The Android search app also got updated as part of yesterday’s I/O surprises. The update features a cool little nice thing and here it is – now you can say “OK Google” from any screen on your Android phone.

Previously this command worked only on the home screen. Now it doesn’t matter whether you are checking your mails or watching a clip or playing a game, you could say “OK Google” to fire up search.

Actually this feature was already available to Moto X users and the other Andriod phone users have been eagerly waiting for this update. Well, here it is now.

The update is opt-in based meaning you could choose to turn on or off this feature from your phone’s settings – although I guess turning it on is quite reasonable since it makes it very handy to fire up search from any screen. Note that this command won’t work while the screen is off though!

Another cool thing is that the search app will now keep a list of your voice commands as “history” and the app itself will function better based on your commands and personalization.

The search app update is rolling out on a phone by phone basis. So if OK Google doesn’t work for you while you are watching a clip or reading news, don’t worry! You will get it soon 🙂