Yahoo oneSearch shortcut for select S60 phones

Yahoo has released a native Symbian application which puts a shortcut to its oneSearch service on the Idle screen of your phone (N70, N95, N73, 6120, and E65). The stand out feature is Search Assist that suggests terms and phrases as you go and aims to save you time and provide related concepts for more refined results.

oneSearch Shortcut is accessed by pressing the pencil key on the idle screen. Entering a few letters will ten activate the Search Assist features. In the screenshot below you can see I've started to enter 'bb' and the software has started suggesting various BBC services (exactly what I was looking for).

Search Assist is particularly beneficial on a mobile device where text entry speed is somewhat restricted. In my tests I was impressed by its intelligence. It may not get it right 100% of the time, but it will save you a lot of time.

oneSearch shortcut Y! oneSearch

The local search elements of oneSearch can also be used through the shortcut application. In the example below the Search Assist function impressively suggest search terms that would give very precise result for some local pubs. I continued with the term I entered, 'pub, uckfield', and you can see the result included listings, with phone numbers, of several local pubs.

oneSearch shortcut Y! oneSearch

Personally I'd prefer to see the functionality integrated in the Nokia Search application (also present as a shortcut on the Idle screen), so that all search functions can be accessed from a single place.

Google released a similar application earlier in the year, but its implementation does not have the Search Assist functionality, which adds very significantly to the overall value of the application. For typical mobile use (e.g. quick looks ups, local search) the quality of the results of Yahoo and Google are quite evenly matched (this does vary by market though). With this in mind I would say that Yahoo's oneSearch Shortcut application currently has the edge over Google's offering.

Yahoo oneSearch shortcut is currently available for the N70, N95, N73, 6120, and E65, but the compatibility list does suggest this may be extended in the future (currently the N78 and other S60 phone without a pencil key do not work, despite what this lists says).

Published by Rafe Blandford at 11:56 UTC, August 22nd

Categories: Software, Links of Interest
Platforms: Series 60, S60 3rd Edition

News Discussion

shoobe01

Comment: Maybe I search for weird stuff, but on the desktop the assisted search autocomplete thing doesn't help me that often.

Google's idle screen widget still wins because it's not using the Yahoo! search engine. I NEVER get useful results out of that thing, wireline or wireless.

Sizzers

Comment: Well the app works just fine on my E51. Automatically creates a shortcut on the right shortcut key, seems to be fairly neat and tidy but can't say I'll be using it. I'm a diehard google man as no other engine comes close but good to see Yahoo developing their mobile services (with the exception of Go!) as they're my email provider of choice.

namtastic

Comment: [quote=shoobe01;388823]Maybe I search for weird stuff, but on the desktop the assisted search autocomplete thing doesn't help me that often.

Google's idle screen widget still wins because it's not using the Yahoo! search engine. I NEVER get useful results out of that thing, wireline or wireless.[/quote]

Here's the thing that pisses me off about these apps -- I want to use the pencil key as a shortcut, I just don't want that pop-up message to appear everytime I go back to the standby screen. But surprise! There's no way to turn off the standby messsage without disabling the pencil key, which is kind of the whole point of the app, right? Otherwise, I might as well just bookmark their search page and stick it in an active standby slot.

Anyway, I actually prefer Yahoo! when mobile, and Google when desktop. The things I look for when mobile -- solid subjects, movie times, etc. -- are better organized and prioritized than Google which has a more inclusive, keyword-weighted approach. Naturally, that's more valuable on the desktop, when I'm ready to do heavier researching on fast connections. But mobile, I just want a quick answer.

aysuh3090

Comment: works in 5700 too

ccraig

Comment: i usually use google search but dont have it installed at the moment due to a full format
but i will now look at this b/c overall it looks a lot better and the Search Assist is a win

fernando20

Comment: at least it looks better then the Google Search app

t3foo

Comment: >Here's the thing that pisses me off about these apps -- I want to use the pencil key as a shortcut, I
>just don't want that pop-up message to appear everytime I go back to the standby screen. But
>surprise! There's no way to turn off the standby messsage without disabling the pencil key, which is
>kind of the whole point of the app, right? Otherwise, I might as well just bookmark their search
>page and stick it in an active standby slot.

True for google, but in the yahoo app you can turn off the reminder without turning off the pencil key... check the settings.

Arcade

Comment: Very Surprisingly, there is compatibility for S60v2 phones, atleast for N70.. Personally, this is the killer feature over Google search which usually ignores the older models.

Unregistered

Comment: Hmmm, this does work on devices without a pencil key. Got it on my N81 8gig already.

Ammar_Dento

Comment: But why they make the active stand by like the google with very large area and in the bottom of the screen this make the stand by very ugly...cant they make it just like the active stand by built in plug ins...Nokia email install an active plug in and its very nice.:mad:

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