Google Testing ‘Search Lite’ App with Patchy Mobile Network

After conquering the developed markets of the world, tech majors are now looking at the emerging markets as the new growth areas. However, the infrastructure or the lack of it poses a big deterrent here. So, to overcome this, the companies are resorting to a lighter version of their apps and services so that slower connectivity doesn’t hamper people’s experience.

While Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft have already jumped the gun, the next to join the bandwagon is Search engine company, Google that is also testing a lite version of its Search app, according to Android Police.

The report states that users in Indonesia saw an ad appear on their Facebook page and those who clicked on the ad were invited to download the app and try it. The Search lite app, as the name suggests is a data conscious app that lets you do the same functions as the normal Google Search app consuming very less bandwidth. As with all ‘Lite’ apps, the Search Lite app will work in slow Internet areas and also support offline features for seamless and uninterrupted searching on Google.

Just like the regular Google Search app, you can perform voice and text searches in the lite app and the search bar is more easily accessible on the bottom of the display and shows suggested keyword additions just on top of it when you perform a search.

The app lets you change languages (a few like Hindi and Bahasa Indonesia are supported for now), and the home screen has several quick access icons for things like translation, weather, news, offline pages, images, and more.

The app’s settings also give you the option of deciding whether to use ‘lite pages’ or the internal web browser, depending on your data usage preference. It is worth noting that the app is still marked as Experimental and will likely change as per users’ feedback.