Commentary

Google Needs To Create A Search Engine For Mobile Phones

Ever wish you could search for content on your phone effectively, just like you can on your desktop or the Internet? A company called Nuance offered a free trial to attendees of the Mobile World Congress last week that allowed you simply start typing a query in using T9. It automatically searched your entire phone for that content, be it a contact, file, image, application, etc. Google, can you do this, too?

Ever wish you could search for content on your phone effectively, just like you can on your desktop or the Internet? A company called Nuance offered a free trial to attendees of the Mobile World Congress last week that allowed you simply start typing a query in using T9. It automatically searched your entire phone for that content, be it a contact, file, image, application, etc. Google, can you do this, too?Windows Mobile lets you search for some content using T9 in a way similar to the new software from Nuance, called T9 Nav. But it's not as thorough as T9 Nav is. Unfortunately, T9 Nav offered only a temporary beta trial, and won't launch until later this year. On top of that, the software is limited to Symbian-based mobile phones (which is fine if you have a Nokia N95, for example). By the way, Nuance owns the software used to create T9.

Having such a powerful search capability built into the home screen of your phone, negating the need to open a search application, was a boon. Especially if you have a content-laden device like I do. It often negated the need to even open your contacts or messaging applications. Typing in someone's name with T9 Nav will automatically bring up everything related to that person, including their contact info, text messages, e-mails, and more. It was a nifty shortcut for performing a lot of tasks on the phone while I was in Barcelona last week.


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Google, I know you could make an awesome piece of software for mainstream mobile phones and other smartphone platforms that does the same thing. Most consumer-grade phones have terrible file management systems. A search application could make the lives of millions of mobile users easier.

C'mon, Google. Whaddya say?


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