Ever missed an appointment or important email because you were away from your desk? Now Google Mobile App can help with push notifications from your Google account to your iPhone -- an icon badge shows you’ve got new mail in Gmail, and Google Calendar event reminders appear right on your home screen.

We’ve also added spiffy features to get you information faster -- when looking for flight info, weather, stock quotes or currency conversion you’ll see answers before you even hit ‘Search’.

You can get the update from the App Store by searching for ‘Google Mobile App’.

If you have any questions or comments, or if you want to learn more, please visit our help center.

Update 8/24 5:00 PM PST:

• You will only receive pop-up messages and sound/vibration for calendar alerts - new email is shown using the unread count on the Google Mobile App icon and in the apps tab.
• To ensure you get alerts go to the Settings > Google Accounts panel inside Google Mobile App and switch on the notifications you'd like to receive. If you initially didn't allow Google Mobile App to receive push notifications when prompted, you can enable the feature again in the iOS Settings' application's Notifications panel.

Posted by David Singleton, Engineering Manager

Almost five years ago, we launched Google Maps for mobile to help you get where you needed to go from your phone instead of a paper map. Today, more than 100 million people a month are now using Google Maps for mobile to get from point A to point B, find nearby places, and more.

Over the past five years, Maps for mobile has changed quite a bit, adding more ways to help you explore the world around you. With My Location, you can quickly find where you are on the map with or without GPS. You can put your friends on the map with Latitude. Navigation even turns your phone into a free internet-connected navigation system with voice guidance and Street View imagery.

Google Maps for mobile through the years (click to see larger image).

Lately, we’ve been especially focused on helping you find the right place at the right time. With recent additions such as Place Pages, you can now pick a nearby place by browsing information such as opening hours and review snippets for the places around you. It’s easier than ever to find those places with Search by voice or the new Places icon on Android. With this latest Android version, we’re happy to see that you’re now searching for places almost three times as often, doubling how many Place Pages are seen a day.

Search result page for Java-enabled phones in 2005 (left) and Place Page for Android-powered devices in 2010 (right).



Search experience in 2005 (left) and Places for Android-powered devices in 2010 (right).

We hope this is just the start of how Google Maps for mobile will continue to evolve and let you explore the world right from your phone. We’re always inspired by how you’re using Maps, and we’d love to hear about a time when you found the nearest mechanic for a flat tire or discovered that hidden gem of a burger joint. If you have a Google story about when Maps for mobile has helped you, please tell us about it. You can also share quick stories on Twitter @googlemobile, and we’ll share our favorite ones. From all of us here on the Google Maps for mobile team, 100 million thank yous for getting your Google Maps to go!

If you’re a business owner, help millions of people find you by claiming your free Place Page available in Google Maps and our most used mobile “app” -- Google Search. Get started at places.google.com/businesses.

Posted by Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering

In April 2009, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iOS and Android. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code, which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. Today’s topic for the The Iterative Web App, a series where we continue to release features for Gmail for mobile, is the Stacked Cards Interface on the iPad.

When we announced our new interface for Gmail on the iPad, we requested feedback on how we could improve this experience for tablet devices. In June, we responded with a new compose screen. Today, we’re addressing the top feedback by launching a new “stacked card” interface for selecting and managing multiple conversations.



In the past, performing actions on selected conversations was awkward. There were two similar toolbars on the screen: one on the bottom left and the other on the top right. The former affected the selected conversations, while the latter affected the currently open conversation. Since the toolbars’ buttons looked similar, it was easy to mistakenly use the wrong toolbar. Sound confusing? It was.

In the new interface, selected conversations are displayed stacked on the right panel for easy organizing, archiving or deleting. The second toolbar is gone so it’s always clear which conversations you’re working with.

This new interface has also been an opportunity for our team to experiment with CSS3 transitions, which give mobile web applications a similar look and feel to native applications. More details on the implementation are posted on the code blog.

To try the Gmail webapp on the iPad, just go to gmail.com in Safari. For quick access, create a homescreen link. Please note that the new interface is only available in US English for now.

Posted by Liam Asher Segel-Brown, Software Engineering Intern, Google Mobile

(cross-posted with the Official Google Blog)

Our mobile phones have become modern-day Swiss Army knives. An Android phone is a handheld computer, a music player, a notepad, a GPS navigation unit and more, all rolled into one sleek device that fits in your pocket. Today’s phones do so many things for us that sometimes we don’t even think about how we do them.

Even though our phones do all these new things, the most natural way of interacting with a phone remains what it always has been: speaking. And to that end, we’re pleased to introduce Voice Actions for Android. Voice Actions are a series of spoken commands that let you control your phone using your voice. Call businesses and contacts, send texts and email, listen to music, browse the web, and complete common tasks, all just by speaking into your phone.

To use Voice Actions, tap the microphone button on the Google search box on your home screen, or press down for a few seconds on the physical search button on your phone to activate the “Speak Now” screen. Let Mike LeBeau, the lead engineer for Voice Actions, show you in this video.

