14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has released no less than four new video advertisements designed to highlight Bing on the new Windows Phone Mango platform.
The Redmond company is currently rolling out the Windows Phone 7.5 update, code name “Mango,” to customers that acquired Windows Phone 7 devices. New handsets sporting Mango are also heading to consumers, with more in line to being introduced by the end of 2011.
The software giant’s decision engine powers the search experience on Windows Phone Mango devices, and Microsoft put together new ads showing the functionality that Bing is bringing to the table.
According to Ted Roduner, from the Bing team, at the heart of Bing’s evolution on Mango is the fact that the decision engine now supports “voice, audio and vision” searches.
Essentially, users can initialize an inquiry using not only text, a voice command, a piece of audio, or just by taking a picture.
“Search without typing using the voice search functionality. 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,” Roduner notes.
“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.”
In addition to the features mentioned above, Mango also comes with Bing Local Scout, allowing users to feel right at home, even when visiting new locations, of course, provided that said location is covered by Bing.
Users get quick directions to restaurants, attractions and activities as well as to stores in their vicinity.
And then there’s Bing 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,” Roduner added.