oh i completely agree... it needs to be integrated more, but on my device at least its quicker to open up the program and swipe than it is to search any other way (and it doesn't take up too much real estate because i use home++, so its kind of taken the place of my "dialer" button).
actually, that gives me a great idea... they need to make this an app! put a little 2x2 box where you can swipe to automatically search for things! that'd be neat
Now that's a really cool idea. I wonder if it would even be possible to return search results inside the widget for larger side widgets. How cool would it be to have a 4x2 size widget that returned your search results right inside that box without ever having to leave the homescreen?