谷歌搜索|Google Search v1.0.15 中文版 S60v3
Google Search v1.0.15 S60v3 SymbianOS9.x

谷歌搜索、地图软件

Google has released a native client for Google search for S60 phones. The application, available via the Google mobile

site, places a shortcut to a Google search box on the Idle screen (unfortunately only for devices with either a 'Ctrl' or

'pencil/edit' key), but is also accessible via the usual application launcher on all devices. Typing in a query to the

search box and pressing search opens up Web and takes you to the results page for that Google query in one go. It uses the

new Google Mobile search service we mentioned a few weeks ago. Read on for more.

Last week Google and Nokia announced that Google Search would be added to the Nokia Mobile Search application that ships

with all recent S60 devices. This means that Google Search will soon be available via Nokia's search client. As such,

Google's release of its own native search client is something of an unnecessary repetition. However the benefits of the

Google search client is its immediate availability, its specificity and the fact it is much faster loading than Nokia's

client. I was able to go from a standing start to a search result in around 5 seconds (less if you're quick at T9).

 Google Search Client Google search client

The application adds a shortcut to the Google Search client from the Idle screen. The second screenshot shows the Google

search box as it appears from the Idle screen shortcut (it looks the same if you launch via the application menu).

 Google Search Client Google Search Client

 On activating a search, the Google Search client launches Web and loads the result page for your query ('symbian news' in

the example above). The application has a few configuration options, such as the ability to change your location (e.g.

enter another post code - also done via web page), switch to 'classic' results (instead of the blended mobile results) and

the ability to disable the quick key (access from the Idle screen).

Google search client Google Search Client Google Search Client

Google mobile search has good local search support. Here you can see I used the keyword 'cinema' and it returned a list of

films playing at my local cinema. It also offers a map showing the cinema location and a link enabling you to call the

cinema. These are the blended results we talked about in our earlier news article.

You can download the new client software at mobile.google.com. Look for the Search (Download) link.

This continues the trend of Google releasing downloadable clients for its various services. It follows on from the release

of the YouTube Mobile client, the native Symbian version of Google Maps and the GMail client. I feel this is a more

realistic approach to getting a large number of people to use its mobile services than developing the Android platform (!!

- Ed)

It's disappointing that the idle/standby screen implementation is via the pencil key though, especially as this key is now

deprecated and not present on most new S60 phones. A more standard standby 'plugin' would have worked better, along the

lines of the integral Nokia Search 3.0 pane in the N95 8GB, for example. Hopefully, a future version will see a single

Search box, implemented properly, with input from both Nokia and Google, as per their new agreement.

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