Google Launches New iPhone Web Application

[Buran]

There are such things as web applications. Yes, these tools provided by Google are applications. Just because you access them through a browser doesn't make them a "web page".

Actually, yes, they are web pages. They're AJAX-aware and DHTML-aware and CSS-aware and use complex scripting to do what they do, but they are still webpage and websites.

An application is something you install on your computer, whether that be a smartphone, desktop, laptop, or other device.

A webpage is something you access using a web browser. Yes, websites can be used to do advanced things that weren't possible just a few years ago (yes, like mapping) but in the end you are still using a web browser to view a very fancy web page. The browser is the application, the page is the content you're viewing using that application.

I have a different smartphone (still waiting for a few of the big things Apple left off the iphone; I'll probably get a second-gen one) and I don't call the web version of Google Maps an application; I reserve that term for the actual Google Maps application that I downloaded and installed to the phone. The one that doesn't require me to launch my phone's browser for use, in other words.

 

[gwangung]

Actually, yes, they are web pages. They're AJAX-aware and DHTML-aware and CSS-aware and use complex scripting to do what they do, but they are still webpage and websites.

An application is something you install on your computer, whether that be a smartphone, desktop, laptop, or other device.

A webpage is something you access using a web browser. Yes, websites can be used to do advanced things that weren't possible just a few years ago (yes, like mapping) but in the end you are still using a web browser to view a very fancy web page. The browser is the application, the page is the content you're viewing using that application.

I have a different smartphone (still waiting for a few of the big things Apple left off the iphone; I'll probably get a second-gen one) and I don't call the web version of Google Maps an application; I reserve that term for the actual Google Maps application that I downloaded and installed to the phone. The one that doesn't require me to launch my phone's browser for use, in other words.

Hmm....that might be a distinction without a difference to most users of the iPhone, who are probably more focussed on functionality than anything else.

 

[arkmannj]

nice

Seems to work nicely, I noticed in Google docs I could only view docs and not edit them, better than thing though.

This isn't Google's fault, but I wish my iphone calender could sync with my Google calendar (without the need to sync with iCal).

Google Chat would be a nice addition also

 

[Diesel55]

Also try http://72.14.253.104/m for non-US visitors

Also try http://72.14.253.104/m to avoid the redirect

My visits to Google.com kept getting auto-switched to Google.ca, so I pinged the google.com to get the IP number, and entering that worked on the iPhone for the front page. (But I got a page not found error when I tried to login to my gmail account.) google.com/m works ok.

I don't see the iphone version when I try it in the non-debug version of Windows XP version of Safari 3.04.

The Mac version debug mode is done through Terminal:
% defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1

The Windows debug mode is enabled by editing the Preferences.plist XML text file:
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Username\Application Data\Apple Computer\Safari\Preferences.plist

To this file, add to the bottom just before </dict> and </plist>
<key>IncludeDebugMenu</key><true/>

Note: I don't see an iPhone option in the User Agent column on the XP Windows version of Safari 3.04.

 

[igazza]

cool im jealous

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Screenshots:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/04/google-pre-launches-new-iphone-interface/

Thanks ChopCho! Right on GOOGLE I use GMail all the time, this is right up my alley. Works on the TOUCH too,SWEET!!!!!

 

[TurboSC]

nice nice...

I await the day my iPhone will have it's own little google button

 

[notredewey]

Kinda off topic, but sorta relates; yahoo for me on my touch is not reformatting to the iphone version, even at mobile yahoo. I remember having it before but after I restored it I just get the cell phone version of the mobile yahoo. Anyone have an iPod touch that displays the iphone interface of yahoo? Or is there a specific link or anything to get there? Thanks.

 

[momoe]

Google Docs will not edit on iPhone Safari

Are Google Docs and Spreadsheets specially formatted as well? Does this mean that the iPhone can be meaningfully used for editing Word files etc when online now? If so, can someone put up screenshots?

Haven't gotten to the bottom of the thread yet and I don't know if someone has answered this yet, but I just tried one of my Google docs that I made some time ago... I can read it, but I can not elicit the iPhone keypad, so it looks like no editing capabilities

momoe

 

[weg]

It's a nice idea, but this isn't really an "application", it's just cute formatting in a web page. Please, stop calling these things "applications" and call them what they really are -- user-agent-sniffing sites that show you different formatting depending on what you're browsing with. This is nothing new and not really news.

