Google Voice comes to iPhone and Palm WebOS

A few weeks ago, Alex Nicolaou, Engineering Manager, wrote about the benefits of the fast and feature-rich iterative web app. Delivering Google services via mobile browsers has worked well for the Gmail team, so we decided to follow the same approach with Google Voice.

Today, we're excited to introduce the Google Voice web app for the iPhone and Palm WebOS devices. This HTML5 application provides you with a fast and versatile mobile experience for Google Voice because it uses the latest advancements in web technologies. For example, AppCache lets you interact with web apps without a network connection and local databases allow you to store data locally on the device, so you don't lose data even when you close the browser.

One of the great benefits of web applications is that you don't need to download and install an app on your phone. Instead, simply point your mobile browser to m.google.com/voice and sign in to your Google Voice account.

Then you can make calls from your phone that show your Google Voice number as the caller ID. You can also listen to voicemail and read voicemail transcripts, send and receive text messages for free, and take advantage of the low international call rates offered by Google Voice.



For quick access to the most important features like "Dialer", "Compose SMS", "Inbox" or "Contacts," you can add shortcuts to your iPhone home screen or Palm Launcher -- so cheap calls and messaging will be just a single click away. And because the Google Voice web app uses advanced features of modern HTML5 browsers, it offers native app-like performance and speed.

For more information visit m.google.com/voice or take a look at the Google Mobile Help Center. Please note, the web app is compatible with all versions of Palm WebOS and iPhone OS 3.0 and higher.

A Google Voice account is required to use the app, and Google Voice is currently only available in the United States. To learn more about Google Voice or request an invite, visit www.google.com/voice or read the Google Voice blog.

Posted by Marcus Foster, Product Manager and David Singleton, Engineering Manager

Optimized Search Suggestions using your location

Typing a query into the search box on a phone can often be slow and difficult. For this reason, relevant search suggestions that match your intended query can meaningfully reduce the time and effort it takes to submit a search. Today in the US, we are happy to announce an improvement to Google.com search suggestions offered on Android powered devices and iPhone. Now, Google will offer suggestions based on the phone's current or last location, making the suggestions more relevant.

For example, when users in the Boston metro area begin typing "Muse", suggestions such as "museum of science boston" and "museum of fine arts boston" are provided because people near Boston frequently look for these very popular museums. On the other hand, users in San Francisco who begin their query with "Muse" will see suggestions for museums in the San Francisco area. By using the device's current or most recent location, Google is able to offer even better, more useful suggestions than ever before. To try this yourself, go to google.com on your phone's browser and start typing a query to see the new location-optimized suggestions. Make sure you have turned on "Save recent locations" and "Allow use of device location" under the Settings link on the google.com home page.

Update @ 4:50 PM: Note that you may have to refresh google.com in your phone browser to see the new optimized suggestions.

Posted by Natalia Marmasse and Scott Huffman, Google Mobile Engineering Team

Search your BlackBerry email and contacts with Google Mobile App

If you have a BlackBerry and use the built-in Messages and Contacts apps, you can now search the email and contacts on your device using the new version of Google Mobile App.

Just type (or speak) your query - perhaps the name of the person who sent you the mail or a phrase from the text - and Google Mobile App will search through the emails and contacts on your device and return the results. You can quickly reply to an email or forward it on.



You can also quickly call, SMS, or email contacts by typing the first few letters of your contact's first or last name, and then pressing the corresponding button. Google Mobile App will suggest contacts as you type and you can scroll down to select one. Google Mobile App will promote the people you contact frequently to the top of the suggestions list.



To switch between on-device results (email and contacts) and web results (from Google), click on the link underneath the search box.

If you'd rather Google Mobile App not search your email and contacts, you can turn off Phone Search in the options screen. Google Mobile App does not send information about your contacts or content from your emails to Google. This data is only accessed on your device.

Searching email requires BlackBerry OS version 4.5 or higher. Searching contacts is available on BlackBerry OS 4.2 and higher.

The new version of Google Mobile App also includes other improvements, such as the ability to use your BlackBerry's Wi-Fi connection to access the Internet.

