Mountain View, California — Google’s mobile development team recently had a busy time fine-tuning what it likes to call its “iterative mobile Web,” a phrase that, in plain English, Google is making some hefty changes to Image Search for the iPhone and Android platforms.
This upgrade is performed so well that when you see it on your phone you will forget that you are accessing it from your phones browser. The redesigns goal is to squeeze more thumbnail images onto the page. To do this, Google has made thumbnails square instead of rectangular. Its so fluid that it seems like it is an app. Google is doing a lot of great things to improve their mobile sites and so far they all are a hit.
There is virtually no lag when swiping left and right that keeps the header static while advancing through multiple pages of image results. The thumbnails delivers really fast and scrolling through them is also quick.
You can also thump through single images if you would rather view them one at a time. The only thing missing is the ability to zoom. You can not do this by double tapping or pinch, this will likely be added in a future update. But as it stands, it is a great site.
According to the Google Mobile Blog:
- The thumbnails are square to maximize the number of images we can get on the screen at one time so you can scan them quickly.
- You can swipe to see the next or previous page of results, or tap the large, stationary “Next” and “Previous” page buttons.
- We optimized for speed so that the images appear quickly when you browse.
Image results on Google.com are now square on some iPhone and Android phones. (Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
Interestingly, until now the search is available in 38 languages, with enhancements that extend into the full image viewer as well. You will notice images on a black background, with swipe-to-next controls available.