Yahoo launches Inquisitor, a free iPhone web search app

Yahoo has launched a new iPhone web search application called Inquisitor, and it’s completely free to download from the App Store.

Inquisitor implements extensive use of auto-complete to let you search the net even faster than when using the iPhone’s built-in browser.

The web pages themselves launch from within the application, and the one-click mechanism that lets you skip between web pages and the search results of a query should make it easier to research quickly even when using a large number of sources.

It may be a bit of a gimmick, but you can also shake your iPhone to clear any search results. The sombre black interface removes it far enough from Yahoo’s iconic red logo to stop it from popping into your consciousness too quickly and, strangely enough, the results we got from a few test searches weren’t exactly the same as those we got from using Yahoo’s standard web browser.

Inquisitor also claims to tailor search results more effectively as you continue to use it. Exactly what effect this would have under real-world usage is up for debate, but if you’re a more voracious user of the net on your iPhone, it’s a good alternative to the built-in browser’s search function.