Bing: ‘Decision engine’ hype comes to the iPhone
By Ronald O Carlson
Microsoft’s hype-driven search decision engine interface has now been optimized for the iPhone and iPod touch, as well as a bunch of the usual touch-based suspects, including the Zune. Features include easy tabbed homepage navigation and tabbed search results organization.
iPhone FAQ reports that the mobile version of Microsoft’s Bing (standard Web interface) search engine has been revamped and now supports (m.bing.com) Apple’s zeitgeist defining handhelds. However, this newly launched touch-optimized interface is currently only available to users in the U.S.
Search results are organized into four simple tabs: Web, videos, news and images. Also, a link allows users to set their location so Bing returns relevant local results.
The home page has quick links at the top of the page for directions, map, weather and movies. If you want to see the desktop version of Bing on your iPhone’s browser there’s a link to that at the bottom of the page for that, too.
Captured via iCab 1.7, the best iPhone browser
Additionally, Microsoft has added extended features to the mobile search engine, including a visual search movie finder and a real-time data search. Examples of real-time information available include airline flight delays and NFL scores n’ stats.
Mobile phones that don’t support the touch interface, such as most Blackberries and Windows Mobile, are forwarded to a simpler version of the site. The Redmonsters are working on expanding the number of devices that Bing mobile supports.
For now, however, the iPhone, iPod Touch, T-Mobile G1, Verizon Imagio, Zune HD and Samsung Omnia are the only mobile touch devices that can use the touch optimized search engine.
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November 2nd, 2009
Bing is pretty cool. I just don’t think it has the power to get people to stop relying on google. So many of the features it offers I find redundant or unnecessary for my search. Microsoft couldn’t come up with a better product, so they came up with a flashier one.
I’m not changing my default mobile browser anytime soon.
http://m.seego.com/