GOOGLE MOBLE APP DELIVERS MOBILE SEARCH RESULTS WITH FEWER KEYSTROKES

The keyboard limitations of mobile phones are a significant disincentive to moble phone search which the new release of Google Mobile App for the iPhone, dated November 14, is designed to address (this seems to be a very early release--v. 0.3.142.951). Google Mobile App team member Mike LeBeau demonstrates the features of the new release in a Youtube video available from a PC and, in an innovative use of mobile video, on the iPhone under the Google Moble App Settings, About section.

LeBeau stresses four new features: voice-initiated search using the iPhone Accelerometer; search results based on location; mannually initiated voice search results; faster suggestions for search results on keyboard-initiated searches.

The voice-initiated search using the iPhone Accelerometer requires that the Screen Rotation feature be turned off. Using the Google Mobile App with the Screen Rotation feature turned off, lifting the iPhone to your ear starts the recording, lowering the iPhone from your ear initiates the voice recognition and search. This feature works as described.

The search results based on location also works as narrowly described, but not broadly. Asking for "movie showtimes" produced a listing of showtimes for movies in our location. However, "movie schedule," "traffic reports," and "weather reports" produced results without consideration of our location. The first results for "movie schedule," "traffic report," and "weather report" were wap.fandango.com, www.traffic.com, and www.weather.com.

Initiating search by tapping the microphone icon produced the same results as the motion-initiated search, while bypassing the Accelerometer.

The fourth feature demonstrates Google's reach into the wide range of data. By initiating a keyboard search for "weather," Google Mobile returned a link to a Google Maps search for weather, a linke to "The Weather Channel" in the phone's contact list, a link to www.weather.com, and various other links.

Google isn't the first to voice-enable the iPhone--we wrote about Say Where from Dial Directions last month--and it isn't without limitations. One limitation is the Youtube demo on the iPhone in the Google Mobile App Settings, About section: it didn't work. While it did bring up the Youtube video, the video itself kept pausing and wouldn't play without constantly pressing the play button. Another limitation is the fact that voice-initiated search results don't include information in the iPhone contact list--though some privacy-sensitive individuals may in fact prefer what we see as a limitation. With respect to driving directions, Google Mobile App doesn't attempt to deliver driving directions in the same manner as the Say Where application from Dial Directions--Google Mobile App would merely take you to Google Maps.

Finally, advertising-supported applications from Google are all about driving traffic to applications and because Google has made no secret about its belief that mobile services will offer as great or greater revenue opportunities as the fixed-line Internet. To that end, conveniently located on the Google Moble App main window is a link to other Google Apps: Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Talk, Reader, Goog-411, News, Notebook, Photos, orkut, Translate, Maps, YouTube, and Earth. Google Mobile App is likely to be a very powerful tool--for Google. -Stuart Whitaker