diff --git a/core/java/android/app/SearchDialog.java b/core/java/android/app/SearchDialog.java
index 44d1eaa302720..07850290f67d6 100644
--- a/core/java/android/app/SearchDialog.java
+++ b/core/java/android/app/SearchDialog.java
@@ -242,8 +242,15 @@ public class SearchDialog extends Dialog implements OnItemClickListener, OnItemS
         // Reset any stored values from last time dialog was shown.
         mStoredComponentName = null;
         mStoredAppSearchData = null;
-        
-        return doShow(initialQuery, selectInitialQuery, componentName, appSearchData, globalSearch);
+
+        boolean success = doShow(initialQuery, selectInitialQuery, componentName, appSearchData,
+                globalSearch);
+        if (success) {
+            // Display the drop down as soon as possible instead of waiting for the rest of the
+            // pending UI stuff to get done, so that things appear faster to the user.
+            mSearchAutoComplete.showDropDownAfterLayout();
+        }
+        return success;
     }
     
     /**
diff --git a/core/java/android/widget/AutoCompleteTextView.java b/core/java/android/widget/AutoCompleteTextView.java
index ba47df5315178..f2250d828b2a1 100644
--- a/core/java/android/widget/AutoCompleteTextView.java
+++ b/core/java/android/widget/AutoCompleteTextView.java
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ public class AutoCompleteTextView extends EditText implements Filter.FilterListe
     private boolean mBlockCompletion;
 
     private AutoCompleteTextView.ListSelectorHider mHideSelector;
+    private Runnable mShowDropDownRunnable;
 
     private AutoCompleteTextView.PassThroughClickListener mPassThroughClickListener;
 
@@ -1065,6 +1066,13 @@ public class AutoCompleteTextView extends EditText implements Filter.FilterListe
         return mDropDownAnchorView == null ? this : mDropDownAnchorView;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Issues a runnable to show the dropdown as soon as possible.
+     */
+    public void showDropDownAfterLayout() {
+        post(mShowDropDownRunnable);
+    }
+
     /**
      * <p>Displays the drop down on screen.</p>
      */
@@ -1173,6 +1181,22 @@ public class AutoCompleteTextView extends EditText implements Filter.FilterListe
 
             mHideSelector = new ListSelectorHider();
 
+            /**
+             * This Runnable exists for the sole purpose of checking if the view layout has got
+             * completed and if so call showDropDown to display the drop down. This is used to show
+             * the drop down as soon as possible after user opens up the search dialog, without
+             * waiting for the normal UI pipeline to do it's job which is slower than this method.
+             */
+            mShowDropDownRunnable = new Runnable() {
+                public void run() {
+                    // View layout should be all done before displaying the drop down.
+                    View view = getDropDownAnchorView();
+                    if (view != null && view.getWindowToken() != null) {
+                        showDropDown();
+                    }
+                }
+            };
+
             mDropDownList = new DropDownListView(context);
             mDropDownList.setSelector(mDropDownListHighlight);
             mDropDownList.setAdapter(mAdapter);