Faster search for Nokia smartphones now available in eight international flavours

Posted by Paul Hadfield, Software Engineer, Google mobile team

Back in February we announced a new search shortcut for Nokia smartphones. We've been really pleased with the uptake and with the very positive reaction it's received from the Symbian community. Even though we launched it in the US, we saw some very interesting usage patterns -- people all around the world were downloading and using it.

Of course, Symbian phones are popular almost everywhere. So we're now releasing an international version of the search shortcut for those of you in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia and the UK. Nokia smartphone owners in these countries can now enjoy 40% faster search and get Google search results from their own country.
It's a free download. Just add it to your phone now by going to the URL for your country using the phone's browser and then choosing the download link for Search. The download and installation should only take a minute or so and you'll be good to go. Happy searching!

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Talk to us: GOOG-411 now available in Canada

Posted by Arnaud Sahuguet and Jonathan Matus, GOOG-411 team

Our mission, to organize the world's information and make it accessible, certainly doesn't stop at the US borders. With that in mind, we've recently expanded our GOOG-411 service to Canada. If you're in Canada, you can now find business listings by dialing 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-4664-411) from any phone -- for free.

You can use GOOG-411 to find and connect with businesses you've never called before, such as when you're in an unfamiliar city or when an immediate need arises -- like a plumbing emergency. You can also use GOOG-411 as a "fast dialer" for calls to your dentist, car mechanic, bank, or any other business that you call more than once but isn't in your phone's contact list. For example, instead of memorizing or making a note of the number of your favorite Chinese restaurant, you can call GOOG-411 and connect directly to place your weekly take-out order.

At Google, we work hard to tailor products to specific markets and regions. We believe that accounting for the unique characteristics of each country can make the difference between an OK service and a great one. Although English is spoken in both the US and Canada, there are enough differences between the way it's spoken in the two countries that we engineered GOOG-411 especially for Canadian English. We incorporated some Canadianisms such as "eh," "Traw-na," "Cal-gry," and, of course, "aboot." We also took into account geographical differences. Whereas users in the US are prompted for "city and state," Canadians are asked for your "city and province."

The service is still experimental but offers all the same features available in the US, such as free call, free connection, SMS info, iPhone "Map-It" integration, and more. For now, the service supports only English queries, but we're working hard to make it disponible en Français dans un proche avenir.

Please give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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S60 video contest winner features Google Maps for mobile

Posted by Ryan Pollock, Product Marketing Manager

The See into S60 blog recently ran a contest on YouTube that encouraged readers to submit videos highlighting how they use their S60 phones. We were pleased to see that the winner of the "Show Your Favorite Application" category was an amusing video featuring Google Maps for mobile. We're excited to hear from passionate S60 users who love Google Maps for mobile, and we look forward to rolling out exciting features on S60 phones soon.

Here's the winning video:

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Mobile search access gets faster; iGoogle gets easier to use

Posted by James Watts, Software Engineer

We at Google are obsessed with making your mobile search experience as fast as possible. With that in mind, we've just updated our mobile homepage to allow for a quicker load time, providing you with even faster access to the information you need while on the go.

How do we do this? When you navigate to google.com in your browser, we cache the homepage on your phone. If you bookmark this homepage, then returning to Google using the bookmark is almost instantaneous. Whether you come to Google by browser or through our new search plug-in, starting your search is now quicker and simpler than ever before.

Also launching today is an improved mobile iGoogle interface that provides you with access to your mobile-compatible gadgets anytime, anywhere. We've linked your iGoogle gadgets directly from the new mobile home page and made it easier for you to set up your mobile iGoogle page from the desktop. By going to your iGoogle settings page on a computer, you can choose and rearrange your favorite gadgets for your phone. For example, if weather and news are the most important items to you when on the go, you can drag and drop these gadgets to the top of your page. In addition, you can now read article summaries by clicking on the "More" option on any RSS gadget.

Watch the video below as Steve Cheng and I demo the new search and iGoogle for mobile from opposite sides of the continent. Or just go to iGoogle to sign in and get started. And once your page is set up, remember to bookmark iGoogle on your phone for fast access to all your content. Note that these improvements are available on all non-iPhone devices, as iPhone users have alternative Google search and iGoogle offerings. Happy searching!

