Making the client something of a work in progress, these new features are in addition to those
already announced in July and detailed further below. Microsoft says that the Windows Mobile version of Live Search now accepts voice input, and on GPS-enabled phones can use GPS data to provide location-aware local search. Live Search also now includes details such as gas prices and hours of operation for businesses.
According to Microsoft, visualization and 3-D capabilities reportedly have also been improved. For example, coverage of bird's-eye and 3-D imagery has been increased to cover 80 percent of the U.S. population, and nearly 200 complete cities are available in 3-D.
The company adds that core improvements have been made to the underlying
Virtual Earth platform. Touted updates in version 6.0 of Virtual Earth include:
- Multipoint trip routing
- Enhanced geocoding that combines results for multiple geocoders
- Rooftop geocoding, which provides more precise geocoding results
- Newly released MapCruncher beta, making it easier to publish maps overlaid in an application using the Virtual Earth map control
The features already announced in July for Windows Live Search for Windows Mobile (depicted above), according to Microsoft, included:
- Movie showtimes -- a listing of local movies, based on proximity, that even includes thumbnails of movie posters; also includes movie ratings and directions to the theater
- Enhanced local data -- improved restaurant listings, now providing star ratings and consumer reviews; .inks provide a quick way to call any restaurant or get directions
- Better maps -- hybrid maps, in addition to the existing street maps and aerial views; performance can be improved by caching data to a memory card
- Directions -- support for internal or external GPS devices and improved turn-by-turn navigation; client device also receives traffic data from Traffic.com
The updated application works on Windows Mobile 2003 (SE), Windows Mobile 5, and Windows Mobile 6. It can be downloaded for free by pointing a phone's web browser at
wls.live.com. An FAQ is available
here.
In addition to the Windows Mobile client for Live Search client, clients are
also downloadable for J2ME (Java) phones and for Blackberry (beta). Unsupported phones, such as the iPhone, can use the service via their Web browsers, at
m.live.com.
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