The new category browse feature made it easy to find a place to rent bicycles for a quick tour of the coastline. I just tapped on "Entertainment & Recreation" and then "Bicycles" to execute a search — no typing necessary. When it was time for scuba diving, I didn't see an appropriate category, so I started typing "SCUBA" in the search box and clicked on a suggestion for "Scuba Tour Agency". A few hours later, I was petting a white-tipped reef shark!
Of course, local search isn't only useful when you're traveling — here's an example of planning a birthday party in my hometown, San Francisco:
To access these features on your mobile device, go to www.google.com/m/local, or just click on the Local tab on www.google.com. The product is available in the US and China, with more regions coming soon.
Posted by Joshua Siegel, Product Manager, Mobile Local Search Team
Forty-language support is an important milestone for a product at Google. We are very excited that by adding support for Hebrew and Arabic, our new optimized mobile Search experience is now available in 40 languages for feature phones.
We launched in 38 left-to-right languages in July, bringing the comprehensiveness of Google's web search to mobile users around the world. Now Arabic and Hebrew speakers will also be able to benefit from universal search results on their mobile devices.
As a reminder, the new search results format provides more complete support for the universal search results you're familiar with on your computer. This means that News, Image, Blog, Video and Product Search results blend right into your results pages when available and relevant to your query. Also, many of your favorite Google Search features now appear in the first result in order to provide direct answers to your searches.
Posted by Zhen Wang, Software Engineer, Google Mobile Team
One of our top goals on the mobile search team is to bring you the comprehensiveness of Google's web search while optimizing the search experience for your mobile device and in your language. Here is an update on our progress.
After launching new optimized search results pages last December for iPhone and Android-powered devices in the US, our team has been working hard to bring universal search results to more devices in more countries. In March, we expanded the availability of the new iPhone and Android format to over 20 countries. Since then, we've also launched the new experience for feature phones in the US and in Japan. Today, we're happy to announce that the new format is available on all device models in over 60 countries and 38 languages.
Whether you have a smartphone or a feature phone, if you have mobile internet access you can get the new mobile-optimized Google Search results pages on your phone just about anywhere in the world. Just go to Google.com in your browser and do a search.
The new format provides improved support for the universal search results you are familiar with on your computer.
When available, News, Images, Blog, Video and Product Search results are blended right into your result page.
Many of your favorite Google Search features now appear in the first result to provide direct answers to your searches.
We continue to optimize specific results for mobile, so local listings for restaurants in London, for example, provide easy-to-select phone number links.
As always, we appreciate your feedback so leave us comments below or stop by our Forum to let us know what you think.
Posted by Reza Ziaei, Frank Xue, and Haruki Sato, Software Engineers, Google Mobile Team
Last December, those of you who responded to our 100th mobile blog post said that you wanted more editorial content and mobile industry insight. Here are a couple of recent mobile-related articles that you might find interesting from Google executives.
The first article went out yesterday on TechCrunch from Vic Gundotra, our VP of engineering for Google's mobile and developer products. Vic talks about the nature and prerequisites of surging mobile internet usage. Straight-forward and flat-rate data plans, modern mobile web browsers, and easy access to mobile apps -- that's what you want, right? This chart, for instance, compares mobile search traffic from one carrier (MetroPCS) that offers a simple, flat-rate data plan with a larger carrier that does not offer a comparable plan.
The second article was published today on MediaPost from Doug Garland, our VP of product management for mobile advertising. Doug offers suggestions on how to make mobile advertising work and describes the benefits of experimenting with new opportunities.
As always, feel free to leave questions and comments below or in our forum.
Posted by Lawrence Chang, Product Marketing Manager, Google mobile team
Starting today in the U.S., when you go to google.com on your iPhone and do a search, you'll see search results that are better optimized for your phone. You'll still get the full comprehensiveness and quality of regular Google Search results, but laid out in a more efficient and user-friendly arrangement.
Results are formatted to be neatly displayed on the mobile screen, so there's no need to scroll side to side. Local search results now include easier-to-press "Get Directions" and click-to-call links. Maps are shown by default in the case of a single listing or accessible by the "Show map" link for multiple listings. For those of you wanting to access the classic desktop search results format, it's only a click away, with the "Classic" link near the bottom of each page.
