PhoneTalk

This week we asked bloggers around the Internet for ideas on how a cell phone can help while on vacation or help plan a vacation. Our first post comes from Bill Burke, to read more from Bill check out his Wireless Speech blog.

Windows Live Mobile Search is by far the handiest and most full-featured traveler's assistant. It's available for free download to Windows 5.0 & 6.0 Smart Phones, Blackberry devices and Pocket PC's - and it's hands free (speech recognition enabled)! The service also uses Global Positioning System (GPS) data on GPS-enabled phones, to provide location-aware local search for customers.

In Microsoft's last release of Live Search for Windows Mobile they built in a very forward looking feature:
Allowing users to send feedback directly to the engineering team.
Many requests were for new functionality.

Here's what's built in now:

Weather By far the most often-requested feature: get current weather conditions, and a four-day forecast by clicking the Weather icon.

Bluetooth headset support:
Now you can use the speech recognition feature with your Bluetooth headset (available on select devices).

Map a contact:
Open up a contact, press Menu, and then press Show On Map to view that Contact's location on a map!

Delete a recent location:
Simple, yet effective. Click the label showing your current location
to display the list of recent locations, scroll to the item you want to delete,
press Menu, and then press Delete.

These were the most common asked-for features;
but Microsoft received additional requests for custom, personalized content.

Consequentially, Microsoft built a way for users to access even more relevant content, on the go.

Web search:
Search the Web, news, images, and more just by clicking the Web icon.

Increased traffic coverage :
Piggy-backing on great work done by Live Search Maps, view up-to-the-minute
traffic info for more cities, like Indianapolis, Oklahoma City or Memphis.

Collections:
Looking for wireless restaurants in Orlando Florida?
Or maybe you wish to find a bicycle paths in New York City?
Mobile search can definitely help. Users can search community-generated content such as..
Virtual Earth Collections and/or Google KML and find what they are looking for.

--> But; there are more services offered:

• Search by business name
  
  (Anthony’s Grill)
  
• Or search by type of business
  
  (Sushi restaurant)
• Narrow listings by city, neighborhood, or street

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• Get links to maps, driving directions, and traffic
  
• Find movie show times and get tickets
• Hear current weather and forecasts
• Access travel resources

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• Call 1-800-CALL-411 for free from any phone
• Connect directly to businesses for free
• Share listings with friends
• Receive text messages of listings

There are, of course, other similar applications; but to date, none work as well, especially
with the incredible speech recognition accuracy Live Mobile Search offers the everyday user!

Check out the demonstration video below.. It's more than impressive!
|| Live Search for Windows Mobile -- Now with Speech! ||

Topics: Phone Smarts BlackBerry Windows Mobile Smart phones Travel GPS Bluetooth