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Without any warning to dedicated Google SMS searchers, Google has discontinued the the ability for you to send a text message to Google and get a response. Google has completely turned off the SMS search feature telling searchers to search at google.com instead.
Here is the text response from Google:
Jessica from Google responded to the complaints in the Google Web Search Help forum over the weekend saying:
Closing products always involves tough choices, but we do think very hard about each decision and its implications for our users. Streamlining our services enables us to focus on creating beautiful technology that will improve people’s lives.
Truth is, I am not sure why Google did not warn users weeks or months in advance. Did I miss the warning? Did they announce this was closing?
There are currently over 70 posts in the thread from unhappy Google SMS users.
Google SMS had plenty of issues throughout the years. But we had no indication that this was coming.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
Comments:
Alan
05/13/2013 01:10 pm
Not surprised. It was built for another time and place.
Jeb
05/13/2013 01:43 pm
Just had a look there, 2 ppl claim to have replacements for it, one is 4Info, and second is Dotgo, haven't tried any of 'em but for the worried folks that may reach for help, here's what we can offer.
Scoops
05/13/2013 02:50 pm
Thanks for the replacements!! DotGo is amazing, and literally returns the same results as 466453 anyways - it's just exponentially more flexible - thank you!!
newyorker_1
05/13/2013 07:36 pm
Translation of Jessica's message in plain simple English: "We don't give a f*** what users think we just shut it down".
Brian Mease
05/14/2013 06:56 am
So typical for Google, it's a shame they will continue to exist, long time ago I couldnt imagine me saying this but Microsoft is much more reliable than Google!
Gnosis Media Group
05/21/2013 08:48 pm
The sword that was broken has been remade: http://s.gnoss.us/googlesms
Gnosis Media Group
05/27/2013 02:50 pm
They're both pretty good. I use both DOTGO and 4INFO for certain things. However, DOTGO doesn't query Google directly, and often doesn't return results at all for google searches. You can compare/contrast the different services here: http://www.pressreleasesonline.net/2013/05/new-google-sms-search-engine.html
brandi
07/28/2013 05:50 pm
I was so sad I used SMS Google daily such a hassle to wait for your browser to load sometimes