Reference » Google Mobile App Review

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With Google already being such a large part of the iPhone, it was depressing to see how little this application had to offer. The entire application is a glorified folder of Safari bookmarks with a Google search bar attached to it. This makes the point of the app very confusing as Safari already does all of this, you would just have to manually bookmark everything yourself. The Google Mobile App will also directly launch the Maps app or the YouTube app if any of the links you click on need them.
This app doesn't really fit in for a number of reasons. It isn't its own web browser, as everything it does besides pulling up search results requires it to launch in Safari.
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It doesn't offer any added functionality over Safari, as that already has a built in Google search bar.
Not to mention that links in Safari on Google that have to do with Google Maps or YouTube will launch their respective apps on the iPhone. While having access to all the Google Apps offered on a regular computer would be nice, clicking on their icons simply opens the bookmark in Safari with not all locations being the mobile version or iPhone version of that page.
Out of all the companies to come out with an App for launch, Google has sorely disappointed iPhone fans. Perhaps this app will enjoy an update similar to what Facebook did. But until that actually happens, do not download this app.
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Rating
Google Mobile AppGoogle Mobile App

Our Rating:
( 2.6 )
User Rating:
( 2.5 )
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Price: Free
 
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17/8/2008

You guys missed the point

User rated 4/5
Review by ipuser

Like a lot of people who have reviewed and used this application, you have missed the main feature and what makes this application extremely useful - it offers "Google suggestions" as you type!  If you aren't famliar with suggest, google "suggest" and go to the first link.
For example, if I wanted to Google "statue of liberty", instead of typing the whole thing, I can just type "stat" down the bottom will be top queries that users type with these letters (in this case I see "state-of-origin, static major and statue of liberty".  You can then just click on "statue of liberty" and it will fill in the rest for you.
This is extremely useful as the suggestions are almost always exactly what you are looking for - especially for longer and more complicated words which can be a pain to type on the iPhone, this saves a lot of time and is why this is my main application when it comes to searching online.
This together with the fact it shows Wikipedia entries, searches your phonebook and can search for restaurants in and around your area makes it a fantastic app in my eyes.
One last trick, if you want to search within a site specifically, you can do the following (say I want to search for "iphone" on "lifehacker.com"):
  -type "lif" it should show "lifehacker.com" instantly as a result
  -hold your finger down on the "lifehacker.com" result until it shows as a prefix in the search area
  -type "i" (yes thats all you need!) and select "iphone" from the first suggestion
  -select the first option "Search lifehacker.com for iphone"
With only a few key presses and typing only 4 letters in total you have searched a website for a phase.

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16/8/2008

Agree with AppVee review

User rated 1/5
Review by twestley

I totally agree with the AppVee review. This product offers nothing above the iPhone web interface and removes some nice features. I haven't deleted it yet, but I never use it and have moved it to the last app page reserved for apps I no longer use.

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