Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cloud
    • Cloud
    • Mobile
    • Search Engines

    Google Mobile Search Updates: App Referrals for Android

    By
    Todd R. Weiss
    -
    December 7, 2013
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Mobile search

      Google is giving Android search users a new tool to help ensure that they have more information at their fingertips: When searching on a topic using an Android device, the results will also now show related apps that users can download for deeper information about the topics they are querying.

      But that’s not all, mobile search fans—Google has also updated its Google Search apps for Android, iPhone and iPad to allow speakers of French, German and Japanese to now conduct voice searches in their native languages.

      The Android app referral capabilities were announced by Scott Huffman, the vice president of engineering for Android, in a Dec. 4 post on the Official Android Blog.

      “A task as simple as choosing a movie to see can actually be complex—and the information you want can be in several different places, often in apps,” wrote Huffman. “You might get your trivia from IMDb [Internet Movie Database}, the box office stats from Wikipedia and ratings from Rotten Tomatoes. Starting today, Google can save you the digging for information in the dozens of apps you use every day, and get you right where you need to go in those apps with a single search.”

      That new capability can be quite useful, providing links to known apps or to apps that users may not have used or known about previously. “Google Search can make your life a little easier by fetching the answer you need for you—whether it’s on the Web, or buried in an app,” he wrote.

      “Say you want to explore downhill skiing—now, you can just ask Google for downhill skiing apps and get a collection of useful apps,” wrote Huffman.

      The new app referral feature is rolling out to users now on Android through the Google Search app or directly in Chrome and Android browsers and in Google Play when relevant, he wrote. The number of apps that will be referred to will be limited initially and expanded over time, he added. “This is just one step toward bringing apps and the Web together, making it even easier to get the right information, regardless of where it’s located.”

      For voice search users, the addition of voice search in French, German and Japanese means that native speakers of those languages will no longer be locked out of using Google voice search in their native languages, according to a Dec. 5 post by Kartik Murthy, the product manager for Google Search, on the Google Inside Search Blog.

      “English speakers have been hearing Google respond to their spoken queries for a while, and we’re now bringing some of the functionality to people in other parts of the world,” wrote Murthy. “To try it out, simply tap the microphone in the search box and ask for anything you’re looking for. If you need some coffee in Munich, just say ‘Wo bekomme ich Kaffee in München?’ to get a list of local options. Wondering what the height of the Eiffel Tower is? Get a quick answer by asking, ‘Quelle est la hauteur de la Tour Eiffel?'”

      Users will now be able to receive spoken answers to many of their questions in French, German, and Japanese using the Google Search app on Android phones or iPhones or iPads, wrote Murthy. Users have to have the latest version of the app installed to gain the new capabilities.

      In August, Google expanded its voice search capabilities for Android users with the addition of 13 languages to the 29 languages that had previously been supported. With Voice Search, users can speak into their devices to get search results in their native languages, without having to type in their queries.

      The new languages added in August were Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, European Portuguese, Finnish, Galician, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak and Swedish. By adding these languages to the 29 that were already usable with Voice Search for Android, another 100 million people around the world are able to use the voice search services in their native language, according to Google.

      Avatar
      Todd R. Weiss
      As a technology journalist covering enterprise IT for more than 15 years, I joined eWEEK.com in September 2014 as the site's senior writer covering all things mobile. I write about smartphones, tablets, laptops, assorted mobile gadgets and services,mobile carriers and much more. I formerly was a staff writer for Computerworld.com from 2000 to 2008 and previously wrote for daily newspapers in eastern Pennsylvania. I'm an avid traveler, motorcyclist, technology lover, cook, reader, tinkerer and mechanic. I drove a yellow taxicab in college and collect toy taxis and taxi business cards from around the world.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×