Forget PCs, use SMS to search

What is it? Searching for the number of a restaurant, but can’t find it? You can now query your search on SMS and send it to 54664 (5GOOG) and get results from Google’s recently-launched local search in India.

Wow! But is that all I can do? No, while a web search may not look the same on SMS if you send the query WEB

, Google will send you the first web result.

And that is not all. Google also allows you to search for factoids—you can send the query ‘Population India’ or ‘Capital Thailand’ to 54664 (easily winning arguments against friends) and the service also allows you to check the weather if you query ‘Weather Chennai’.

What is the catch? The local search service is only available in select cities currently.

So, is it available on my phone now? Yes, but your luck is out if you are a Tata Indicom, Vodafone, MTNL or Spice customer.

And cost? The same as a premium SMS; rates range from Rs 0.80 (BSNL) and Rs 2 (Airtel) to Rs 3 (Aircel, BPL, Reliance)