Google Search gets Now-like card mobile results, new iOS app w/ cross platform notifications & filter/comparison tools

Today Google is celebrating its 15 birthday and to help celebrate it’s making the search experience on mobile devices even better with a redesign and new features. Google ran down a few of the new features that it showed off today at a small event on its Inside Search blog today. New improvements to search on mobile devices include cross platform notifications for search and Google Now, new search tools for filtering and comparisons, and a refreshed design that puts search results on Google Now-like cards.

On top of a refreshed look for Google Search and ads on smartphones and tablets pictured above, the first new improvement you’ll notice in Google search on mobile devices is new filter and comparison tools that can also be initiated with voice:

You can pull up your phone and say to Google: “Tell me about Impressionist artists.” You’ll see who the artists are, and you can dive in to learn more about each of them and explore their most famous works. If you want to switch to Abstract artists, you can do that really easily with our new filter tool… Or let’s say you want to compare two things: How much saturated fat is in butter versus olive oil? Now you can simply tell Google: “Compare butter with olive oil.” Our new comparison tool gives you new insights by letting you compose your own answer.

Google also announced that it will be rolling out a new Google Search app for iPhone and iPad in the coming weeks that will enable notifications for reminders & more across platforms:

With this update, you can get notifications across your devices. So if you tell your Nexus 7, “OK Google. Remind me to buy olive oil at Safeway,” when you walk into the store with your iPhone, you’ll get a reminder. We’ll also show you Google Now notifications so you’re not late to your cooking class.

You’ll start noticing the improvements to search on Android and iOS today, but Google says the cross platform notifications will arrive within a couple weeks through an update to the Google Search iPhone and iPad app.