Googling from your Mobile Phone–no Web Browser Needed!

What do you do when you are away from your computer and need to Google something? If it’s for a phone number or address, you can call 411 and pay $1.25 (that’s what Verizon charges me). If you’ve got a web browser on your mobile phone or other device you can do a web search. But, what if I told you that you don’t need mobile web and can save the buck and a quarter? With common text messages, you’ll be able to search for these directory listings and much, much more.

Google SMS (Short Message Service, otherwise known as text messaging) enables you to send Google queries as text messages over your mobile phone or other mobile device and in a return text message get precise answers to your questions. You won’t get links or web pages, just text—and the information you’re looking for. Here are some example of what you can do:

• Get a phone number
• List all the pizza joints in town
• Look up movie showtimes
• Get product prices from Froogle
• Get the weather
• Get directions
• plenty more!

The first of the three images below shows the query entered. The user asked for information on pizza in the zip code 10013. The second and third images are the results, which were sent back to the user in two separate text messages. Depending on the size of the reply, you’ll get any number of text messages in return)

thanks to Google for images

Complicated? No way. It’s so simple and here’s how you do it:

1. Enter your query as a text message. See some sample queries below.
2. Send the message to the US shortcode 46645 (GOOGL on most phones).
3. Receive a text message (or messages) with your results, usually within a minute. Results may be labeled as “1of3″, “2of3″, etc.

If you forget anything you’ll learn in this article, make sure to remember this: to get Google SMS help info sent directly to your phone, send the word ‘help’ as a text message to 46645.

The Details

Because you’re not actually accessing the web when you use Google SMS, you do not have to have mobile web or any other kind of internet service add-on in your wireless phone plan. It’s the same simple text messaging that my kids use to send messages back and forth to their friends. The service is free, but you will pay for text messages according to the plan you have with your service provider–usually just pennies a message. Note that right now, Google only works in the U.S., although they are working on expanding it to other areas.

You begin by sending the message to the US shortcode 46645 (GOOGL on most phones). The message is not complicated, just a simple query. Google has a great How to Use Google SMS help page with lots of examples. We’ll go through the most common query types here.

Business Listings: Enter a specific business name or a general service, followed by a zip code or city and state. It’s not required, but safest to put a period between the business name and the location:

pizza.10245
Beckers Auto Repair.los angeles ca

Residential Listings: Enter the name and location, or the phone number, followed by the location.

• john smith san diego ca
• 858-555-1234
• J Thompson, 92075

Movies: You can get information on showtimes, movies playing, theaters and movie details. There are many formats you can enter and they are similar to the way you enter movie queries into Google on your computer. These were discussed in full in the article, It’s Showtime, which is worth reading if you will be using this search type.

The general rules are 1) For movie details such as running time, genre, MPA rating, and critics’ rating, simply enter the movie title; 2)If you’re looking for showtimes, enter the movie’s title followed by your location; 3) For a listing of theaters near you and the showtimes of their top movies, enter ‘movie: theaters’ or ‘movie: showtimes’ followed by your location; 4) For a listing of movies playing near you and their theater location, enter ‘movie: movies’ followed by your location.

Basically, if you don’t have the movie name in the query, you need to use the “movie:” operator (don’t forget the colon).

million dollar baby (movie details)
million dollar baby 94103 (where movie is playing)
million dollar baby portland or (where movie is playing)
movie: movies 54820 (top movies in area)
movie: theaters 54820 (theaters in area)
movie: showtimes denver co (showtimes for theaters in area)

Weather: To get the latest weather conditions and four-day forecast for a particular U.S. location, just enter ‘weather’ followed by your location, zip or city and state.

weather 86874
weather las vegas nv

Product Prices: Check prices on popular products through Froogle. These results are not advertisements, just current prices for products available online. Use the word “price” or the letter “f” followed by the product name.

price Canon G5
f bowflex

Definitions: Get a definition for a word by using the word “define” or the letter “d” followed by the word.

define luculent
d venial

Search Query Snippets: When you do a search on Google, you get a “snippet” of information for each result from the returned results page . Using Google SMS, you can get up to two snippets per query, although you won’t be able to see the full web results or click on any of the links. In creating the query, you include ‘G’ before the search terms.

g population China
g 13th president

Calculations: Enter the calculation you’d like, as a query. If you think Google performs only simple calculations like you can do on your five dollar handheld calculator, it is essential you read The Amazing Google Calculator, which details the extraordinary calculations that you can do in a Google search field. You can do those same things via Google SMS.

2+2
sin(5th root of 49)
one liter in cups

Driving Directions: You can get detailed driving directions, including total number of steps, estimated distance and travel time. Build a query with your start and end addresses. Use ‘from’ before your start address and ‘to’ before your end address. Based on how much you know about your location and destination, you can combine any of these query types. In addition to the usual address formats, you can use airport identifiers.

* paso robles ca to san jose ca
* from 98112 to SEA
* to 1130 N State St Chicago il from 251 e huron 60611

There are even more functions you can do. Read Google’s How to Use Google SMS page for more details. So how are you going to remember all these rules when you’re out and about with your mobile phone? Google has created a Google SMS Tips Sheet which you can print out and keep with you. And don’t forget, you can always send the text message “help” to have Google SMS send you back some help information.