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Mobile search applications like Microsoft’s Live Search sure are handy, aren’t they? Well, they’re about to get a lot handier. Microsoft has teamed up with Sprint to roll out a new Live Search client that uses location-based information to help you find the nearest pizzeria or nail salon (for that emergency mani-pedi that you might find yourself needing).
The trick thing about the new Live Search is the way location information is calculated. Sprint and Microsoft have extended the Live Search functionality to use cell-tower triangulation for calculating a user’s position. Without the need for GPS modules, cell-tower triangulation opens up the world of location-based mobile search to a wider array of mobile phones. Starting today, all Live Search mobile searches on Sprint’s network will incorporate location information.
Users of Sprint’s five high-end mobile phones will also be able to use the new Microsoft Live Search client by speaking their search terms into the phone’s microphone – no more endless tapping away at the RAZR’s numeric keypad. The lineup of voice-compatible phones includes the Samsung a900 and a920, the Motorola RAZR, the Sanyo 840, and the LG 550.
We’re expecting the location-based Microsoft Live Search to hit other carriers soon, so keep an eye out. Cell-tower triangulation really is the best way to get positional information without a cumbersome GPS module – it isn’t the most accurate way to get location data, but it’s close enough for mobile searches. Not to mention that location information can even be calculated in dense-urban environments where high-rise building can hinder GPS performance. We like it.
[Via: SearchEngineLand]
About The Author
Will Park
Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...
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