Google Phone removes a nice feature that it still advertises
Google has permanently removed it from the app Telephone a function which, as evidenced by the opening image, is still advertised by the graphics on the Play Store, together with many others of the same app. Drum roll: let’s talk about “search for places nearby“.
As the name itself suggests, it was about being able to search for the telephone number of businesses and other businesses directly from the search bar of the phone app, in order to call them on the fly in case of need. Of course, for this feature to work, the Phone app had to have access to positionand what’s more, with personalized results, the search could provide content based on the user’s history.
In spite of all this, Google has stated that “only a very limited number of users used this feature“, and in fact we ourselves have never found it particularly useful, and above all precise. It was almost always quicker to open Google Maps than to navigate through the results offered by Telephone, especially since on Maps the glance helps to quickly locate them in space and recognize them.
It is no coincidence that Google itself now recommends using it Research or Maps precisely to find the desired phone numbers, declaring that the removal of search for nearby places will allow developers to focus on new “telephone experiences”. Someone tell them that the Play Store should also be updated, just so as not to confuse users, given that from stable version 125 From Google Phone onwards the function is no longer present. But the “confusion” that reigns over the Android store is so elaborate that it deserves a separate discussion, which is beyond the scope of this news.