Google releases a cleaned-up Mobile App for BlackBerry

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Though the Web browser has become a popular BlackBerry feature, users on the go don't have time to fiddle with browsers. For them, Google has released a mobile version of its basic services that skips the formalities and gets down to basics.

If you're a BlackBerry user, chances are that you've already noticed Google's classic, plain vanilla screens and menus often seem more suited for the PC than for the handheld. There's a much greater chance that a mobile user will need to see a map of nearby restaurants or a list of incoming e-mails than, say, the proper spelling of "esophagus."

In recent months, users of Google on BlackBerry noticed the service pitching its individual applications, such as Gmail and Maps, in an ad that comes up when they expect to see the plain white search page. This got to be annoying in an un-Google like way, so this morning's discovery of a more mobile-suitable version of Google, tailored with BlackBerry's track-wheel or trackball in mind, comes as a pleasant surprise.

The new Google Mobile App for BlackBerry is installable through m.google.com. As an application unto itself, it's actually a very tiny entity whose real function is to provide a shortcut on your applications menu. It then serves as portals to other Google Mobile apps such as Docs, Calendar Sync, Maps, and Gmail.

If you happen to be one of the few people using an unlocked BlackBerry, then Gmail could conceivably be one viable way for you to get e-mail on your handheld that's synchronized automatically with e-mail you can read from your PC, or from almost anywhere else with a Web browser, for that matter.

But for most, whose e-mail accounts are generally synchronized with their corporate servers or with BlackBerry's own servers (which was the original point of owning a BlackBerry), Gmail may be a minor convenience though not a major feature.

What may be more than just a convenience for many could be the Calendar Sync feature. Many small businesses are opting for Google Calendar as a way to implement any kind of shared scheduling. The Sync function blends information from Google's servers with the BlackBerry's own on-board calendar, which provides alarms and reminders.

Google Docs is a bit disappointing for now, but for understandable reasons. On the PC, you can edit the textual and spreadsheet documents you've stored in Google's cloud; on the BlackBerry, you don't get editing features. If they existed, they would have to be downloaded and installed, of course, since BlackBerry doesn't do AJAX. So all you can do for now is read documents that are already in the cloud, and otherwise manage your list of documents.

The revised Google home page for BlackBerry could offer some pointers as to how its regular PC home page may be refined, for those users who don't have iGoogle. A new icon strip appears along the top of the search box. In this strip, you can place the four Google functions you'll use most often; and although moving them into the strip is not intuitive, once you read how in the Help file, it's not difficult.

From the More button, you'll see the complete list of Google Apps, which also includes a link to Picasa photo albums, and to the service's RSS reader. You highlight the command you want to promote, press the menu key (the "BlackBerry key") to access the Move command, and then scoot that command up to among the top four in the list. When you return to the Google home screen, you'll see it's been repositioned.

The Suggest feature that Google has had in its Toolbar for PC Web browsers for some time, and only last month added to its regular home page, is now a part of the mobile page. Suggestions are not instantaneous, especially in congested areas. In our tests, we had to wait about ten seconds on average before the drop-down list of suggestions came up. (We'll need to talk to these folks a little more about what they choose to suggest..."Beta fish?")

There was one bit of functionality that we noticed was tailored for the BlackBerry user, especially one with a trackball. It's the history buffer. Like on a big PC's Web browser, the mobile Google page will now remember your search history. So before you start to type anything, a little marker marked "History" shows up, with a down arrow. When you scroll down with the trackball, your remembered searches show up in the drop-down box. When you find something you want to recall but change before you resubmit it, as you scroll down to find your entry, the marker changes to read, "Edit," with a right arrow. You can either press the trackball to submit the same search again, or scroll right to have it entered in the search line first. There, you can make changes to it and resubmit it.

What BlackBerry users may appreciate most about Google's latest effort is that it discards the glitz and the flash and the 3D-ness that other brands associate with their modern UIs. Just like everything else Google does, it's the basic stuff, made to work as reasonably as possible.

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