Google has long centered its operations on search capabilities, with Gmail gaining traction through efficient retrieval of past messages. However, after testing the recently released Google app for Windows, doubts linger about its overall value.
The complimentary Google desktop application, now accessible for English-language PCs, echoes the evolved version of Apple's 20-year-old Spotlight on macOS, functioning as a file organizer, program starter, and advanced querying system. It overlays the desktop similar to Spotlight, requiring initial setup and, ideally, account login for optimal performance.
The tool typically runs unobtrusively in the background. Users activate it via the Alt + Space key combination, causing it to appear as a suspended overlay on the display.
Interacting with the app directs users toward Gemini, allowing text-based inquiries. Specifically, the search feature within the app opens a compact overlay featuring Google's debated AI Mode. Results mirror those from Gemini, transforming the app into a dedicated entry for the AI service, complete with conversation logs and additional elements. Opting for the general All mode still prioritizes an AI-generated overview, akin to a standard web search interface. Thus, the desktop app closely resembles launching a web browser.
Additionally, the Google Search app enables sharing of a specific window or the full screen, primarily to facilitate Gemini interactions with content visible in browsers or other programs.
This functionality proves more practical than anticipated. During trials, Microsoft's Copilot Vision yielded average outcomes in analyzing screen content and providing guidance. Interestingly, Copilot Vision failed to engage when starting the Copilot app on a test machine, due to using the weaker CTRL+C-triggered variant instead of the full app. In contrast, sharing a screen displaying Microsoft Solitaire through the Google app resulted in superior recognition of cards and strategy suggestions. Though imperfect, with occasional errors like fabricating details or misidentifying elements, it outperformed Microsoft's approach.
Microsoft benefits from native integration on its hardware. Google's tool aims to simplify scanning desktop and cloud-stored files, prompting expectations of it supplanting File Explorer or built-in Microsoft search tools. It falls short of that mark.
The app accesses files on the local PC and items in Google Drive. Yet it overlooks OneDrive content and certain local documents, showing no capability for querying Google Photos either. A simple search for 'Google' on the test system surfaced more relevant local results using Windows' native search than through the app. Individual outcomes may vary based on setups, yet the experience left room for improvement.
Ultimately, the Google desktop application functions chiefly as an entryway to Gemini. With numerous such access points already available, is another truly necessary?
Correction: The initial evaluation erred by using an inferior Copilot variant, missing the robust cloud-based version that includes Copilot Vision.
Mark has contributed to PCWorld over the past ten years, drawing on three decades in tech journalism. He has produced more than 3,500 pieces for PCWorld, focusing on areas like PC processors, accessories, and Windows systems. His work has appeared in outlets such as PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science, and Electronic Buyers' News, earning a Jesse H. Neal Award for news coverage. Lately, he relinquished a stockpile of Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs due to limited office space.