Google Search iPad App Brings Easier Searching For Tablet Users (VIDEO)

Google has announced a "significant" redesign of their Google iPad app.

According to the Google Mobile Blog, several of the design changes focus on making the app more visually oriented and less reliant on typing since, as Google acknowledges, "typing can be a challenge" on the iPad.

Some of the new features include Google Instant, which is already standard on desktop Google search. On the iPad app, Google Instant auto-completes search phrases as you type, the aim being that your intended results will appear before you finish typing.

There is also a new visual way to view your search history. Instead of a list of all the websites you've visited, the app stacks images of the web pages by search term.

Finally, with Instant Preview users can click an icon in the upper right-hand corner of their screen to see a visual preview of the pages that came up in their search.

Google has also changed the way pages load. When you click on a website, the page slides in from the right so you can continue to scroll through search results as it loads.

The new search app also adds two new icons, a magnifying glass and a "+1" button, at the top of web pages to help the user find and share relevant information. The magnifying glass icon highlights places where your search phrase appears on a web page you found via Google Search. The "+1" button lets you share that page with your Google+ circles.

While ZDNet was disappointed that the app was "a glorified version" of Google Search for desktop browsers, All Things D liked the app and ranked it better than the Google Search app for Android. Writes AllThingsD, "And while Google clearly would like its tablets to take off, it can't afford to lose ground in its core search business while Apple runs away with the market."

The updated app is available now in Apple's App Store.

Take a look at a demo of Google's updated Search app for iPad (below), courtesy the Google Mobile Blog.

Comments

[gixxerman]

10:22 AM on 11/22/2011

I hate the electronic industry. No one innovates, they sit back and wait for whatever Apple decides to do. No originality.

[IanMinton]

08:36 AM on 11/22/2011

No thanks Google- simply having anything to do with you irks me... I don't really like thieves, and you just love to steal winning ideas- in fact, besides searching for stuff for people that's about all you're known for.

[gixxerman]

10:18 AM on 11/22/2011

Lol

[Thomas River]

07:56 AM on 11/22/2011

"typing can be a challenge" on the iPad"

Speak for yourself there Google. Besides, its no different on your android based devices.

[goddelusion]

07:19 AM on 11/22/2011

Did it bring the iPAD flash support? No? Oh. Sorry...

[mikelartist]

07:45 AM on 11/22/2011

Um.... where have you been? Even Adobe is dumping flash.

[J5K]

02:19 PM on 11/22/2011

Actually, they are discontinuing Flash mobile in favor of Air. Flash sites will run via Adobe Air on mobile devices. The reason this is happening is because, even though recent Flash updates perform as well as HTML5 on Android devices, they can do an end-run around Apple's refusal to support it by utilizing Air. Do your research.

[goddelusion]

07:23 PM on 11/22/2011

Ummm. Wouldn't matter if they did. Millions of websites use flash already. It would take years for it to go away.

[iPadToTV]

06:57 AM on 11/22/2011

html 5 will eventually replace flash. Plenty of apps for TV on the iPad. http://ipadtotv.com

[amy devid]

06:52 AM on 11/22/2011

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[BurtonDesque]

01:09 AM on 11/22/2011

Yet another Apple promo pretending to be an actual news article on HP.

[youngrasc]

12:57 AM on 11/22/2011

I'm really happy with Atomic.

[Scott Stevenson]

11:36 PM on 11/21/2011

I have no problem typing on my iPad.

[Mister President]

11:22 PM on 11/21/2011

I don't need improved Google for my iPad. I need Flash.

[tuff guy]

11:40 PM on 11/21/2011

dude. flash is on its way out. if you want to use flash on any mobile device, better have a long extension cord.

get android. it supposedly uses flash. again, don't forget that long extension cord.

flash is a battery hog.

[Mister President]

11:59 PM on 11/21/2011

I got a deal I couldn't pass up, otherwise I would have gotten an Android.

[theveggiedude]

02:53 AM on 11/22/2011

Join the resistance: http://occupyflash.org/

[Mister President]

11:01 AM on 11/22/2011

Somehow I don't think my 7 year old, who likes a lot of sites that use Flash, is going to be too excited about the movement.

[Bryan Boru]

10:49 PM on 11/21/2011

I'm sticking with my laptop.

[Highball]

10:36 PM on 11/21/2011

Huh. It sounds like a nice improvement. I'll have to check it out later.

But I've never had a problem typing on my iPad, so ...

[Amalek]

11:20 PM on 11/21/2011

You must have small hands.

But, small hands, small....

[Highball]

11:21 PM on 11/21/2011

No, but I can touch type just fine, so I have no problem typing on the iPad in landscape mode.

I'm not saying I can type 100 words/minute or anything.

[anthonyNtx]

02:00 AM on 11/22/2011

If you can text on a cell phone you can type on a iPad. Just takes practice.

[iBubbi]

11:50 PM on 11/21/2011

Exactly. Could the keyboard be any bigger -

[plasmaborne4rel]

10:34 PM on 11/21/2011

Because nothing walls in the Internet like an App

[Ramon Moreno]

05:33 PM on 11/21/2011

Droid. First.

[GirlInNYC]

10:35 PM on 11/21/2011

Droid copies Apple. So stand by. First iOS, then Droid can follow as always.

[plasmaborne4rel]

10:36 PM on 11/21/2011

I guess this is why your a HuffingtonPost super user. You're so observant. Now who owns Android again????