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Picasa now customized for Nokia S60 and translated into 36 languages

Posted by Michael van Ouwerkerk, Software Engineer, Google mobile team

Joe optimized Picasa Web Albums for the iPhone and Zak made it shine on Windows Mobile. This made me wonder about Nokia phones. Ever since S60 3rd Edition came out, phones like the Nokia N95 have had good web browsers. Why not give Picasa Web Albums on S60 some AJAXy goodness, with faster browsing and a slicker user interface as well? I investigated what it would take to make our existing design work on S60 and it turned out to be really easy! And since I'm Dutch, I also wanted to view this interface without needing to switch my account language to English. So we had it translated into 36 new languages. We also gave the toolbar an overhaul, adding simpler to understand icons. You can now get this new version of Picasa Web Albums on all S60 phones using a WebKit-based browser, as well as iPhone using Safari and Windows Mobile 6 Professional using Internet Explorer. As an added bonus we've also added support for Windows Mobile 6 Standard.

Finally, based on requests we've had on this blog, we've added a zoom feature for the iPhone. When viewing a photo that was uploaded to Picasa Web Albums in high resolution, just tap on the zoom button -- the one with the magnifying glass. This will take you to a page with a high-resolution image where you can use those wonderful finger gestures for zooming and panning around in the zoomed area.



Head to picasaweb.google.com to give it a try, and be sure to let us know what you think! There's a good chance now that your phone and preferred language are supported.

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Google enables Location-aware Applications for 3rd Party Developers

Posted by Zhengrong Ji and Ravi Jain, Google mobile team

At Google we're very excited about the promise of location technology to drive innovation in the mobile industry. We of course use this location technology already in Google Maps for mobile with the My Location feature. However, we wanted 3rd party developers to also have access to the same location technology across multiple platforms. Gears for Windows Mobile and Android already contain location APIs and we expect to see an explosion of mobile applications that use location technology, particularly on the iPhone starting this month.

Some have wondered: How does it work?

Google Maps for mobile version 2.0 launched last November with a new feature called My Location. My Location enables users to pinpoint their approximate location on a map even if their phone doesn't have a GPS chip. My Location is now available in more than 200 countries and across many different platforms, including BlackBerry, Nokia Series 60, Apple iPhone/iPod Touch, Windows Mobile, and many Java phones. Here's a video that explains what it does. Since the launch, we've seen accelerated growth in the adoption of Google Maps for mobile and have received lots of enthusiastic user feedback on My Location.

We're happy to lift the covers and give you a peek into the inner workings of the Google location server, which powers the My Location feature.

Wireless phones can make and receive calls because they are connected over the air to a nearby cell tower. The phone knows the ID of the cell tower that it's currently using. If the phone has GPS, the Maps application on the phone sends the GPS coordinates along with the cell ID to the Google location server. Over millions of such updates, across multiple phones, carriers, and times, the server clusters the GPS updates corresponding to a particular cell ID to find their rough center. So when a phone without GPS needs its own location, the application on the phone queries the Google location server with the cell tower ID to translate that into a geographic location, i.e., lat/long coordinates. Nifty, huh? We think so.


We're working hard to further improve our location platform and making it more widely available. Stay tuned!

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Get bus and train directions on the go with Google Maps for mobile

Posted by Joe Hughes, Software Engineer

Ever since Google Maps added public transportation directions for San Francisco, it's been a lot easier for me to figure out which buses and trains will get me where I'm going around town, so that today's gas prices take less of a toll on my wallet. Even so, I've often found myself wishing that I had an easy way to get transit directions while I'm out and about.

Enter the new version of Google Maps for mobile. This version (2.2) allows you to get transit directions in all the same places as the web version of Google Maps, including Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Vancouver, and over 40 other cities in North America.

This version of Google Maps for mobile even has a few tricks not yet available on the desktop version of Google Maps. For instance, you can find the last transit trips of the day (to figure out how late you can stay at the party) and more easily browse through earlier or later trips. The My Location feature, available on most phones, also makes it easier to set the start point of your journey.

To see how the transit feature of Google Maps for mobile works, take a look at this quick video walkthrough with my co-worker Ryan:


This version of Google Maps for mobile also includes a bunch of other goodies, like faster searching on BlackBerry devices and star ratings for businesses. It's currently available for BlackBerry devices and many other Java-based phones. To download it to your phone visit http://www.google.com/gmm from your phone's web browser or on the desktop.

We're working to bring public transit directions to Google Maps on other devices, so stay tuned!

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