Google Extending Google-Now Style Design to Select Mobile Searches
August 14, 2012
By Oliver VanDervoort, Contributing Writer
Google (News - Alert) is putting quite a few of its eggs in the Google Now basket, hoping the service can be Android’s (News - Alert) version of Siri, even if the services are very different at their core.
To decorate its Google Now enthusiasm even more, the search giant has begun incorporating the Google Now-style design to its users’ mobile search results. This is just one way Google is trying to underline that Google Now is and will continue to be much more than just a voice search function.
The fact that Google is putting aspects of Google Now into its search UI in mobile search shows just how much the Android maker wants Google Now to take center stage away from Apple (News - Alert).
Of course, Google has become one of the top Internet companies in the world, with a league of sharp employees and the addition of the new UI being done in stages. The new Google Now UI is being done in even smaller steps than one would expect, as there are only certain kinds of queries that will pull up the Google Now feel to the search.
One section that will give individuals access to the new look and feel is going after a weather report. Looking up the 10-day forecast using, say, the Kindle Fire, will give them the same kind of results as if they use the Google Now function directly.
Google has said that starting very soon, looking up flight information on a mobile search will also come back with aspects of the Google Now application. The search for a particular flight will provide information such as how close the flight is to a destination, and what terminal and gate it is headed to when it lands.
Mobile searchers will also be able to find the departure and arrival times.
Google has also invested in some “quick answer” looks, such as calculators and currency conversion. The revamped search UI only works with English searches and only when users are on Google.com, but the company is expected to expand these special searches to other countries sooner rather than later.
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Edited by Braden Becker