This morning Google Inc. hosted an “inside search” event to lift the lid on some more improvements the firm is making to its ubiquitous engine. There were additions on both desktop and mobile clients, all aimed at making the search experience more accessible, usable and above all speedy.
First off was Voice Search, which has been a core feature of Android for a long time. Google is bringing its powerful voice recognition service to desktop searchers, and is rolling out Voice Search to the main Google search page. Google’s speech-to-text engine is more powerful that traditional voice recognition software as the processing is done in Google’s data centers (or “in the cloud” as the kids are so fond of saying), meaning far more accurate recognition. The new functionality is rolling out from today for English users.
Another big new feature coming to desktop will be “Search by image.” This feature does exactly what you would think it does – when searching for images a user can now use another image rather than text to perform the search. Users can either give the URL of the image they wish to use, or drag-and-drop it into the search bar. The functionality seems to be somewhat reminiscent of Google Goggles image search on Android.
The third and final desktop nicety shown today was Instant Pages, which employs intelligence similar to Google Instant to predict hat users are searching for. If Google’s algorithm can determine what you are looking for with a certain degree of accuracy, it will begin loading the page in the background – meaning when you eventually click the result the page will load instantly. Instant Pages is only available for Google’s Chrome at the moment.
In the mobile arena Google rolled out some handy updates to their mobile search homepage which integrate the Google Places app with the site. Instead of just a search bar, users are now given some local search options too. By tapping one button users can find nearby cafes, bars, ATMs etc., all overlayed on a map showing your current location.
As with all things Google, cheery videos were made to accompany the new features’ launch, which you’ll find below.
