Today Google has started the “Near Me Now” service for mobile devices running Android and the iPhone/iPod touch devices. This service might be tough competition to Qype and Yelp in the future – the current content quality is a good start but still has some miles to go (depending on the quality of local content provided by other services). It is also not possible to write your own reviews – the Google service shows only reviews from existing online resources.

When starting the browser you will see a new tab called “local” while the current “known” location is also shown under the search text field.

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If you select the “Local” tab you will get a list of categories to search for:

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Inside of the category there might be more sub categories:

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If you select one of the found entries you will get some more detailled information about the entry:

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It is possible to change the location for upcoming search queries and to “Starr” your personal local favorites for further reference:

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