Chrome for Android now has a slick touch-to-search feature that will turn anything you highlight into a search query.
The feature is in Chrome version 43. Google announced the update on its Chrome Releases Blog, but often times such new tricks take a while to work their way into the wild.
To see if you have the feature, touch and hold a word anywhere in Chrome. A search card should appear. Slide it up if you want to see the rest of the suggested results. Touching any of those will then open that page in a new Chrome tab.
This search method also works for phrases. Just touch and hold a word, then drag the cursors around the rest of the phrase. If you don’t like this method of searching, you can flip it off in the settings. Check the Play Store or APK Mirror to ensure you’re running the latest build of Chrome.
Why this matters: This brings some desktop-style speed to searching on your mobile device. But it’s also another case of Google’s enlightened self-interest. While you get a better search experience, Google now has just turned every word on the Internet into a possible search term. This means more data, searches, and of course, Google hopes, more advertising clicks.
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