Although the integrated search client does a good job of searching, it's mostly local (perhaps this is a region thing?) - that is, it searches your phone only. Google's released a S60 version search application to make it easier for us S60 users to go online and search; instead of opening up your browser, heading over to www.google.com and typing in your search phrase and then waiting for the results to load, you can now simply type your search phrase to the application and wait for everything else to be done for you - no need to open your browser or browse through those few pages to get to Google.


As opposed to the version for the Nokia N95, the version offered for the Nokia N82 doesn't allow for the user to access the application using a shortcut key. This is because the N82 doesn't have the "Pencil/Edit" button, which the N95 does have - and this means that you have to access it via the Application Launcher.

There's a workaround to this problem; you can set one of the Active Standby applications to be the Google Search app, but it does take one of the precious spaces on your standby screen.

The application allows you to set whether you want to view "Mobile" results or the full HTML "Desktop" result, which is definitely a welcome addition compared to manually searching by browsing to Google and having the page defaulted to "mobile optimised" view.

Can't think of how this application is a pain to the user; on the contrary, I think that if you're keen on doing some web surfing on your N82, then this is a must get. It speeds up the entire surfing process, and makes it really easy for you to do searches on Google. And with Google being the first to release a S60 native search application, you can probably expect the other major search engine (Yahoo!) following suit.

You can get the S60 Google Search client via Google Mobile.