Microsoft has apparently decided to remove the ability to set Google as a default search engine on new Lumia Windows Phone handsets.


The Verge reports that the Lumia 630 and Lumia 930, the first handsets to be released officially under Microsoft control, ship without an option to use Google as the default search engine in its browser. Previously, Lumia users could choose to use Google as the default search engine when typing into the phone's Internet Explorer address bar—but no more, if the report is accurate. Existing Lumia handsets seem unaffected.

It seems that phone makers and operators have the option to choose which search engines can be used—but now that Nokia is under the control of Microsoft, users no longer get the liberal luxuries offered by the Finns. The move is in contrast to Apple and Google. Apple allows users to choose between Google, Yahoo, and Bing in its Safari for iOS; Google allows Android users to choose from Ask, Bing, Yahoo or Google itself in Chrome. [Verge]