Google Search app for Windows 8 updated with printing support, voice search and speed improvements

Google recently updated its native Search app for Windows 8 with two new features, two enhancements, and the usual bugfixes. You can download the latest version of the app from the official Windows Store.

The two new features are printing support, which should be pretty straightforward, and the added ability to launch all results in the default browser. This will be particularly helpful for all those Google users who are looking to use something other than Internet Explorer, and maybe even an alternative to Chrome. The two improvements are in terms of voice search and speed, but unfortunately Google has yet to go into details on what exactly it tweaked.

Google first released its Search app for Windows 8 in October, three days before the operating was released publicly on October 26. On that day, Google launched a campaign showing Windows 8 users how to ditch Microsoft’s IE and Bing by replacing them with Google’s Chrome and Search apps.

Less than a month later, Google announced its Search app for Windows RT, giving Microsoft Surface users an alternative to Bing. Since then, Google has said it has no plans to develop dedicated apps for Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 for its business app products such as Gmail or Drive.

This is part of growing tensions between the two companies, as they are constantly trading punches and tripping each other up. Nevertheless, we can see that Google is very much interested in keeping its Google Search app updated for Windows 8.

Here’s the full Google Search app for Windows 8 release notes:

• Added support for printing.
• Voice search improvements.
• Added ability to launch all results in default browser.
• Speed improvements.
• Bug fixes.

See also – Google’s sync changes are going to screw Gmail users on Windows Phone and Microsoft hopes Google’s discontinuation of Exchange ActiveSync support will bolster Outlook.com

Image credit: Asif Akbar