Google Android to help organize the world's info, make it more accessible

By Giselle Abramovich

October 3, 2008

T-Mobile G1 with Google

Google Android phones will help the Internet giant get one step closer to completing its mission of organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful.

In fact Android-powered phones are designed to support the second part of that mission -- universally accessible and useful - by making search an integrated, easy-to-use, and platform-wide feature.

“We've made Search easier to use by providing suggestions,” said Andy Stadler a software engineer on Google’s Android Team in Mountainview, CA in his blog. “As you type, the list of suggestions refines itself and you'll immediately jump to that search with a simple touch.

“There are two types of suggestions on the T-Mobile G1,” he said. “Google Web searches use Google Suggest technology to offer relevant, up-to-date suggestions.

“Other applications, like YouTube or Gmail, suggest queries you've previously made so that it's easier to find and share results that you've found before. I've even used recent query suggestions to start a search without any typing at all.”

On September 23, T-Mobile announced the world's first Android-powered phone, the G1.

T-Mobile has officially announced that it will release the first Google Android-powered handset on Oct. 22.

It will be availble to the carrier's subscribers in the United States and Europe.

The T-Mobile G1 combines full touch-screen functionality and a QWERTY keyboard with a mobile Web experience that includes Google products, such as Google Maps Street View, Gmail, YouTube and one-touch access to Google Search.

The Android phone integrates search with applications in a variety of ways, in order to make it universally accessible.

Every searchable application has a search option. Some applications (like Maps) support type-to-search.

Users just need to start typing and Maps will automatically open the search UI.

Some applications (like Android Market) have search buttons. Others have search widgets.

On the T-Mobile G1, there's a search key on the bottom row of the keyboard.

Search is also integrated across the platform so that applications can share search capabilities with each other.

"We've made it easy for third party developers to incorporate search into their applications, too,” Mr. Stadler said. “We've provided an easy-to-use API, documentation, sample code, and everything else a developer needs to implement basic searchability - with recent query suggestions - in their apps.

“What's more exciting to me is that developers can improve upon search as well,” he said. “Maybe someone will find and provide new sources of searchable knowledge, or serve mind reading suggestions, or display search results in a more informative and beautiful way? I can't wait to see what developers come up with.”

Click here to read Mr. Stadler 's full blog post.