Something similar happens with realism in cartoons. Up to a certain point of realism people react favorably but then there is a point when people no longer like what they are seeing. So if you just interpolate the test results with shaving off seconds it sounds really good on paper from an engineering standpoint but in practice it is something else. Shaving off seconds after you press enter I think is a good thing but shaving off seconds while you are typing is a completely different thing. The instant thing doesn't make any sense to me and all it does is just add visual clutter. Plus I'm not entirely convinced google added instant for the benefit of the consumer. What were they trying to do, save an extra keystroke? All instant does is make ads pop up sooner and I think that was the real motivation behind implementing it.