We wrote about Google’s Quick Search Box (QSB) a few months ago when the product was officially launched. We found the Twitter plug-in particularly interesting because QSB was able to turn into a Twitter app that let you post Tweets from the search box itself. Now, Google is launching a version of QSB for the Android Phone which provides similar functionality from the phone’s home screen.
QSB on the Android aims to cut down on keystrokes by providing suggestions as you type and provides a single search box to let you search a variety pf content on your phone, including apps, contacts, and browser history, as well as content from the web, like personalized search suggestions, local business listings, stock quotes, weather, and flight status. And QSB is intuitive; the search box will pull up items that you search for and use most often.
On of the most compelling features of QSB for the Andoid is that third-party developers can include suggestions in search, letting outside information from any apps make into searchable content. So if the app is built with QSB support, QSB will index the content in the app and it will show up in the box. For example, you could search a Twitter app for Tweets.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that QSB for the Android has the ability to Tweet from the search box itself, but perhaps that plug-in will be added in the near future.
For people who have been using andriod, how is it as an email server (reliability, usability, speed) compared to blackberry’s?
I’ve had a few BlackBerries and now use an Android device. My wife has a work BlackBerry and a personal Android device. So, I’ve had a fair chance to compare the two.
If you are using Gmail in some form (I use Apps for Domains) then it compares pretty favorably to a BlackBerry running on BES. It is actually quite a bit better for email than a BlackBerry running on BIS.
Android Pros:
Better support for reading rich formatted emails and foreign languages.
Push is just as fast as a BlackBerry.
In the time I’ve had my Android phone (since the launch of the G1), I have actually had fewer outages and delayed emails than my Wife’s corporate BlackBerry in the same amount of time.
Being able to bounce back and forth between a Gmail client in any browser and the phone, and have it constantly in sync is really nice.
I personally like how Gmail’s UI handles email more than how it is handled in Outlook and the BlackBerry, but that is a personal choice.
Android Cons:
No spell checking.
Android is a lot more data hungry than a BlackBerry, which can be a problem if you want to use the data when you are traveling internationally.
No Android device can compete with a BlackBerry on battery life.
interesting, thanks Lee. Would be interested to hear other opinions as well. These are definitely some pros and cons to chew on.
If using a different email (non-gmail, corporate email) how does that compare, or close to a push?
I am surprised there is no sepll cehck.
If it is Exchange with ActiveSync enabled, then you will get push, provided you have one of the devices that comes with an ActiveSync client (like the HTC Magic, Motorola devices, and I think maybe the Samsung). If it doesn’t support ActiveSync, then it will be the crappy pull every x number of minutes.
There is a plug-in app in the Android Market that allows you to tweet from the QSB. You have to have donut 1.6 and twidroid installed to use it.
HAhahaha, thank you!
Andriod is getting better bigger every day. For a customer the competition between all the OS is bringing whole lump of amazing features and benefits. Cheers to their competition.
what next .. oh, look .. they changed color of the logo?!
I think this may be my next phone OS.
“letting outside information from any apps make into searchable content”
Parse error?
And still you can’t search the calendar.
The QSB is sorta slow but seems to cache frequent searches.
My biggest gripe with android is the email.. its awful. There’s no mail signature option!? How the hell is this so? I have to put “MY NAME (Mobile)” as my display name.
Come on nerds, actually use the software you program.