TechnologyCrowd

I have read that the Storm 2 was shipping with a Bing app, so this wasn’t a huge surprise when I saw that Verizon pushed the Bing for mobile application to my Storm 9530.  I typically use Google and Poynt for my searches and don’t really need another method for searching, but I have been impressed with the desktop version of Bing and the mobile search page was recently updated to work better with touch screens so I decided to give it a try.

Bing Icon pushed to Storm

As usual when an icon is pushed out from Verizon, it is just a link to download the actual application.  When I clicked on the icon it asked for permission to download it, so I clicked yes to start the download.

Bing BlackBerry Download

After downloading it asks if you want to grant Trusted Application status, I clicked yes to allow.

After choosing to run the application, it goes through a brief setup process where the application is configured.

Bing Configuration Screen

Next I had to accept the Service Agreement which appeared to be standard.

Bing Service Agreement

The next page gives information about the features offered with Bing for mobile.

Bing Features

After clicking continue, everything is installed and ready to go.  Similar to the web version of Bing, the background picture is a nice added touch.  You can navigate the items across the top or side or directly enter a search in the box by using text or speech command.  One annoyance is that the application remains in portrait mode so typing cannot be done using a full landscape keyboard.

The speech feature seems to work well, if it understands what you said it will take you directly to the search results.  If it is unclear or there are various options they will appear on the screen for you to select.  For example, when I said Buffalo Bills it asked me if I wanted “Buffalo Bills” or “Buffalo Bill’s” which I thought was a fair question.

Bing for mobile HomeScreen

By clicking on news at the top you can select a category you are interested in for the latest headlines which then allow you to go to the full articles.

Bing News Screen

If you set to allow the system to allow GPS tracking it will determine your location for local items.  This is really useful for quickly loading weather and movies in your area.  You can also select a location if you want this information for another area.  Local also allows you to search for various business as shown below, I found this much more convenient than having to enter it as part of my search.

Bing Local Screen

The maps feature was very responsive and found my location within a few seconds.  Traffic is shown with a green or red line.  You can get directions by car or walking and it provides turn by turn directions.  It doesn’t offer voice navigated directions which Google recently added to its Android based mobile maps, but it does allow you to link to VZ Navigator if you pay for that feature.

Once again, the portrait only mode is a bit frustrating if you want to type an address, but the speech feature that worked surprisingly well so that may prove to be a minor inconvenience.  It does not have the layer functionality of Google maps and lacks the functionality to login to the web version for things like My Maps and Favorites, but I rarely use this on Google so it is not a big loss, but would be a nice feature to see added in the future.

Bing for mobile Maps Screen

Overall, I was impressed by this application and everything it has to offer.  I can see this replacing a few applications I currently use to make it easier to get everything in one place.