Redmond, Washington — Software producer Microsoft on Wednesday introduced some nifty features to its mobile browsing for image search, real-time transit and directions, and thanks to enhanced HTML5 support and some other refinements.
Surprisingly, the new release — which taps HTML5 — is available on smartphone browsers on both Apple iOS and Android phones, but not Microsoft Windows Phone 7, which does not yet support the technology.
“Do not worry, Windows Phone 7 just announced that it will support HTML5 later this year so these updates will work great at that time,” Bing wrote on its blog.
In a bonus for iPhone users, Bing for browsers update adds richer, more personalized search results and real-time information, for Bing’s most popular verticals, like movies, travel, weather, shopping and transit directions, along with the duration of the trip based on walking, transit, and traffic info.
Moreover, for iOS users, the update bundles relevant iOS apps to Bing’s organic search results in addition to normal results. Microsoft previously added an iPhone apps tab to its visual search on desktop web browsers. Top apps can be browsed by category or organized by search criteria.
“The extensive-range of updates contains new Real-Time Transit updates for Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, and Los Angeles; Transit Routing offering walking, transit and traffic information; and Weather updates to make finding the forecast for your city easier,” Microsoft said in a statement.
Also, expanded directions are readily available for people who choose public transportation, for example. Computers can click on the bus route icon for real-time information about when to expect transportation to arrive.
Microsoft also made Image Search is faster and smoother, in addition to streamlined shopping feature in the Bing mobile browser app, and provided information on movie listings and times.
“Find your shopping questions replied promptly with the new modernized shopping experience formulated to make it easier for you to get your shopping questions answered, comparison shop, and discover product details and user reviews while on the go,” says Andy Chu, Director of Product Management Bing for Mobile.
Bing has also arranged movies by time and nearest theater, along with reviews, synopsis, trailers and additional information to help decide what movie fits the mood. Weather autosuggest and instant answer features have also been added to the search bar. The Weather tab has also been updated with four forecast views.
If you use m.bing.com on an iPhone, you can search for apps.
However, Microsoft is not the only company which released an app update for a competing mobile operating system. Last week Google refurbished its Google Search app for iOS users, leaving many to question when Android users might receive a similar update.
Download Bing’s mobile update at m.bing.com.
Bing runs down the new features in the following two videos: