Mountain View, California — Mobile web search is getting snazzier, as the search engine titan Google on Tuesday unleashed a nifty feature that presents a practical overview of search result in the form of a snapshot of entire page called “Instant Previews” for mobile, a feature that will let users scroll through screen shots of Web sites before clicking through.
Announced on the Google Mobile Blog, Google has enabled Instant Previews for Android handsets running Froyo (version 2.2) or higher as well as iOS 4.0 and higher.
Moreover, similar to its desktop counterpart, the feature is excellent for a number of situations, such as step-by-step instructions and how-to guides. Also it allows you to see search results in a handy image format before clicking blindly on a link. In addition, providing a cached screenshot preview of the results is very convenient for smaller screens.
Sometimes the description of a Web site does not contain sufficient detail, and you have to click through to see if that is what you were looking for. And, if you are on a slow connection, searching can be a time-consuming process. Google’s Instant Previews option, therefore, will let you scroll through side-by-side snapshots of the pages displayed in search results.
All you have to do is visit www.google.com from your Android or iOS device and search for something. The moment a Google search is performed, a new magnifying icon appears next to each result. Tapping one of the icons will shift you to the Instant Preview mode where you can swipe through results as visual snapshots of each page. If Google detects that a site offers a mobile version, it will use that version for its snapshot and your final destination if you tap it.
Glance through your Google results before clicking on them with Instant Previews. (Credit: Google)
Google’s aim with the Instant Preview feature is to simplify it for you to evaluate your search results. For instance, if you are looking for sites that offer a lot of imagery or a product comparison chart, these visual previews can help you make sure that a site offers the content you want before you click through and wait for a page to load. This feature is somewhat handy on traditional computers armed with fast Internet connections. But they should prove to be even more useful on mobile devices where battery power, reliable network speeds, and data caps are typically more limited.
This is a handy way to get an idea of what a website is about if the title and description are indistinct. Currently, the feature works on phones running Android 2.2 or higher and Apple’s iOS 4.0 and higher, in 38 languages.
For more, see the slideshow here and check out Google’s demo video below to get a better idea of how Instant Previews work on a mobile device.
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