Video: How to really speed up your Google search, without installing anything
Posted by Stefan on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 4:48 pm under Nokia, Applications, Symbian
I am absolutely livid right now. Google, a company who I absolutely love and admire, used deceit and misinformation to promote their product. They claim that it takes 20 seconds to search for something using their search engine with their newly announced S60 application and 40 seconds without. This video (above) is a response to the video (below).
Steps recapped for those who can't see my screen, blame Nokia for that, they don't have autofocus when shooting video:
Step 1: Open the S60 browser.
Step 2: Click on options, then settings.
Step 3: Click on General.
Step 4: Click on Access point, select user defined, select the one you always use.
Step 5: Click on Homepage, select user defined, now type in http://google.com
Step 6: Exit the browser. Now when you're at the homes screen (idle screen, active idle screen, whatever it is you call it) just hit and hold 0 (as in zero) and the web browser will launch, automatically connect and go straight to Google.com.
All the other Google video's I've seen have been totally awesome, informative and a fantastic way to get to know the people behind one of my favorite companies. This most recent video however insulted me. They deliberately turn off T9, they deliberately make all the mistakes a first time user would, it just doesn't sit well in my book.
I only wish my camcorder (which doubles as a web browser, GPS, MP3 player, etc.) did a better job of showing what I did instead of the blurred mess above.
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February 21st, 2008 at 5:05 pm
google took down my video. i'm a little hurt.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Oh come on…The person who's using the browser is obviously taking their sweet, sweet time!
When are we gonna get autofocusing video(again) in the N-Series anyways?
February 21st, 2008 at 5:52 pm
are you serious? how can google just take down your vid..?!? for what reason?
btw, i was thinking the exact same as i was watching the mentioned vid from google.. it's just lame and unrealistic.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I'm not sure about all of the N-Series, but the N75 allows you to use bookmarks from the browser for the softkeys or shortcuts on the idle screen. This is both helpful and frustrating. Frustrating when you want to change a shortcut and have to scroll endlessly to find the app your looking for as I have yet to decode the logic, but useful for quick webpages. A friend of mine made a bookmark for the mobile google calendar, named it simply 'Calendar' and set it to a softkey to be easily accessed with one button press from the standby screen. One more way to overcome the shortcomings of the S60 PIM set.
February 21st, 2008 at 6:16 pm
weird dude. i just typed "la kings score" with the new search application and timed it. from pressing the pencil key to getting the page fully loaded with the score, it took 13 seconds.
and T9 is automatically enabled already. are you sure you have predictive text set to "on" in your settings?
bummer they took your video down i wanted to see it. I would be pissed to. upload it with ovi.
btw, i'm testing this on the n73.
February 21st, 2008 at 9:18 pm
And if you don't want that stupid mobile version, nor the "classic" one that's really limited, you can bookmark http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=&btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky to be your homepage.
And speaking of this new search app, I have mixed feelings, I love it right now because it is really fast! (the way it opens and connects the browser while you're typing is brilliant) but it is still ugly and unintegrated. Nokia HAVE to open the active standby plugin API for developers, imagine having google taking over that useless "Search: Internet and My Content" space that takes ages to open (kinda defeat the purpose of a shortcut when it's faster to just open the plain browser).
And patrick, the N75 is a Nseries =P
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:17 am
Well, haven't tested the new one, but you seem seriously pissed, so pissed that you lost your math while counting the standby screen icons :p
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:22 am
All newbishness aside, you can blatantly see that whoever was using the Web browser to search was typing the same information SLOWER.
They can keep their app. The first bookmark in my web browser is Yahoo Search anyway.
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:35 am
Hm, I will try this way.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:18 am
What's funny is that it also takes LESS time for you to set up the shortcut than it did for me to download and install the app, over a 3.5G connection. Either way, I've still got it installed on my N95-3.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:52 pm
while its not the most innovative or necessary thing for most of us seasoned S60 users, I can see how its a nice add-on for newbs in general.
and while its not quite indicative of how most of us here type on our keypads either, the S60/nokia newb would probably be typing at that tortoise pace on their new phone.
so its kind of applicable.
no need to get quite so livid over something so trivial.
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 am
Wait how do you have 7 standby shortcuts? I only have 6. how do i add a seventh?
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
He doesnt have 7, he has 6…. but he was so mad at the time he counted 7…. look at Rita's comment above.
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Ok, after messing with the different options a lot, I actually like the Google Search app. I have also posted a comparison with videos on my blog, check it out: http://www.fwrnando.com/blog/2008/comparing-search-methods/
April 12th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Wow, useful application, but I prefer a more "clear" dtandby display, I don't think you will save so much time…