4 ms·
How come apple is so much better than Google in search?
I switched from iOS to Android two years ago and Google still hasn't caught up with Apple's device search.
On my iPhone I used the spotlight search so much I tried to hack it to be my home page. On Android all I have is the Google search bar which searches--guess what? Google. If I type my girlfriend's name I'll get a wikipedia result instead of her contact info even though I contact her 10 times a day.
To be honest, you can see the information on the device, but only after scrolling down to the bottom of the results, or in some cases clicking the little "search phone" button.
Why hasn't this been fixed already?
- anonyfox 11y agoApple is focussing on a great user experience to sell devices with a premium tag, google is focussing on maximizing the number of targeted ads you see whatever you do. Your choice.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- breiner 11y agoI agree...it seems like Google is more concerned with targeted ads instead of user experience.
- starshadowx2 11y agoStrange, when I use the search bar I get contacts or app results first. I really don't have the same experience at all like you.
- breiner 11y agoSee my reply to @dragonwriter...BTW, do you ever use this search bar for device search?
- starshadowx2 11y agoYeah, mine looks nothing like that. Using 5.1.1 on a Nexus 6. http://i.imgur.com/2BahpeT.png http://i.imgur.com/2BahpeT.png I always get Search, Apps and Contacts right away like @dragonwriter. Honestly no, I don't usually, but that's because I barely have to. I know where all my stuff is and who my contacts are. I use it primarily for Google Search.
- breiner 11y agoIt does! Don't you have any other contacts in "b" ? The fact you're not using it is the ultimate proof, on iPhone it was super useful. And no way you "know where everything is" I bet you swipe for 30 seconds every time you want to open an app that's not on your home screen...
- starshadowx2 11y agoNot any other contacts I talk to regularly. If I do go into the search device they come up, but I know my contacts and I'll see them in Phone or Message right away anyways. And no, it does not take me 30 seconds to search for apps. I only have 3 pages of apps, so it takes at most 4 taps. Most of the apps I use regularly are on one of my two main pages though, so I barely even need that many. Maybe it's saying something that you need 30 seconds to find apps on your phone.
- breiner 11y agoMost people do... the average number of apps per user is close to 100
- mcintyre1994 11y agoI just double tap home and can search my apps like Alfred on OSX, I think that's a Nova launcher thing. There's literally no point arguing Android doesn't do something you want because you're almost certainly wrong. That said, I don't tend to use the device search a lot except for files etc - I go app first when contacting people usually. I'm not sure why it's not working for you but other than being a bit slow to start up (they really should load the keyboard before recent searches) I don't think I've ever had an issue finding what I was looking for.
- dragonwriter 11y ago> On Android all I have is the Google search bar which searches--guess what? Google. If I type my girlfriend's name I'll get a wikipedia result instead of her contact info even though I contact her 10 times a day. The Google search bar does instant search on-device (including contacts, apps, web history, etc.) from the search box before you hit the search button (including contacts, as I just tested on my phone), and searches Google iff you hit the action button (the search icon that replaces "enter" on the keyboard when typing in the search box.) So I don't see the problem you are reporting of having to take extra-steps to find the on-device results; instead, it takes fewer. This is a Galaxy Note 3 with Lollipop and the Google Now launcher; its possible that different device/OS version/launcher may provide a different UX here.
- breiner 11y agoI'm using the latest Google Now launcher with Lollipop 5.1. It seems to be random what it chooses to prioritize. But it looks like web searches have higher priority, see screenshot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k1hsdo8euclnf23/Screenshot%202015-07-03%2016.00.14.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/k1hsdo8euclnf23/Screenshot%202015-... p.s. Danielle is my girlfriend and we do talk a lot :-/
- jacalata 11y agoThat's how it's worked on Android phones for over two years - It's possible you are using an OS version more than four years old or something.
- breiner 11y agoSee my reply to dragonwriter...
- jacalata 11y agoNo idea. Mine looks like starshadowx's image, and I use it for contact search and as my default way to open apps.
- breiner 11y agoSo you actually use it to open apps? you open apps by searching?
- jacalata 11y agoYes, all the time. I have a few most-used apps on my home screen and the rest (including some like Mint, which I use frequently but don't want obvious to someone picking up the phone) I open by searching.
- breiner 11y agoI see, I used to do that too. But it just wasn't as fast as iOS. That's why I built this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nextstagesearch https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nextstages...
- jacalata 11y agoThis makes me feel like your question was only intended as a setup for advertising your app.