Google launches Hindi handwriting tool to make search easier for Indians

Infotech Lead India: Google now allows you to search in Hindi with your own handwriting. Addressing the 300 million plus Indian users online, Google has launched the Hindi handwriting tool to make internet searching easier for Indians.

The beta launch, according to Google, is the baby step to make Hindi Internet simpler to use.  It says, “No matter what kind of handwriting you have, Google can help you find exactly what you’re looking for.”

Handwrite enables you to search by just writing letters with your finger or stylus anywhere on your device’s screen—there’s no keyboard that covers half of the screen and no need for typing.

To start with, go to google.com in your mobile browser, and tap on “Settings” at the bottom of the screen, go to Search Settings and enable “Handwrite.” Change language in Google products to Hindi. Also add “Hindi” as a Language of Search Results.

On tablets, the Search settings are available as an option behind the gear icon.

Google

Once the feature is enabled, tap the Handwrite icon on the bottom right corner of your screen to activate Handwrite mode. Write a few letters and you’ll see autocomplete options appear below the search box. If one of the options is what you’re looking for, just tap it to search.

For longer queries, you can continue writing a string of characters and then use the arrows next to the auto completions to move the right one into the search box. Remember, you can write anywhere on the screen.

Handwrite complements typing: with the feature enabled, you can still use the keyboard at any time by tapping on the search box. Handwrite is experimental, and works better in some browsers than others—on Android, it works best in Chrome, Google said.

Handwrite is enabled for Android 2.3+ phones, Android 4.0+ tablets and for iOS5+ devices — in over 30 international languages.

Google also allows translating Hindi with Google Translate for Mobile.  All you have to do is to download the Google Translate app from Google Play and change the language from the drop down settings you want to translate from and to. You can now enter the text you want to translate. You can enter Hindi text using handwriting, too. And there you go!

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