Sunday, February 11, 2007
Microsoft Releases Live Search for Mobile
Posted by Darius Wey in "SOFTWARE" @ 10:01 PM
Live Search for Mobile, which we first revealed in December, is now out of beta and available for public consumption in two localized versions - United States and United Kingdom. Read on for a breakdown and some screenshots.
Those of you who sampled the beta version will notice that the final version has been renamed to Live Search to avoid conflicts with Windows Mobile's default Search application. The screenshot above shows Live Search in the Programs menu of Windows Mobile 6.
Live Search offers categorical-based searching, aerial and road mapping, direction searching, and traffic information. Large buttons on the home screen allow for thumb-based navigation. Menu options have been refined to enhance usability across the board.
Searching businesses, landmarks, and even cities with Live Search is quick and simple. You can even search and map your contacts, thanks to Live Search's integration with Outlook Mobile.
As evident from the screenshot above, there's richer interaction with results than ever before.
Live Search supports both aerial and road mapping. There are extra options to enable full screen mode or to display updated traffic overlays.
Depending on your location, Live Search offers precise categorical-based searching.
You can also retrieve directions from Point A to Point B...
... in both text and pictorial form.
Traffic information is supported for major cities. Incidentally, if you're heading into Chicago today, you can expect a good run (of course, it's Sunday today). ;)
If you're in the United States or the United Kingdom, you'll want to grab the version localized to your country. If you're elsewhere, then there's not a significant difference between the two. Mapping and direction searching should work if the Windows Live Local service supports your country. On the other hand, features such as categorical-based searching and traffic information may not work.
Live Search is free and supports Windows Mobile and select devices capable of running J2ME applications. If you're reading this from your mobile device, then visit this page to learn more and/or download Live Search. Alternatively, if you're on a PC, visit this page to learn more about mobile Live services in general.
