





Google unveiled the latest version of its free Search app for the iPad on Monday, making searching on the Apple device faster and more intuitive — and, ironically, giving Android tablet users another reason to switch.

Google's YouTube video on the app, above, highlights some of the key new features of the free app — including an easy way to recommend and share content with others on Google+, Siri-like voice search, and Google Instant — that is, seeing display results as soon as you begin to type, without the need of pressing the search button.

"You’ll notice that searching is faster and more interactive from your first keystroke," said Daniel Fish, Software Engineer for the Google Search app, on the Google Mobile Blog.

The app – available for iPads with iOS 4.0 or higher – also includes an innovative way to look at search results and websites side by side. New pages are added with a slide-in pane that layers over search results and makes it easy to go back and forth between them.

The updated app also makes revisiting previous searches seamless, with a Visual Search History feature. Searching for images has also been optimized. Tapping on a picture launches an image carousel that lets you swipe through to see other photos. Meanwhile, for those with Siri on the brain, the app provides a similar service allowing users to search by voice and skip typing all together.

Will you use Google's Search app rather than going to your browser on the iPad? Let us know in the comments.