Stop calling your friends for information, get it on the go

Imagine visiting NYC and trying to find a restaurant that was recommended, you know that you are on the right block, but can’t seem to find it. In such situations, you usually ask the hotel concierge, passersby on the street, a friend who is familiar with the area or call 411 for help. No need to do that, you can “Google it” right from your mobile phone with a simple text message and get a response in seconds

March 04, 2008, by itsnearme

Google SMS homepage

Google SMS for mobile phones is a quick information service. It offers access to Google’s powerful search engine via a simple text message (also known as SMS, Short Messaging Service) from a mobile phone anytime and any place in the USA. Currently, the service is in English only.
Google text message service is not the same as the web-version of google.com where search results typically include links to websites. Google SMS results are text-only and are more suitable for specialized questions that have one (or a few) answers like residential listings, movie times, weather forecasts, flights information, stock quotes, measurements, etc.

Send a text message to Google with a search request and the answer will be sent back in seconds. In order to ensure more accurate information, requests should include location: zip code, street, city or other. Google saves frequently used locations and the user is able to set a default location for future requests (in case you mention location to the message). If there are multiple results, Google will send back up to 7 result text messages. Google SMS detects spelling mistakes with its well known “did you mean….” phrase – this is a big advantage when the search includes a name which you are not sure how to spell.

Google SMS is a great service, but has its disadvantages as well. There have been cases when Google took 30 minutes to reply to a query. When out of town, users need to enter the zip code or city of the location they are in; this could be painful if looking for “burger king Huntington” - you'll get the same results whether you're in Huntington, New York or Huntington Beach, California.

  How to use this service

Google SMS service is a 4-step process:

• create a text message on your mobile phone
• in the “To” field enter the number 46645 (same as GOOGL) or 466453 a (or GOOGLE)
• In the body of the message write your question, examples below
• you’re done! Wait for your reply
• (you can text “set a location [zip code or city]” to save your location)

Examples of text body in [brackets]:

• Stock Quotes: Stock ticker symbols - example: [GOOG] or [stock GOOG]
• Residential Listings: First name, last name, location - example: [John Doe Atlanta GA] Or reverse search by using phone number - example: [212 555 1234]
• Q&A: Answers to questions covering a broad assortment of topics such as authors, inventors, populations - example: [population of Germany] or [who wrote Hamlet]
• Product prices: Keyword [price] followed by product name, ISBN or UPC code, Example: [price ipod nano 8gb] or [price 1740594835]
• Definitions: Keyword [define] followed by a word or phrase to be defined, Example: [define incorrigible]
• Translations: Source to destination language, - example: [translate search into French] or [t], as in [t search into German]
• Conversions: Currency conversions - example: [9.99 EUR in USD]. Standards conversions, such as [100 F in Celsius] or [20 feet in meters]
• Calculator: Simple calculations - example: [14 * 1.08] or complex calculations that include standard conversions - example: [5 feet 8 inches in cm]