(from the Google Mobile YouTube Channel)

Speak any of these commands to perform a Voice Action on your phone:

• send text to [contact] [message]
• listen to [artist/song/album]
• call [business]
• call [contact]
• send email to [contact] [message]
• go to [website]
• note to self [note]
• navigate to [location/business name]
• directions to [location/business name]
• map of [location]

And of course, you can still conduct a Google search using your voice.

While we’re at it, we’re also releasing an updated version of the Google search widget for Android. When you type a local search query, like [italian restaurants] you’ll see suggested restaurants with addresses and ratings. Also, as you type queries, you can refine them further by tapping the pencil icon that appears to the right of search suggestions.

Both Voice Actions and the new Google search widget require Android 2.2 (Froyo), and will be pre-installed with the new Droid 2 phone from Motorola and Verizon. Voice Actions are currently available for U.S. English speakers.

If you have another phone with Android 2.2 (like the Nexus One, HTC Evo or the original Droid), you’ll need to download several app updates from Android Market to get all the latest goodness:

• Voice Search (this app includes Voice Actions)
• Google Search widget
• music apps (e.g. Pandora, Last.fm, Rdio, mSpot)

To get started fast, scan the QR codes for these apps below.

We think Voice Actions help you get things done on your phone faster and easier. Give it a try, and let us know what you think!

Posted by Hugo Barra, Product Management Director, and Dave Burke, Engineering Manager

Update (1:23 PM PST): we previously had not made the below downloads available outside the US, but they are now available. Voice Actions only work with US English speakers right now.

Voice Search

Search widget

(Cross-posted from the Google Chrome blog.)

Ever wanted a way to quickly and easily send links and other information from your desktop or laptop to your phone to view on the go? The new Chrome to Phone extension adds a button to your Google Chrome browser that instantly sends the current web page, map, YouTube video, or selected phone number or text to your Android device running Froyo (or Android 2.2).

Suppose you're reading an interesting article on your favorite news website and need to leave for an urgent appointment. Simply click the extension icon in your browser to send the link to your phone and the device's browser will automatically open the link, ready for you to view on the go. Chrome to Phone also works seamlessly with Google Maps. Say you’ve looked up an address or driving directions on your desktop. Clicking the extension icon in your browser will push the information to the Google Maps app on your phone. YouTube videos work the same way with the extension. You can also select a phone number on a web page and send it to the dialer on your phone. Selected text can also be automatically copied from your browser and sent to your Android clipboard for later viewing.



The Chrome to Phone extension is available in English for now, but we hope to expand to other languages soon. Check out the help center if you have further questions. To get Chrome to Phone, install the extension in your Google Chrome browser and the Android application on your phone from Android Market, and you’re ready to go.

Posted by Dave Burke, Engineering Manager

You may already be familiar with Gesture Search, our Android app from Google Labs that lets you search by writing out characters on the touchscreen of your device. Today we’re happy to announce a new version, Gesture Search 1.2, which includes a new motion gesture. By doing a “double flip”, or flipping your phone away and then back, you can start Gesture Search at any time. This eliminates the need to activate Gesture Search from a home screen shortcut. You can turn the feature on or adjust its sensitivity in Settings. We’ve also fixed some bugs and improved usability by adding accessibility support. Gesture Search is still in its early stages (as with all things in Google Labs) but we’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below. It is available for Android-powered devices running Android 1.6 and above, and can be downloaded in Android Market.

Update 8/11/10: If you're on an Android-powered device, click here to download Gesture Search. If you're on a computer, go here.

Update 8/19/10: An updated version of Gesture Search has been posted to Android Market, which contains some bug fixes. You can learn more about the double flip update here.

Posted by Yang Li, Research Scientist, Gesture Search team

Have you ever tried to remember how to get back to a website that you found from a recent search? Today in the US, we’re launching a new search history feature which helps you quickly get back to sites you've been to and see items you have starred from your Android, iPhone, or desktop searches. Just sign in and then tap the history link at the bottom of the Google homepage.
If you’ve enabled search history in your account (tap “Settings” and select “Save Searches” under “Search History”, then tap “Save”), the history that you see is a combination of all your searches done while you are signed-in, whether you are searching from a laptop at home, your desktop computer at work, or your phone while on-the-go. Your mobile searches are marked with a little phone icon so you can tell them apart. For websites you’ve visited while searching on a desktop or laptop, you’ll see screenshot thumbnails that can help you recognize and return to the right sites quickly.
If you want to remove any history items, you can tap the "Edit" button at the top of the page and delete individual search queries. If you prefer to stop recording search history all together, choose the “Do not save searches” option under "Settings" on the home screen and tap “Save.”

At the top of the History page, you can also select your “Starred items,” which shows a list of search results you’ve starred on your computer or phone. Let’s say after researching places to snorkel in Hawaii, you found a website full of photos about Kealakekua Bay that you want to return to later. To star the Kealakekua Bay website, simply click on the star next to the Kealakekua Bay website on Google search results. Thereafter, whenever you want to return to the site, simply click on the “Starred items” option in history. This way, while you’re out with friends, you can easily get back to the website and show pictures of this magical cove right from your phone.
We hope you find the new History link useful!

Posted by Ran Liu, Software Engineer and Nick Fey, User Experience Designer, Google Mobile Team