Google on Tuesday introduced several new features of its search services on desktops and smartphones, which the Internet search giant said could help users get to their search results faster.
Search by Voice, Image
Speaking at Google's Inside Search event in San Francisco, Mike Cohen, head of the company's speech technology efforts, said its voice search is now available in 27 languages and dialects, an estimated coverage of around 5 billion people or two-thirds of world population.
Voice search has already been available in Google's mobile search application from 2008. Adding the feature to desktops is part of Google's strategy to bring mobile innovations to its desktop search.
The voice search on desktop performs similarly to voice search on smartphones - users can click the microphone button and speak the query. It is only available via Google's Chrome browser for now.
Cohen noted that the volume of Google mobile speech inputs has increased by six times in the last year.
Also at the event, Google introduced search-by-image, which enables users to drag-and-drop, copy-and-paste image URL, or upload the image from the desktop into the search box. They can also use a Chrome or FireFox software extension to add images to the search.
Google said the search-by-image feature will be available in most countries and regions over the next few days to Chrome users, noting that it will not collect and store any images that users use.
Instant Pages
Google also announced Instant Pages, a feature that delivers search results instantaneously. In a demonstration, Google search with Instant Pages looks like delivering the result with zero loading time while it takes five to seven seconds to show the result with the traditional Google search.
The feature uses an algorithm to predict the search results that users are most likely to choose and pre-cache the page to give an instant delivery.
Google said Instant Pages is "the next big leap in Google Instant," an enhancement available since last September that displays suggested results while the user types.
Instant Pages and Google Instant combined will save people between four to ten seconds of search work per search, Google said, adding that Instant Pages will be available on Chrome Beta in the next week.
Homepage Shortcuts on Mobile
Besides the new desktop features, Google also revealed a new landing page and homepage shortcuts for its mobile search, with shortcut icons to commonly searched local categories like restaurant and coffee at the bottom of the mobile Google homepage.
On the results page, users will see a map with markers for their current location and places around. The map will remain at the top of the page and automatically adjust to the listings users are looking at when they are scrolling through the results.
Meanwhile, Google said it had added more suggested phrases to the search box and let users type search queries piece by piece, making inputting queries with many characteristics much faster.
