This morning Google announced new and improved search features for non-mobile devices, building on the lauded mobile search features introduced last year. The improved search features include an upgraded version of Google Instant, along with traditional versions of Goggles and Voice Search.
Google Instant launched last year and has been a great success, saving on average 2 to 5 seconds off each search query entered into Google.com. The upgraded version of Google Instant will be called "Instant Pages" and aims to save users even more time during their searching sessions. From the introduction video, it appears that Google Instant Pages will aim to finally connect the "I'm Feeling Lucky" element of the old Google Search with the real-time search updates element of Google Instant. As you type into Google, the search result thought to be most appropriate (i.e. – what "I'm Feeling Lucky" pointed to) will load in your browser's cache with the user still on Google. Thus, when the user clicks the top link, the page will load instantly, saving time for the user. Instant Pages will be live for Chrome this week, with a Firefox version coming soon as well.
Two prominent Google Mobile search features – the image-recognition search tool "Goggles" and Google Voice – will now be available on the non-mobile version of Google.com. Google Image Search, the non-mobile version of "Goggles", will function similarly to Goggles. Instead of taking a picture with your smart phone, users will upload a picture on the images.google.com website by clicking on a little camera icon at the far right of the search textbox. Extensions for Chrome and Firefox that allow users to right-click and Image Search any image found on the web are in the pipeline as well.
Lastly, Google has introduced Google Voice for desktop. Google Voice for desktop search can be accessed by clicking on the little microphone icon at the far right of the search text box. Google's voice recognition database has compiled over 230 billion words from a myriad of languages, and it is also able to interpret and understand complex phrases as well. Unlike Google Instant Pages and Image Search, this feature will only be available in Chrome.
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