Too bad Steve Jobs doesn't allow "real" (third-party) applications on the iPhone (yet), so, for the time being, this is as good as it gets.

And: It has a user interface, it uses an API (the one of the browser), and it processes your data, so, yes, it's an application.

 

[jnc]

I'm not getting this on my touch just the general "mobile" iterations, do I have to do something in particular?

 

[nbs2]

This is perfect, in at least one aspect.

I manage a schedule for a friend, and make on-the-fly appointments that are run though a shared Google calendar. This will make management a lot easier now that my laptop doesn't have to get hauled everywhere and I don't have to be near a WiFi router.

Do I see this as a perfect solution for all things? No. But, Google's interface rivals Apple's for ease of use and functionality.

 

[Jonx]

not working for me
it auto-redirects me to www.google.co.uk/m
even though its not the mobile google...

i think its US only atm but if you want to see it just change location by clicking more and it should be at the bottom

 

[Ubuntu]

Uploaded some screen shots.

The screen shots correspond to the toolbar at the top of the screen.

EDIT: Won't let me upload... meh.

 

[jmmo20]

Sure you can. Right where it says "View Google in: Mobile | Classic." Just select classic.

That only works for google, not gmail. You can actually click on to "html view" instead of mobile but that's the desktop light version for those javascript uncapable browsers. If you then click "classic view", you're redirected to the iphone interface.

 

[twoodcc]

seems pretty cool. i'm trying it out now

 

[Nicolasdec]

Great job, Google. Too bad i need to go to google.com/m not just google.com

 

[slffl]

Eeeh, after trying this out, I really don't have a use for it. I get Gmail through IMAP. Search google through Safari. Use iCal for calendar. etc, etc.

 

[Phil A.]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/3B48b Safari/419.3)

I love google but I really wish they'd sort out the integration between google accounts and GAFYD. We pay google for our premier accounts and they lag behind the curve terribly on stuff like this

 

[legacyb4]

I guess having Google sit on Apple's board really helps pave the way for making sure that Google's application support for Apple. I love how quickly they keep pace with Apple's new toys (I have a touch) and really make using these devices fun.

 

[Di9it8]

not working for me
it auto-redirects me to www.google.co.uk/m
even though its not the mobile google...

Same for me in the uk, although gmail seems to be working very well on the iphone
How can I force it to go google.com rather than .co.uk/mob?

 

[iSee]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/3B48b Safari/419.3)

I love google but I really wish they'd sort out the integration between google accounts and GAFYD. We pay google for our premier accounts and they lag behind the curve terribly on stuff like this

The new interface is working for my Google apps, same as for my (separate, rarely used) google account. (That's what you mean by GAFYD? Google Apps for Your Domain?)

 

[Jonx]

Same for me in the uk, although gmail seems to be working very well on the iphone
How can I force it to go google.com rather than .co.uk/mob?

try using classical view of the page than choose more (link is on top of the search bar) scroll down and change location

 

[Di9it8]

cool im jealous

Just take a trip to La France where you can buy an unlocked iPhone

 

[bross00]

Actually, yes, they are web pages. They're AJAX-aware and DHTML-aware and CSS-aware and use complex scripting to do what they do, but they are still webpage and websites.

An application is something you install on your computer, whether that be a smartphone, desktop, laptop, or other device.

A webpage is something you access using a web browser. Yes, websites can be used to do advanced things that weren't possible just a few years ago (yes, like mapping) but in the end you are still using a web browser to view a very fancy web page. The browser is the application, the page is the content you're viewing using that application.

That's a very, very antiquated definition of an application. An application essentially is logic that leverages a computer's (or device's) processor, etc. to perform stuff the user wants it to. While back in the day applications were once imbeded in punch cards, then later in monolithic "programs" there is a fairly mature though still emergent model for distributed applications.

Pieces of code in disparate servers serving needs of a task performed by a user via an installed program or a visited web application. Scripting and development tools (AJAX included) incorporate logic and code that is run on the device that visits the site. These mini-bundles of logic, web applications, are applications...but, they're just the tip of the iceburg.