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Last week we took a look at Microsoft's Outlook.com and OneNote for Google's Android platform. For today, we looked at a Google service on the Microsoft platform. In fact, it's "the" Google service, search.
Google is a free app for Windows Phone 8 and 7 and is an interesting proposition. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft uses Bing as often as possible throughout its OS. In fact, there's a mandated search button on every Windows Phone device that links directly to Bing. There is no way to change the search option to Google, Yahoo or any other alternative.
The only alternative for Googling, therefore, is the Google search app. And while it's missing the new and impressive "Instant" functionality, it's Google, and it's clearly superior to Bing. Google works exactly as you would expect it to. Type in (or speak) what you want to search for, tap enter and voila -- you've Googled on Windows Phone. Since it can't be attached to the hardware search key, we're forced to pin the Google app to the home screen and return to it every time a search is needed. Even if it lacks a dedicated key and isn't Google's latest in search technology, the Google app is perfectly serviceable, and it sure isn't Bing.
PUBLISHED DEC. 10, 2012
