Google Improves Search on BlackBerry Devices

Owners of BlackBerry smartphones now have the possibility to enjoy a better Google search experience on their devices courtesy of a series of updates the Mountain View-based Internet company performed to the service.

The improved Google experience is available now for all BlackBerry 6.0 WebKit-enabled devices in the form of faster and easier search and a series of enhancements brought to the homepage and search result pages.

The new improvements should prove great additions especially for those who use touch-enabled Blackberry devices, Google announced.

The list of changes that Google made to its search page for BlackBery devices includes:

- Enter searches faster: Save time by using autocomplete and search history queries that appear beneath the search box as you type.

- Web search: Find what you're searching for fast. Comprehensive results pages let you see relevant websites, images, videos, news, real-time results and more. Simply click on the arrow button ‘>>’ to the left of the top search box for more refinement options.

- Image search: Swipe through image results quickly and easily on touch enabled devices. Start by selecting ‘Images’ at the top of www.google.com, then enter a search. From there, click on any image to view a larger size.

- Local search: Find restaurants, shops and other popular business categories with a single tap. Start by selecting ‘Places’ at the top of www.google.com, then click on an icon from the Places homepage.

All these improvements are available now for almost all BlackBerry handsets from Research In Motion that run under the BlackBerry OS 6.0 or newer, and which sport WebKit browsers. The BlackBerry Torch and BlackBerry Bold 9780 are among the supported devices.

Google also announced that the new Google search for BlackBerry is available for users in 70 countries and that it can be accessed in 20 languages.

Those who would like to get a taste of the new features should simply point the mobile browsers on their devices to www.google.com. They can also bookmark Google Search on their phone's homescreen, for one click access.

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Google+ Users Get Unlimited Free Photo Storage in Picasa

One of the cool perks of being a Google+ user is more free storage in Picasa. One of the strange quirks of Picasa Web Albums has been the limiting 1GB of free storage limit.

Gmail gets over 7 GB of storage, but Picasa, where you really need it, only 1 GB. If you're one of the lucky few Google+ users though, images up to 2048x2048 pixels won't count towards the free storage quote.

Google has updated the help page for its "Free storage limits" with new info for Google+ users. Until now, only photos smaller than 800x800 pixels were stored for free and this remains the case for non-Google+ users.

"Picasa Web Albums offers 1 GB of free storage for photos and videos. However, files under certain size limits don't count towards this free storage limit," the help page reads. Notice that the Google help pages already sport the new Google design mantra.

There are several other changes to the way Picasa is used in Google+ as opposed to other Google products, like Blogger. All photos originating from Google+ will be resized to 2048 pixes.

"All photos uploaded in Google+ will be automatically resized to 2048 pixels (on their longest edge) and won't count towards your free storage quota," Google explained.

Essentially, all Google+ photos are stored for free, so the Google social network is on par with Facebook which also offers unlimited photo storage. Recently, Facebook also started enabling users to upload higher resolution images, exactly the same resolution that Google+ users get.

There's more good news for Google+ users as well, even images that don't come from the social network uploaded to Picasa will be stored for free, as long as they are smaller than 2048 pixels. Regular Picasa users can only store images up to 800 pixels for free and this only for the past few months.

"All photos uploaded to Picasa Web Albums over the free size limit will count towards your 1 GB of free storage. When you reach your storage limit, any new photos you upload to Picasa Web larger than the free size limit will be automatically resized to 2048 pixels (on their longest edge)," Google explained. [via Google OS]

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Google+ for Android Gets Support for Multiple Gmail Accounts

On Wednesday, Internet giant Google made available a new application in the Android Market, bringing the newly launched Google+ service to mobile phones, and it seems that the mobile client has already got its first update.


The new Google+ 1.0.2 comes with support for multiple Gmail accounts, and, the same as the initial flavor of the software, is available for download for all handsets running under Android 2.1 or newer versions of the operating system.

The release notes for the new app includes:

- Spiffy new profile icon on the menu screen
- Handle multiple Gmail accounts on first sign in
- Minor UI polish.

One thing that should be noted here is that the Google+ (Google Plus) service is still under development, and that it was not made available for everyone as of yet. People can join the service only by invite.

The mobile application will taste further enhancements as well, offering users the possibility to enjoy a better Google+ experience while on the go.

“Google+ for mobile makes sharing the right things with the right people a lot simpler. Huddle lets you send super-fast messages to the people you care about most,” Google explains.

“With your permission, Instant Upload automatically puts the photos and videos you take into a private album in the cloud, so you can share them anytime, from anywhere. And no matter where you are, the stream lets you stay in the loop about what your friends are sharing and where they’re checking in.”

For those out of the loop, we should note that Google+ was released as a new social sharing service, enabling users to easily share things only with specific people by organizing their contacts in circles.

The service also keeps them up to date with what is happening in certain circles, while also offering automatic updates features, and Huddle, a super-fast group messaging.

The new version of Google+ (Google Plus) application is available for download via the Android Market here.

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