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We received a Phantip earlier this evening from a reader in Canada who’s Samsung Galaxy S3 prompted him of an update ready for his device. We now have a little more information on exactly what the update addressed. If you were fearing a dumbed down Google search app, it looks like your Spidey-sense was spot on. The 27MB over-the-air update brings the software version up to XXBLG6 and while it no doubt brings better stability, security and all that good stuff, it looks like it has removed local search from the device’s Google Search app.
From what I hear, it’s pretty easy to get back the old search app (for rooted users). But as it stands, Samsung and the Galaxy S3 are now officially safe from Apple legal action, although, I’m sure Apple lawyers are busy dissecting the device for new “infringements” as we speak.
Thanks, Jeremie!
The question is… if Google is successful at invalidating that “universal search” patent, will this feature return?
(maybe at USPTO or at the Appeals court, I don’t know)
T-Mobile is the last to get the update I guess
It’s so sad that the patent system is so screwed we can’t even do a local search of our device. I mean come on that’s not some magical innovation that’s just smartphones continuing their natural evolution toward being more computer than phone.
That’s the key right there. Natural progression. There was a paintball company named Smartparts. They sued the crap out of anybody and everybody for patent infringement.
One of the main ones was the micro switch trigger mechanism. It was ruled a natural progression.
They were one of the main big companies of paintball. Now? They are like the WP7 of paintball. All the ill will they generated. All the toes they stepped on. It all came back to bite them in the ass. This is what Apple has to look forward to.
Google needs to start challenging these patents. Does Android infringe on some of them? Maybe. Should those patents be valid in the first place? More than likely not.
Well said Jason!
Wouldn’t the open source nature of Android make that difficult though?
Why would Android being open source keep Google from challenging patents that it feels should not have been granted?
Ok so losing universal search sucks ass, BUT…. it is even smoother now. There used to be this annoying delay when trying to wake the device up but they fixed it now. Finally. the precision of touch detection is a lot better too. it seemed to be a pretty small update but a lot of user experience benefit that I can notice so far :))
Antutu score before update ~9300 After update ~12400
I dont know why its called dumbed down search. Are you saying I cannot find contact in my phones? or files? Or pictures? All it removes to search everything from one place – but the point is – its not that imp. When I want to search something on the web i open my browser cause the ‘dumbed up’ search would do the same – open my browser. When I want to search for a contact on my phone I open my phonebook cause again the search would eventually do the same. the first thing i did when i switched on my S2 and now S3 is drag and delete the Google default Search bar cause it was the last thing I used. This is not a deal breaker when I buy a phone. Paying 500£ for a phone with 3.5 inch screen, dual core processor, expensive apps – thats a deal breaker for me !!
Sorry didn’t mean to hit the down button! was replying to your post! Anyways I use the Google Local Search quite a lot tbh, I came from webOS (still use it on my Touchpad) where we had Just Type it just seems so natural you type what you are looking for and up it pops, this is basically what Google implemented here but has now had to dumb it down so if I want to find one of my apps amongst the 250 odd that is installed I now need to launch the apps application then scroll through till I find it, that could be up to 10 screens until I find it, using the Google Local Search cuts out this. It’s not much faster some people may say but it’s a very natural way when looking for things on your phone. Certainly not a deal breaker as there is an alternative from the Play store called Quick Search.
Just because you don’t use it, doesn’t mean millions of other people don’t either. I USE IT ALL THE TIME, mainly to quickly find apps in the hundred+ I might have on my phone at any one time. You simply long-press the menu button, and type the first two letters of the app (or contact, etc), and it’s all combined right there as-you-type. Faster than scrolling through the app launcher for rarely used apps.
I, for one, will be keeping the old non-gimped version of /system/app/GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk around for as long as possible, as will the CyanogenMod gapps package hopefully.
My international (.EU) got an update today
XXBLG3. Didn’t notice the size but local search is untouched as I can see it. Did hesitate a few seconds before hitting update though :-)