Google adds search features to Android, iOS devices

Google recently introduced its Instant Preview search engine feature for mobile devices running its Android and Apple's iOS mobile operating systems.

Instant Preview gives the user numerous webpage snapshots to accompany their search results. That allows the user to see which website will best answer their query without having to blindly click through the presented results.

Digital Trends reports the feature could be extremely useful for mobile devices, as web browsing with 3G speeds can be tedious at times.

"Instant Previews provides a fast and interactive way to evaluate search results," Google said in a company blog post announcing the upgraded feature.

Instant Preview will be available for devices running Android 2.2 or later and iOS 4.0 or later.

To take advantage of the feature, mobile users must tap the magnifying glass next to each search result to bring up a side-by-side comparison view of the webpage. Tapping the preview will bring the user to the page.

Last month, Google began integrating social media information into search results. Posts and information from Flickr, YouTube and Twitter are now included when using Google's search engine. Facebook's privacy policy prevents the site from being included.