Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Releases WAP Search Tool

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wireless dept.

ChrisUK writes "Google seem to have single-handedly brought html to WAP devices. WAP/Palm users can log on to www.google.com on their devices, and search through Google's web database. Furthermore, the pages that are linked to can be jumped to, and will be converted to wml on the fly. More details can be found here."

3 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Actually, not really a new service by DennisZeMenace · · Score: 5
    Actually, Xift was first to provide that service, i.e. a WML search engine with automatic HTML rendering.

    Google obviously thought it was a good idea when they saw the demo at Xift's launch party a month ago.

    Funny thing they claim to be first.

  2. Works well with Nokia 7110e by Cederic · · Score: 5

    I just connected, entered 'slashdot' as a search term, started reading articles.

    On a mobile phone screen there's a LOT of scrolling. Each page also goes through the banner, header, sidebar (faq|code|awards|etc), Sections and (for articles) the login box. After all that though, you _do_ get the meat of the page. Nice!

    Unfortunately the forms are not translated - so you can not log in, you can not enter searches, and you can not post/reply. This will limit its usefulness for the types of searches you'd use a mobile phone for - an example here: What's the number for a taxi? Google will take you to a taxi locator web page, but you wont be able to tell the web page where you are so that it can give you a local taxi firm's number.

    Still, it's nice - better than most wap pages I've come across so far.

    Cederic
    ps: In trying to access the 'reply' page to respond to a comment through the phone it "crashed" and didn't reset until I received a text message (which by coincidence arrived as I was typing this sentence - I was planning to post then yank the battery - no need now!) The "crash" took the form of a message saying 'Connecting' and none of the phone's buttons responding.

  3. Redistribution? by Money__ · · Score: 5

    From the article: " Unlike other search engines that index only web pages that are available in WML, Google brings more than 500 million web pages to the palm of a user's hand. When a wireless user requests a traditional HTML page, Google's innovative technology translates the requested HTML document on the fly into WML."

    Given the recent concerns about redistribution of copyright materials, how does this contrast with the MS concern?

    Could it not be said that:

    "Unlike other discussion groups that only index technical specifications, Slashdot.org brings more of the real spec into the palm of a programers hand. When a Slashdot user requests a traditional ZIP technical specification, Slashdots' innovative users translate the requested ZIP document on the fly into TXT."
    ___