14 DAY TRIAL // BlackBerry mobile phone owners out there have now yet another new feature available for them coming straight from Google, provided that they are using the built-in Messages and Contacts apps. According to a recent post on the Google Mobile Blog, the new version of Google Mobile App for their handsets now enables users to search the email and contacts on their device.
“Just type (or speak) your query - perhaps the name of the person who sent you the mail or a phrase from the text - and Google Mobile App will search through the emails and contacts on your device and return the results. You can quickly reply to an email or forward it on,” the blog post states. Moreover, users can also switch between on-device results (email and contacts) and web results (from Google), through simply clicking the link underneath the search box.
Other options that the new feature comes around with includes the possibility to quickly call, SMS, or email contacts by entering the first few letters of a contact's name, either first or last, and then pressing the appropriate button. “Google Mobile App will suggest contacts as you type and you can scroll down to select one. Google Mobile App will promote the people you contact frequently to the top of the suggestions list,” the blog post notes.
Moreover, the new application version offers the possibility to turn off Phone Search in the options screen, in case there are users who do not want the Google Mobile App to search their email and contacts. At the same time, the post also notes that the Google Mobile App doesn't send info on contacts or emails to Google, and that all the data is being accessed only on the device.
The new flavor of Google Mobile App for BlackBerry devices comes with a series of other features too, including the option to make use of a Wi-Fi connection to browse over the Internet. However, it seems that only the BlackBerry devices that are running under BlackBerry OS version 4.5 or higher can enjoy the searching email feature, while the search contacts option works on handsets powered by BlackBerry OS 4.2 and higher. The Google Mobile App can be downloaded by visiting m.google.com on the smartphone.
