Russell Beattie

Google launched their new search application for S60 phones today (All About Symbian has the details), and it's *fantastic*. Insanely, incredibly, astoundingly so. I mean, it's as simple as it gets... Once you install it, it just sits passively on the home screen and pops up a search box when you press the pencil key or the Ctrl key on phones like my e61, then it opens the browser with your search.

It's hardly an application - more like an add-on to the regular S60 UI... But it's something that should have been on every mobile phone ever made for the past couple years. Essentially, it makes it as simple to search the web as it is to dial a phone number. The app isn't bogged down with extra features or a custom UI like other "search applications" I've seen like Nokia's or Qix, it's just a simple pop up text box for searching - stuff like your default location, etc. is done through normal cookies in the browser. It's perfect.

And Nokia is going to make that the default on all their phones? Holy crap. (If they're smart, they'll make the search endpoint adjustable - like that box in the top right of Firefox - but who knows.)

-Russ