Google's Instant Previews Go Mobile

Google has now introduced Instant Previews, the feature that enables users to see a snapshot of websites in search results without having to visit them, to the mobile version of its search engine.

Smartphone users can now see a preview of the pages in search results, but Instant Previews on mobile phones takes it one step forwards by providing a much more visual alternative for displaying the results.

"Starting today, Google Instant Previews is available on mobile for Android (2.2+) and iOS (4.0+) devices across 38 languages," Brian Ngo, Software Engineer, Mobile Search team at Google, wrote.

"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," he explained.

Users will now see a magnifying glass logo next to search results. Clicking on it will load the preview, but unlike the desktop version, the previews of all the search results are displayed in an image slideshow manner.

You can quickly scroll through all of them to get an idea of what pages you'd want to visit. The concept is the same as with the desktop version, previews save you time, but it's even more important on mobile devices.

Even with a fast mobile connection and a powerful smartphone, going back and forth between web pages and the Google search results page is no fun. Instant Previews fixes this by enabling users to see what they can expect before loading the websites, saving both time and bandwidth.

What's more, a visual display of the search results may work better on mobile devices, since the small screens make text-heavy pages, like Google Search, more annoying than simple thumbnails of the results.