To download Google Mobile App to your BlackBerry, visit m.google.com. Learn more in our help center.

Posted by Luca Zanolin, Software Engineer

Finding places "Near me now" is easier and faster than ever on Google.com

Last month, Vic Gundotra, VP of Engineering, demonstrated at the Computer History Museum the ability to search by using your location as the query. Starting today, you can try this yourself by going to Google.com in your iPhone or Android browser and clicking on "Near me now" once your location has been provided by your phone.

"Near me now" was designed to address two user problems. First, we wanted to make it fast and easy to find out more about a place in your immediate vicinity, whether you're standing right in front of a business or if it's just a short walk away. For example, you may want to know what other customers think about a restaurant before you go inside (see quick video below) or what they have been raving about on the menu before you order. By selecting the "Explore right here" option, you can find out more about a place "right here" with just a few clicks.



Second, we wanted to make searching for popular categories of nearby places really simple. Imagine that you emerge from the subway station and you want to grab a coffee, but you don't see a coffee shop around you. You can simply search for all nearby coffee shops by using "Near me now". To search other categories of places not shown, "Browse more categories" provides access to our local search product with more category choices.

"Near me now" is currently available in the US for iPhone (OS 3.x) or Android-powered devices with version 2.0.1 or later. You must first enable location in order for "Near me now" to appear, and "Explore right here" works only if the phone provides location accuracy within approximately a city block.



Posted by John Eric Hoffman and Jussi Myllymaki, Google Mobile Engineering

Introducing Nexus One

We're very excited about today's launch of Nexus One, the newest Android-powered phone running the latest Android 2.1 software. Nexus One comes with all your favorite Google Mobile apps pre-installed: find the classics like Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube and Google Talk, with additional goodies like Maps Navigation and Google Voice. With its 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ chipset, these apps are speedier than ever before.

Additionally, Nexus One has a few cool new features like a voice-enabled keyboard for any text field; this way, you can speak to your phone and it does the text messaging, email writing, or search querying for you. Try adding the new YouTube widget to one of the five customizable home screen panels to quickly access the videos you want with just a few clicks. Explore your Picasa Web Albums with the 3D interface of the new Cooliris Gallery application. With Nexus One's 3.7" AMOLED display, your videos, apps, and photos are larger, clearer, and sharper.

To learn more about Nexus One, visit google.com/phone.

Posted by Amit Sood, Senior Marketing Manager, Google

Ho Ho Ho! Follow Santa's journey around the world on your phone

Like most kids, all I wanted to do on Christmas Eve was stay up and wait for Santa to arrive. One year, I went downstairs in the middle of the night and sat down in front of the Christmas tree to wait for Santa. Unfortunately, I soon fell asleep. When I awoke on Christmas morning the presents were under the tree and the milk and cookies I left out for Santa had been eaten. I had missed him. But next to the plate of crumbs, there was a note... from Santa himself! He thanked me for trying to wait up for him. I was so excited that I got a note from Santa that I forgot all about having fallen asleep and missing him. Every year after that I made sure to go to bed extra early to make sure that Santa stopped by.

This year, no one needs to go to bed early to make sure Santa comes over. Since NORAD is tracking Santa's journey around the world, you can find his current location on the 24th. If you see he's getting close by, just hop into bed. And if he's already passed by your house but you don't yet see presents (or coal!) under the tree, rest assured he'll be looping back once you're asleep. Read more about how NORAD tracks Santa on our Official Google Blog.

To make following Santa's journey even easier, you can find him on your phone too. Make sure you have Google Maps for mobile (available for most phones). Then just search! Just as you'd put in a query for "pizza" to find pizza places, or "San Antonio" to find it on a map, you can search for "Santa" to find where he is at the time. This way, you can stay up to date whether you're lounging by the fire at a ski lodge, stuck in traffic en route to Grandma's (get your kids to look it up for you!), or at the dinner table. To get started, go to m.noradsanta.org on your mobile phone, or just search for "Santa" in Google Maps for mobile on December 24th.


Posted by Matt Aldridge, Mobile Elf