Google launches image search for mobile

By Mickey Alam Khan

March 13, 2009

The results page shows related images. Clicking on an image loads the details page

Google has launched a new image search results page for its Android operating system and the Apple iPhone and iPod touch.

The feature, available in the United States, Britain and Japan, comes three months after Google launched the image search on its regular wired Web site.

"With the new image search results, you can easily scan up to 20 images on a single results page and get the details for images that interest you," said Leo Ting, software engineer at Google Mobile Search, in a blog post.

Mobile consumers at the details page can view a larger thumbnail, visit the Web page containing the image or view the image by itself in full size, he said.

The new results page also supports search-by-style filters to enable users to restrict their search results to consumers' faces, clip art, line drawings or photo content.

On results page, the filter option on the blue bar allows selection of image style and SafeSearch settings

For example, consumers can visit http://google.com on their Android, iPhone or iPod touch devices and click on the "Images" tab before conducting their search.

So, say the search is for Botticelli. The results page will show the related images. Clicking on an image will load the details page.

Then, on the results page, the filter option on the blue bar will allow the selection of image style and SafeSearch settings.

The image details page shows a larger thumbnail and links to the original Web site and image

Finally, the image details page will show a larger thumbnail and link to the original Web site and image.