Google Handwrite Now Available From Mobile Browsers

[Anthony Bouchard]

Google Handwrite is a neat feature available today in beta from the mobile version of their Web site that allows the user to write out Google searches with their fingers instead of using a keyboard to tap on keys. The feature requires a touch screen to use, but it’s pretty nifty. As the video demonstrates, Google Handwrite works on a variety of mobile phones and tablets including Apple's iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Google Handwrite isn’t necessarily a practical way to search the Web as the touch screen is limited in size and spanning words across the screen can be done in just one or two words. You might be lucky to fit the words, "how to" on the screen before you can actually type in the rest of your query for Google to list results for. The software helps compensate for this small flaw by allowing you to add one or a couple words at a time to the query; they will just continue to add to the line of text in the Google search field until you tap on the search button.

Using the feature is free and you can enable it on your iOS (or other mobile device) right now by visiting the following URL and enabling the Handwrite feature from the page. Once you tap enable, scroll all the way down and be sure to save your changes to your preferences:



Once you enable the feature, you will see a new button at the bottom of your screen. The button, when tapped, enables the Google Handwrite feature for the Web page. It opens a bar that includes a space button, a backspace button, and help button. As long as the bar is showing, you cannot scroll up and down – you can swipe on the screen to find a blue stroke following your finger. Use this to write letters that will be included in your Google search. To close out of the Google Handwrite interface, tap on the Google Handwrite button again and the bar will disappear, allowing you to scroll up and down again:



Google Handwrite can be disabled the same way you enabled it. If you have Private Browsing enabled on your iOS device, Google Handwrite will be disabled every time you close out of the Mobile Safari application because Private Browsing is intended to never save information you enter into the browser – including Web-based preferences. You will have to disable Private Browsing to have Google Handwrite available each time you start the browser, or else you will just have to enable it manually every time you start the browser. Google Handwrite also only works on the Google Web site.

Be sure to give this new feature a try and see if you like it. Also check out Google's new Google Earth application with 3D maps technology that was released today.

Sources: Gizmodo

[seizlapee]

this is stupid addon? Whats the point when I can just type it in?

[Anthony Bouchard]

this is stupid addon? Whats the point when I can just type it in?

Google has always been a very playful company. This is just a fun alternative that you can enable or disable whenever you want to use it or don't want to use it.

[aidanharris]

I can talk faster than I can type and a lot faster than I can handwrite. I would rather let Siri deal with my queries or use dictation than hand write my searches...

[Raybeast]

Google has always been a very playful company. This is just a fun alternative that you can enable or disable whenever you want to use it or don't want to use it.

Nevertheless, its useless.

[jrrtps]

back to the past.... Handspring the return!!!!!

[Anthony Bouchard]

Nevertheless, its useless.

It wouldn't be useless because it fulfills the intended purpose of being able to search the Internet by drawing letters. To be useless, it would have to not work. Pointless? – possibly.

Not everything was made for productive purposes; some just for fun, but the opposing point is understood nonetheless.

[thatboy12345]

this is stupid addon? Whats the point when I can just type it in?

Maybe to Google users for a fun way to search information

[xXR3H@NXx.]

Hey peeps! If you do this on chrome for ops it dosnt just stay on google, it follows u everywhere!

[kidrobot714]

another useless feature that people dont really need....

[kukuchiau]

Nevertheless, its useless.

Sigh, westerners like you wont understand the sheer easiness to search while writing in CHINESE (or any other language that's non alphabetic). That's why google is an INTERNATIONAL corporation while you....

[brodimus]

^But they showed it using English....a western language. And for us, it's useless.