I'm working on a mobile site of a rather large site. There are quite a few iA and navigation hurdles already, so I'm pushing to use a search icon instead of a traditional search input box.
My reasoning is that both require one click (or touch) to activate and begin searching. Weather a user is clicking the icon to trigger a search or clicking an input box to do the same, the experience is the same. However, an icon takes up considerably less space, and can communicate the same thing.
I'm interested in thoughts about a Search Icon vs. a Search Input Box... anything helpful?
Answer
On a mobile platform where space is limited and a simpler look and feel is required, I think it's absolutely fine to have an icon instead of a permanent search box.
Take for example the Android Market App where touching the icon takes you to the search page with completion list and virtual keyboard ready to start typing.
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