Windows Phone 7.5: Bing(o) on Mango

As the Windows Phone 7.5 update, code name “Mango,” rolls out to customers, we are excited to get our hands on what is an elegant, intuitive experience that places the user at the center of the experience. Not surprisingly, what excites us the most is what the team has done with Bing on the new Windows Phone experience. With that in mind, we wanted to highlight some of our favorite features:

Beyond the Search Box

Bing on Windows Phone now transcends the search box. No longer limited by text, you can now search with voice, audio and vision.

• Voice: Search without typing using the voice search functionality.
• Music Search: Find what song is playing by letting you phone "listen" to the music. It not only shows you the name, artist, and album, but even shows you where you can hear or buy it.
• Bing Vision: You can now use your phone’s camera to look up product information by bringing an object into view. Bing will recognize text and present the option to select words for a search, and instantly return product results if the object has a barcode. Bing Vision can also detect product information from UPC codes, QR Codes and MS Tag as well as cover art for books, CD’s, DVD’s and video games.

Local Scout Goes Hyper Local

Local Scout provides local search results and recommends nearby restaurants, shopping and other activities in an easy to use guide powered by Bing. Whether you’re looking for the best brunch or live music in your area, it's all a tap away. Simply pick a result and you’ll see everything you need to know —where it's located, how to get there, who to call, when it's open, the website, and even ratings and reviews.

The results are arranged by:

• Highlights: Top rated and highly reviewed listings
• Eat+Drink: Nearby restaurants
• See+Do: Nearby attractions and activities
• Shop: Nearby stores

App Connect

Ever wonder which app does what – Bing has you covered. Bing search results now return Windows Phone Marketplace apps that are relevant to what you’re searching for. So the next time you search for movie times, Bing will show you the best movie apps.

For an in depth look at how this works, check out Ben and Stefan’s video covering Bing on Windows Phone 7.5:

- Ted Roduner, Bing