Google now lets you search with handwriting

This is very cool. Google search now recognises search queries via handwriting.

The new service, officially announced today, allows you to hand write your searches on tablets and mobile phones.

Here’s how to get started:

Go to Google.com in your mobile browser, tap on “Settings” at the bottom of the screen and enable “Handwrite.” Note that after you’ve saved the setting, you may need to refresh the homepage to see the feature. On tablets, the Search settings are available as an option behind the gear icon.

Once that’s done, tap the Handwrite icon on the bottom right corner of your screen to activate the writing surface. Start writing and you’ll see autocomplete options appear below the search box. If one of the options is what you’re looking for, then tap it to search.

For longer queries, you can continue writing and use the arrows next to the autocompletions to move the right one into the search box. Since you can write anywhere, you don’t have to look back and forth repeatedly from the keyboard to the search box.

Memeburn gave the new feature a little spin on a Samsung Galaxy Note. Despite our less than elegant handwriting, it worked fairly smoothly. The only time things stuck a little bit was when we were selecting one of the autocomplete functions.

Google claims it developed “Handwrite to complement rather than replace typing: with the feature enabled, you can still use the keyboard at any time by tapping on the search box”.

“Handwrite is experimental,” it adds. It also “works better in some browsers than others — on Android devices, it works best in Chrome. For now, we’ve enabled Handwrite for iOS5+ devices, Android 2.3+ phones and Android 4.0+ tablets— in 27 languages”.