Have you ever tried to remember how to get back to a website that you found from a recent search? Today in the US, we’re launching a new search history feature which helps you quickly get back to sites you’ve been to and see items you have starred from your Android, iPhone, or desktop searches. Just sign in and then tap the history link at the bottom of the Google homepage.
If you’ve enabled search history in your account (tap “Settings” and select “Save Searches” under “Search History”, then tap “Save”), the history that you see is a combination of all your searches done while you are signed-in, whether you are searching from a laptop at home, your desktop computer at work, or your phone while on-the-go. Your mobile searches are marked with a little phone icon so you can tell them apart. For websites you’ve visited while searching on a desktop or laptop, you’ll see screenshot thumbnails that can help you recognize and return to the right sites quickly.
If you want to remove any history items, you can tap the “Edit” button at the top of the page and delete individual search queries. If you prefer to stop recording search history all together, choose the “Do not save searches” option under “Settings” on the home screen and tap “Save.”
At the top of the History page, you can also select your “Starred items,” which shows a list of search results you’ve starred on your computer or phone. Let’s say after researching places to snorkel in Hawaii, you found a website full of photos about Kealakekua Bay that you want to return to later. To star the Kealakekua Bay website, simply click on the star next to the Kealakekua Bay website on Google search results. Thereafter, whenever you want to return to the site, simply click on the “Starred items” option in history. This way, while you’re out with friends, you can easily get back to the website and show pictures of this magical cove right from your phone.
We hope you find the new History link useful!
Posted by Ran Liu, Software Engineer and Nick Fey, User Experience Designer, Google Mobile Team
Google Mobile Blog
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Google Android Feeds | Tagged:
google,
Introducing,
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Here at Google, we’re thrilled with the global adoption of Android and with the high quality of devices that are coming to market around the world. Since there are so many great phones, we wanted to make the selection process a little easier for people who are in the market for a new one. Today we’re rolling out the Google Phone Gallery — a showcase of Android-powered devices that deliver the best Google experience today. Check it out at
http://www.google.com/phone.
All the phones in the gallery include Android Market, Google Search, and other Google Mobile services such as Gmail, Maps, and YouTube. There are tools that make it easy to compare phones side by side: you can filter phones by country, manufacturer, and carrier; view and compare technical specifications and features; and find where each phone is available for sale.
We’ll continue adding phones and countries over time, both to round out the gallery and as new phones come to market.
Posted by Ben Serridge, Product Manager, Android
Google Mobile Blog
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Posted by |
Categories:
Google Android Feeds | Tagged:
google,
Introducing,
phone |
Our mobile phones have become modern-day Swiss Army knives. An Android phone is a handheld computer, a music player, a notepad, a GPS navigation unit and more, all rolled into one sleek device that fits in your pocket. Today’s phones do so many things for us that sometimes we don’t even think about how we do them.
Even though our phones do all these new things, the most natural way of interacting with a phone remains what it always has been: speaking. And to that end, we’re pleased to introduce
Voice Actions for Android. Voice Actions are a series of spoken commands that let you control your phone using your voice. Call businesses and contacts, send texts and email, listen to music, browse the web, and complete common tasks, all just by speaking into your phone.
To use Voice Actions, tap the microphone button on the Google search box on your home screen, or press down for a few seconds on the physical search button on your phone to activate the “Speak Now” screen. Let Mike LeBeau, the lead engineer for Voice Actions, show you in this video.
Speak any of these commands to perform a Voice Action on your phone:
- send text to [contact] [message]
- listen to [artist/song/album]
- call [business]
- call [contact]
- send email to [contact] [message]
- go to [website]
- note to self [note]
- navigate to [location/business name]
- directions to [location/business name]
- map of [location]
And of course, you can still conduct a Google search using your voice.
While we’re at it, we’re also releasing an updated version of the Google search widget for Android. When you type a local search query, like [italian restaurants] you’ll see suggested restaurants with addresses and ratings. Also, as you type queries, you can refine them further by tapping the pencil icon that appears to the right of search suggestions.
Both Voice Actions and the new Google search widget require Android 2.2 (Froyo), and will be pre-installed with the new
Droid 2 phone from Motorola and Verizon. Voice Actions are currently available for U.S. English speakers.
If you have another phone with Android 2.2 (like the Nexus One, HTC Evo or the original Droid), you’ll need to download several app updates from Android Market to get all the latest goodness:
- Voice Search (this app includes Voice Actions)
- Google Search widget
- music apps (e.g. Pandora, Last.fm, Rdio, mSpot)
To get started fast, scan the QR codes for these apps below.
We think Voice Actions help you get things done on your phone faster and easier. Give it a try, and let us know what you think!
Posted by Hugo Barra, Product Management Director, and Dave Burke, Engineering Manager
Update (1:23 PM PST): we previously had not made the below downloads available outside the US, but they are now available. Voice Actions only work with US English speakers right now.
Voice Search | Search widget |
Google Mobile Blog
By now, some of you may have noticed our new Google Mobile YouTube channel, with a fresh look that includes a video box that rotates along multiple axes (we love the Rubik’s Cube here at Google). As you click on and discover more videos, we hope you’ll have fun checking out all the ways the box can turn.
In our channel’s “featured” section, we highlight some of our mobile search capabilities — like search by voice, sight, and location — that really help you take advantage of your phone’s unique technology. Since we understand that these represent new modes of searching for many of you, we’re going to launch some new videos that help illustrate the variety of practical and fun ways that you can use these features. To start with, check out our “Shoot This” series of videos for Google Goggles. Goggles can actually recognize much more than just bar codes and book covers, and these videos really let you take Goggles for a test drive. You can navigate through these videos by clicking on the embedded annotations to fast-forward or rewind.
When looking at “all apps,” you can not only check out any of our latest videos at a glance, but also quickly sort them by mobile platform or by app.
We’ve also made it easier for you to share videos by email or through popular social networking sites.
We hope you enjoy trying out our new Google Mobile YouTube channel. We’ll be adding many more new videos, so please visit youtube.com/googlemobile and subscribe. Also, if you’ve already subscribed to our old channel, note that you need to subscribe to the new one separately.
Posted by Heaven Kim, Product Marketing, Google Mobile
Google Mobile Blog
If you’ve enabled search history in your account (tap “Settings” and select “Save Searches” under “Search History”, then tap “Save”), the history that you see is a combination of all your searches done while you are signed-in, whether you are searching from a laptop at home, your desktop computer at work, or your phone while on-the-go. Your mobile searches are marked with a little phone icon so you can tell them apart. For websites you’ve visited while searching on a desktop or laptop, you’ll see screenshot thumbnails that can help you recognize and return to the right sites quickly.
If you want to remove any history items, you can tap the “Edit” button at the top of the page and delete individual search queries. If you prefer to stop recording search history all together, choose the “Do not save searches” option under “Settings” on the home screen and tap “Save.”
We hope you find the new History link useful!
