Google Android Users In Europe Get New Setup Options

Google has introduced a new search engine setup procedure for new phones in Europe that allows users to customize preferences on their Android devices.

Marketing for Google may become a bit more strategic. Android users in Europe will see an option to download search apps and browsers and can now personalize the design, installing any app they want and choosing the types of default services to use such as Google Chrome.

The changes were made to comply with the European Commission's ruling last year. The EU fined Google, saying it had an unfair advantage by pre-installing its Chrome browser and Google search app on Android smartphones and notebooks.

To comply with the EU, the new screens will serve up the first time a user opens Google Play after receiving an upcoming update, explains Google Product Management Director Paul Gennai in a post.

Two screens will serve up -- one for search apps and another for browsers. Each will contain a total of five apps. Apps that are not already installed on the device will be included based on their popularity. They will, however, serve up in a random order.

Users can tap to install as many apps as they want. If an additional search app or browser is installed, the user will be shown an additional screen with instructions on how to set up the new app.

Where a user downloads a search app from the screen, Google will ask the user whether they want to change Chrome's default search engine the next time they open Chrome.

Lobbying group FairSearch told Reuters it “rejects” Google’s announcement because it does “nothing to correct the central problem that Google apps will remain the default on all Android devices.”

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