Bring on Bing – Search Engine on iPad Outshines Others
Bravo, Microsoft. You hit the jackpot with Bing on the iPad. The search engine shows us this is what you were always supposed to do: solid software. The big guys up at Redmond must have some Macs sequestered away somewhere, because they’re doing a great job developing for the iOS platform. What’s so great about Bing on the iPad vs. any other search-related app? Read on for the details …
It’s really simple: Bing for iPad is actually cool. I’m not a fan of Bing as a search engine, but as an application, it’s a brilliant one-stop-shop deal.
Load up the app and you’re presented with a home screen. Weather, trending topics, maps, news and more are present as thumbnails on the bottom half. The top screen features a search bar. Start a search or touch the thumbnails — the choice is yours, but the interface is brilliant.
Tap a topic, and a browser card slides over from the right, then swipe it away to go ‘back’ through browsing history. The whole app works like this. But it’s more than just a fancy search box.
If you poke around the trending topics, Bing provides a collage of photos based on the trending topics for the day. Swipe through each day of the week and check it out. It’s a great way to get an at-a-glance perspective of the latest goings-on around the web without having do a search.
Also nice: Bing maps. Again, I’m not a fan of Bing maps on its own, but the integration of the maps feature inside the Bing app is great. It instantly finds your location and provides a list of local businesses and other points of interest in your area.
Each of the little ‘search applets’ on the bottom of the Bing search screen offers up the most important information about a topic in the quickest way possible. Weather and Movies applets both have windows providing a quick take on the topic at hand plus a sidebar with the most popular or likely related topics/searches. For example, Weather displays your local weather (based on your location) on the right next to options for “weather maps” and “other locations.” For news, Bing provides a collage of top stories with thumbnail pictures and the headline.
Bing for iPad does voice searches, too.
It’s honestly a bit difficult to explain without playing with it, so I encourage anyone to download it. It’s free.
Nothing here is groundbreaking as far as what information is offered, but it’s how you get at the information that makes it work. Even after just 5 minutes of playing with it, I realized Bing for iPad is an app I would use regularly.
Now, if only Microsoft would apply this level of sophistication and integration with Windows Phone 7 or maybe come out with Office for iOS …
Sign up for The VAR Guy’s Weekly Newsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow The VAR Guy via RSS, Facebook and Twitter. Follow experts at VARtweet. Read The VAR Guy’s editorial disclosures here.
