Remember the Google Mobile app for iPhone? With an official post on the company’s blog a few minutes ago, Google announced a major new version of the with a completely new look, new features and a new name: Google Search for iPhone. Simple as that, the app packs all the functionalities from the previous version in a new UI, easily accessible for everyone and built on top of iOS 4’s multitasking and fast app switching capabilities.
Google Search presents itself with a new search UI that makes it easy to start typing right away or perform a voice search through the iPhone’s mic. Search results can be tailored to your needs with a new toolbar that slides in and reveals more options as well as other Google applications.
Second, we’ve made it easier to pick up searching where you left off. If you leave the app and come back later, you’ll be able either to start a new search right away (just tap in the search box to type, hit the microphone button to do a voice search or tap on the camera icon to use Google Goggles) or get back to exactly where you were by tapping on the lower part of the page.
Finally, there are a number of improvements we’ve made to everything else you love in the app, including Google Goggles, Voice Search, Search with My Location, Gmail unread counts and more.
After launching the app for the first time, you’ll be guided through the new features of the app with an interactive overlay that places question marks on screen to explain what’s new and improved. Search, Goggles and Voice Search are still there, but placed next to the main search bar that is kept in a collapsible window you can open or dismiss at any time. The effect’s really cool as you can invoke search from anywhere in the app, even when browsing images or news results. A feeling I’ve got when trying the app is that Google is really trying to blend all its services together in this new Google Search app: with a single swipe, you can access Places, Images, Shopping search results, real-time updates, Blogs and more. It feels like they have rebuilt to app to unify all Google’s services in a single package, and I think that’s a step in the right direction. You can of course sign in with your Google Account and tweak the preferences to your needs.
Google Search for iPhone is a free download in the App Store. Check out the promo video and more screenshots below.