All In One

Summary

I think you’ll agree that Android 2.1 or 2.2 search options have vastly improved compared to previous versions. Nonetheless, there are still a few 3rd party applications out there that have quite a lot to offer when it comes to searching & finding, and furthermore provide features that don’t come with your standard Android phone.

Read on in order to find out if All In One is one of those apps.

You’ve guessed it: All In One is a search engine for your phone. It offers the following features:

Google News
Blogs
Images
Videos
Web
Twitter
Market
Wikipedia
Books
Patents (patents that use Google APIs)

All you have to do is enter a search criterion and follow that up with clicking on the corresponding category.

Once you’ve entered a key search term you can always switch up categories, without having to restart the search. The term you’ve entered stays put until you enter a new search (or pick a word from your past searches or history).

You can save individual search results as favorites and can thus access them at a later point in time. You can also forward and share your search results via Bluetooth, SMS, email, etc.

Select whether you want search results to appear in the integrated browser or in your standard browser.
If All In One is running in the background you can access the app via your normal search mode; that is to say that if you enter a search term you can choose – via a context menu – if you want to use Google search or All In One.

The application comes with a widget. This will show you the search results for one search within a category. You can sift through your search results within the widget or otherwise choose to have everything displayed via the application itself.

All In One will display search results in the language of your preference, so if you’re using several languages you can select one as your favorite and access it quickly via a button. The languages available range from Argentinean (I thought Argentina’s national language was Spanish… oh well), to Turkish to Zimbabwean (Shona?).

A further feature is Top Stories. Choose among the following categories:

Headlines
International
National
Economy
Technical Knowledge
Entertainment
Sports
Health
Panorama

You can also select the Related News options within the search results.

All in all (sorry, bad pun), All In One is a really useful search tool which note only functions superbly but is also optically pleasing.

 

After starting the application, select your preferred language. Search results will be shown in the this language.

You’ll find five buttons in the lower half of the screen. A sixth button appears whenever you want to save something. These buttons grant you access to all the most important functions.

The first button allows you to set the language of your choice. It comes with two tabs: Favorites and All. In order to add your language to Favorites, click on the green plus icon and select the language from the All list. You can also select a language without adding it to your favorites.

The second button allows you to access Top Stories, Saved Search Queries, and History.

The third button allows you to switch between the search categories mentioned above, and the fourth button opens the search results. You will have to select the category after having entered your search query.

You can access your favorites via the fifth button.

As mentioned, the sixth button allows you to access your search terms. These are saved under Saved Search Queries.

Search results are displayed in a list which you can scroll up through. Depending on the category, a small thumbnail is provided. E.g. if you’re searching through the web a thumbnail in shape of a globe is displayed. If your doing a Market search app icons are displayed. Furthermore, again contingent on the category, a short teaser is shown for each search result. There’s a star in the right corner that allows you to favorite search results. And finally, again depending on which category, there’s a button that will display similar search results.

When you click on a search result you’ll usually be linked to an article in the integrated browser (unless you’re using the Default Browser—see below). You’ll find the following options via the menu button:

Back
Forward
Share
Add to favorites
Close browser

If you’re doing a Market search you’ll be linked directly to the app in the market by clicking on the icon; you can select whether videos (only YouTube videos it would seem) should be played in the standard browser or the YouTube app player.

Access Options via the menu button and select if the internal browser, Default Browser, should be used, as well as whether Android Market or Androlib should be used.

Bottom line:
All In One has definitely found its place in my phone and will be a lot of use to me, I’m sure. I also quite like the News Reader (Top Stories) function.

Absolutely no problems to report: the app ran smoothly smoothly throughout the testing phase.

All In One can be downloaded free of cost from the Market.