I switched from iOS to Android two years ago and Google still hasn't caught up with Apple's device search.<p>On my iPhone I used the spotlight search so much I tried to hack it to be my home page. On Android all I have is the Google search bar which searches--guess what? Google. If I type my girlfriend's name I'll get a wikipedia result instead of her contact info even though I contact her 10 times a day.<p>To be honest, you can see the information on the device, but only after scrolling down to the bottom of the results, or in some cases clicking the little "search phone" button.<p>Why hasn't this been fixed already?
> On Android all I have is the Google search bar which searches--guess what? Google. If I type my girlfriend's name I'll get a wikipedia result instead of her contact info even though I contact her 10 times a day.<p>The Google search bar does instant search on-device (including contacts, apps, web history, etc.) from the search box before you hit the search button (including contacts, as I just tested on my phone), and searches Google iff you hit the action button (the search icon that replaces "enter" on the keyboard when typing in the search box.) So I don't see the problem you are reporting of having to take extra-steps to find the on-device results; instead, it takes <i>fewer</i>.<p>This is a Galaxy Note 3 with Lollipop and the Google Now launcher; its possible that different device/OS version/launcher may provide a different UX here.
Apple is focussing on a great user experience to sell devices with a premium tag, google is focussing on maximizing the number of targeted ads you see whatever you do.<p>Your choice.
That's how it's worked on Android phones for over two years - It's possible you are using an OS version more than four years old or something.