Google Enables Instant Preview For Mobile, New Emergency Calling Display
It's the small steps, Sally! Some say big things come in tiny packages,
and in this case, a big plus has come in the form of a small magnifying
glass. Google's latest subtle tweak to the mobile browsing experience is
shaping up to make a major difference in how people surf, and save them
an awful lot of time along the way. Back in November 2010, Google
started to showcase emergency phone numbers at the top of the results
page for searches
around poison control, suicide and other common emergencies in 14
countries. This week, the company is making it even simpler to quickly
reach
the help you may need by adding click-to-call capabilities for all of
these emergency information search results.
They did this by piggybacking on the way that their mobile ads team enabled click-to-call phone numbers in local ads on mobile devices, which allows businesses to make it even easier for customers to reach them when those customers search on Internet-enabled mobile devices. Previously, mobile users in one of these countries who conducted searches around poison control, suicide and common emergency numbers received a result showing the relevant emergency phone number. People on mobile will now get the same result, but the phone number will be a link that allows you to dial the number instantly, just by clicking the link.
In other mobile news, Google also implemented Instant Previews on Mobile, which is active on phones with Android 2.2+ and iPhone 4.0+. The service works across 38 languages, and similar to the desktop version, 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. For example, if you’re looking for a webpage that has both photos and descriptions, you can use Instant Previews to quickly identify these pages by navigating across the visual search results with a few swipes of your finger. Or perhaps you’re looking for an article, a step-by-step instructions list, or a product comparison chart—with Instant Previews, you can easily spot pages with the right content without having to navigate back and forth between websites and search results. And when the mobile version of a website is availablee, Google will show you a preview of the mobile page.
Looking to try it out? Just initiate a search on Google.com on one of those supported devices, and tap the magnifying glass next to any result.
They did this by piggybacking on the way that their mobile ads team enabled click-to-call phone numbers in local ads on mobile devices, which allows businesses to make it even easier for customers to reach them when those customers search on Internet-enabled mobile devices. Previously, mobile users in one of these countries who conducted searches around poison control, suicide and common emergency numbers received a result showing the relevant emergency phone number. People on mobile will now get the same result, but the phone number will be a link that allows you to dial the number instantly, just by clicking the link.
In other mobile news, Google also implemented Instant Previews on Mobile, which is active on phones with Android 2.2+ and iPhone 4.0+. The service works across 38 languages, and similar to the desktop version, 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. For example, if you’re looking for a webpage that has both photos and descriptions, you can use Instant Previews to quickly identify these pages by navigating across the visual search results with a few swipes of your finger. Or perhaps you’re looking for an article, a step-by-step instructions list, or a product comparison chart—with Instant Previews, you can easily spot pages with the right content without having to navigate back and forth between websites and search results. And when the mobile version of a website is availablee, Google will show you a preview of the mobile page.
Looking to try it out? Just initiate a search on Google.com on one of those supported devices, and tap the magnifying glass next to any result.
