I'm a little angry. No, scratch that, I'm very angry. Whenever Apple introduces improvements to Spotlight on iPhones and iPads, I have vivid PPSSD (post-personal-search stress disorder) and remember the glorious years when we had a decent on-device search solution on Android. Then it was gone and Google, the search company to end all search companies, pretended nothing happened, that it was never there, and whoever really wanted a central search solution on their phone?
Read More![Gboard v6.9 prepares Smart Replies to messenger notifications, deeper Bitmoji integration, and more [APK Teardown]](https://www.androidpolice.com/wp-content/themes/ap2/ap_resize/ap_resize.php?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.androidpolice.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F01%2Fnexus2cee_gboard.png&w=728)
Yesterday brought us a new version of Gboard, bumping the version number up to 6.9. There's not much in the way of changes that you'll see right away, but there is now a semi-hidden feature that will tell you about changes when they happen. However, a deeper look into the APK does reveal plans to add a feature that provides suggested responses to go with messaging apps that implement Direct Replies. Also, the MAKE A GIF feature from the iOS version is making the jump to Android, Bitmoji support is getting baked in, and there's a universal search feature in the works.
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Amazon's hardware ventures weren't all quite popular (remember the Fire Phone?!), but beside the Kindles and Fire tablets, and obviously the Echo, the Fire TV is easily counted one of the company's success stories. It has become one of the best streaming and gaming solutions, battling Roku, Apple TV, and Android TV for a spot on every TV's HDMI port.
That's also thanks to continuous updates and improvements from Amazon who keeps adding features to its products. In the latest update to the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick rolling out now (or very soon), Amazon is adding more apps and channels to Universal Search so you have fewer and fewer reasons to open apps individually to do a search in them.
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Yesterday's update UVLH1 for the Galaxy S II on T-Mobile may have shaken things up a bit when it comes to NFC and ISIS, but it now looks like Samsung has also sneaked in a tweak dumbing down universal search. A similar "fix" was discovered in T-Mobile's version of the Galaxy S III 2 weeks ago, and it seems like Samsung is not taking any chances with its older sibling either.
As evident from the screenshots below, searching for "maps" only brings back relevant suggested web searches and results, but not the local Maps application. For comparison, I've included a shot of doing the same on the EVO 3D.
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When Samsung inadvertently removed the universal search feature from the international Galaxy S III, everyone assumed it was for legal reasons. Not so, says Samsung! As it turns out, the feature was removed on accident and, as of today, the feature has been restored. If you live in the UK, at least. No word yet on restoration to any other devices.
As you can see in the photo above, the device model this is being applied to is t he GT-I9300, which is the model for the international Galaxy S III. We're still waiting to hear if any users outside the UK get the feature restored, but for now, it looks like if you own the device inside Her Majesty's borders, you should be getting local search back before you know it.
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