Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has unveiled a new way to search on Android-powered phones: Gestures.
According to a post on the Google Mobile Blog, the experimental application is available on Android-powered devices running Android 2.0 or higher in the U.S.
Essentially it works like this: Start a search by drawing a letter from the alphabet on the touch screen. For example, if you want to call your friend Anne, you would open Gesture Search and draw letter “A.” The application would start returning a list of items that have words starting with “A” on your phone. More letters would refine the query. A horizontal gesture from left to right erases a query and right to left removes the last letter or space in the query.
This application would work well when it’s too loud, or perhaps too quiet, to conduct a voice search Gesture Search is now available in the Android Market, and given that this is from Google Labs, you can’t expect it to be perfect. However, it’s important for new input methods to be developed given a phone’s limited screen size and keyboard capabilities.