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Google Search app for iPad and iPhone adds voice-based answers, available in the 'next couple of days'

Google Search app for iPad and iPhone adds voice-based answers, available in the 'next couple of days'

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Google has updated its search app for iOS to include voice-based questions and answers. You can "ask for the weather in a natural way" and it will provide results. It mirrors the functionality already introduced for Android 4.1 and, in many ways, the functionality of Siri.Developing...

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voice search

Google has updated its search app for iOS to include voice-based questions and answers. You can "ask for the weather in a natural way" and it will provide results. It mirrors the functionality already introduced for Android 4.1 and, in many ways, the functionality of Siri. The interface is clean, matching Google's open white-space aesthetic with some swooping animations for bringing up the voice search button.

The results are, in fact, pretty much identical to what we used in Jelly Bean — including contextual awareness of where you are and what sort of thing you are searching for. However, the results are straight search results, not the "cards" interface on Google Now. Clicking a result will open the web page in a Chrome-like new tab within the app itself. You can also direct the search to do actions immediately, as in Google's example: "Show me a video that explains quantum physics." It immediately pulls up YouTube in a tab and presents a video.

As with Google Now, it's also aware of who you are. For example, the "when is my flight" query does, in fact, present your results. However, Google was careful to reiterate that "Google Now" is about the ambient information cards, while "Voice Search" is a separate thing on Android 4.1. In other words, "Google Now" is not coming to its search app on iOS, just "Voice Search."

It should be within the Apple App store "within the next couple of days," Google says. Amit Singh didn't say whether Apple has already approved the app, but it had submitted it one week or so, and is "working with Apple to get the app to users in the next few days."

Google Universal Search for iOS event photos

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