It appears Google is testing new search results optimized for tablets. The experimental design removes the left-side navigation in favor of horizontal navigation with dropdown menus, and removes the trademark “Gooooooooooogle” from the footer.
The new layout, first reported by Digital Inspiration, was spotted on an iPad, according to a follow-up report from The Next Web, noting that there have been several other reports on Twitter of a tablet-friendly design from Google.
Here’s a look at a Google News Search. Note the addition of the horizontal icons for Everything, Images, Video, etc., under the filtering options.
And here’s the footer:
What do you think of this layout?
Update: Google has just confirmed the new search interface for tablets will be rolling out shortly on all iPad and Android 3.1+ devices. In addition to the simplified layout with larger page contents (e.g., text, buttons) optimized for either landscape or portrait view, Google also notes enhancements to image search (e.g., enlarged image previews, continuous scroll, faster loading of image thumbnails).