For now, the newly formatted results pages are available only in U.S. English and for iPhone and iPod touch firmware version 2.x. Over time, we intend to make the newly formatted results pages available through other search entry points on the iPhone, on additional devices, and in more language and country combinations.
Posted by Steve Kanefsky and Rob Stacey, Software Engineers, Google mobile team
At Google, we develop products that we love to use ourselves. For example, we're avid users of Search, Gmail, Maps, and many others. But for those of us in mobile, it's tough. Not all products work the same on all devices, and although we try and optimize for each device, we often run into challenges specific to certain mobile phone platforms. I, for one, used to carry three devices with me all day. I love my iPhone for its powerful browser and music player. I use my BlackBerry for Gmail and Calendar (and occasionally Brick Breaker), and I carry a Nokia N-series phone because of its camera and YouTube application.
The first Android-powered phone, announced today by T-Mobile, comes 'with Google'. The following Google applications are preloaded on the device: Search, Maps, Gmail with Contacts, Calendar, Google Talk, and YouTube. There are a few things I'm particularly excited about:
Easy to use. It's never been easier to use Google on your phone. With single sign-in, you can log in to your Google account and have instant access to all your favorite Google products. No messing around with settings, your login never expires, and everything just works. If you don't have a Google account yet, you can set one up on your phone and be up and running in seconds.
Fully synchronized. Your emails, contacts, calendar entries, Google Talk chats are fully synchronized with Gmail and Calendar on the web. New events are pushed in real-time to your phone and any changes you make on-the-go are immediately available on the web. If you ever lose or break your phone, all your data is safe and secure in the cloud.
Designed to work together. Search is now available as a feature in many applications, including non-Google ones, such as the music player. While you're listening to a song -- like something from Depeche Mode -- just 'long-press' the artist's name. You'll see a menu pop up that let's you search Google for the Depeche Mode Wikipedia entry, or search YouTube for the music video. The contact application lets you see your friend's IM status, view his address on a map, and communicate with him using Gmail or Google Talk. And, of course, you can call or text him as well.
Check out the video below to see these features in action:
The Google applications on Android take full advantage of the features of the Android platform. Gmail is built on 'embedded WebViews', the real-time push features and synchronization use the multi-tasking capabilities of the platform, and the integration between applications relies on the 'Android Application Framework'.
We're kicking off a new blog series, called 'Google on Android'. Over the next couple of weeks, we will dig deeper into each one of the Google applications available for Android, and at the end of the series, I'll let you know whether I've decided to switch phones or switch to pants that let me carry four phones instead of three.
Posted by Marc Vanlerberghe, Product Marketing Director
It's that time again... time for the Summer Games to begin! It may still be August 7th here in Mountain View, but it's already August 8th in Beijing, and the Opening Ceremonies are getting ready to kick off another global celebration of athleticism. We marvel at the elegance of the swimmers, the power of the pole vaulters, and the artistry of the gymnasts. And of course, we cheer on our favorite athletes.
If you're like me you'll want quick updates for the Games all day long. (I'll be following Michael Phelps's gold medal quest, and I can't wait to see how the US swimming team does.) We've launched a new mobile search tool that gets you sport results, country medal count, and event schedules right at the top of your search results. Go to www.google.com on your phone and try a search for "swimming." You'll get something like this:
Once the events have begun, you'll be able to search for things like "gymnastics medals" or "Russia medal count" to get updated medal counts and rankings in your search results as well. Fast updates are now at your fingertips, and you don't even need to click through to an extra webpage. Want to browse through all of the events? Go to www.google.com/m/summergames on your mobile phone. You can discover sports you may not have even known were part of the Games, such as the new Cycling BMX event. Since the Summer Games are a worldwide event, we made this new search tool available in 36 languages and over 60 countries. Alors, par exemple, if you were in France you could browse on the French domain, or get the same search tool when you search for "natation."
We're also excited to announce our first-ever worldwide mobile doodle in celebration of the Summer Games. Go to the Google homepage on your phone to see it.
And for all that we're excited here on Mobile, this is far from the only tool you'll have for the Summer Games. Check out what else Google has to offer on our post on the Official Google Blog. And now... let the games begin!
