Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Instant Previews now available on mobile

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)

Instant Previews provides a fast and interactive way to evaluate search results. Starting today, Google Instant Previews is available on mobile for Android (2.2+) and iOS (4.0+) devices across 38 languages. Similar to the desktop version of Instant Previews, you can visually compare search results from webpage snapshots, making it easier to choose the right result faster, especially when you have an idea of the content you’d like to see.

For example, if you’re looking for a webpage that has both photos and descriptions, you can use Instant Previews to quickly identify these pages by navigating across the visual search results with a few swipes of your finger. Or perhaps you’re looking for an article, a step-by-step instructions list, or a product comparison chart—with Instant Previews, you can easily spot pages with the right content without having to navigate back and forth between websites and search results. And when the mobile version of a website is available, we’ll show you a preview of the mobile page.





To use Instant Previews on your mobile device, do a search on www.google.com and tap on the magnifying glass next to any search result. A side-by-side comparison view of the webpage previews for the first page of search results will appear. When you find a result you like, tap on the preview to go straight to the website. It’s as easy as finding a recipe for poaching an egg:




You can learn more about Instant Previews for mobile in our Help Center. We hope that you enjoy finding the right result faster with Instant Previews!

Posted by Brian Ngo, Software Engineer, Mobile Search team
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25 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 8, 2011 at 9:07 AM

    Is this the final version or is it still in progress? Looked like it had lag when surfing the previews. Nice add, it comes really handy!

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  2. etnuMarch 8, 2011 at 9:26 AM

    Doesn't appear to work on tablets. Switching the user agent to mobile or desktop works though.

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  3. UnknownMarch 8, 2011 at 9:28 AM

    What if you want to navigate using the normal search results, not the previews? Every time you want a preview you have to hit the preview button and then hit the back button to go back to the results - and it always goes back to the first result, even if the preview was for the last one on the results page, which becomes a right pain!

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  4. PeterMarch 8, 2011 at 9:54 AM

    Does not seem to work on my HTC Desire HD with 2.2.1

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  5. Ahmed EltawilMarch 8, 2011 at 10:16 AM

    Works beautifully and flawlessly on my Nexus One. Keep up the great work and keep the innovations coming!

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  6. UnknownMarch 8, 2011 at 10:17 AM

    It works quiet nicely on my HTC Desire, great improvement. Although I haven't been able to scroll through the previews by swiping, I had to tap the little arrow, which is far less cool. Is this a gingerbread-only feature?

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  7. ChrisMarch 8, 2011 at 10:49 AM

    Wow, I'd love the option for the Android Voice Search to immediately go to the Fast Flip preview images.

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  8. UnknownMarch 8, 2011 at 11:12 AM

    Ditto on the scroll issue: I can't swipe through the preview, need to use the < and > arrows. (EVO 4G w/Froyo)

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  9. AdminMarch 8, 2011 at 11:24 AM

    It's available for nokia mobile?

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  10. honeybeeMarch 8, 2011 at 11:36 AM

    I believe Google is spoiling us but I love it .... it works great on my nexus 1

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  11. DeenMarch 8, 2011 at 1:20 PM

    wow man this makes a lot of sense

    www.total-privacy.ie.tc

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  12. UnknownMarch 8, 2011 at 2:28 PM

    Just tried it, works great. Thanks Google for continuing to be a leader in web and mobile device innovation.

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  13. Diego SalatinoMarch 8, 2011 at 2:28 PM

    Anda excelente en iPhone, felicitaciones

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  14. UnknownMarch 8, 2011 at 4:44 PM

    have any estimate for blackberry ?

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  15. UnknownMarch 8, 2011 at 7:06 PM

    It is not showing up for me on stock android browser, but works on Dolphin browser. Any idea how to get it to work? Thanks HTC evo

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  16. I Putu SudarmaMarch 8, 2011 at 10:35 PM

    so this is for android ?

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  17. ChrisMarch 9, 2011 at 6:30 AM

    I guess I'm going to have to keep asking this every time you post "for iOS and Android". Blackberry 6.0 uses the SAME webkit-based browser as these platforms. It's fully HTML5 compliant. Why won't this work on Blackberry? Are you purposefully filtering User Agent strings?

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  18. UnknownMarch 9, 2011 at 9:05 AM

    The scroll function doesn't work (HTC Desire HD). Only the < and > arrows works.

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  19. administratorMarch 9, 2011 at 9:12 AM

    reat improvement. Although I haven't been able to scroll through the previews by swiping

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  20. UnknownMarch 10, 2011 at 4:08 AM

    Works fine on my HTC gratia. However I miss an ability to add a found location to an existing contact. As it is now I can only add the location to a new contact.

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  21. UnknownMarch 11, 2011 at 3:17 AM

    Google through us blackberry users a bone here, at least give us a special URL to use to give us access to the iOS and android version of things or even better just add us to the user agent strings. This is really getting beyond a joke now, and it seems to me that your trying to promote your own mobile OS by purposefully restricting mobile versions of your website.

    - A blackberry and google lover

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  22. Varunkumar NagarajanMarch 11, 2011 at 10:57 AM

    Thanks for this feature. This looks much better than the web version of it. Btw, I am interested in knowing the insights into the technology being used. Could you please make a post similar to http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2010/11/instant-previews-under-hood.html

    Thanks,
    Varun

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  23. Tom HMarch 14, 2011 at 11:16 AM

    I want the "starred results" star icon back. Anyone know how I can do that? I'm on Android 2.2. Thanks.

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  24. sourcingzoneMarch 17, 2011 at 9:20 AM

    nice feature

    Mobile Prices SMS and Ringtones

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  25. R. C. FountainMarch 18, 2011 at 5:14 PM

    Next time I need to poach an egg, I know where to go. ;) Seriously, sweet features. Thanks for sharing.

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