New Bing App Out - Verizon only. APK here.

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gthing

Senior Member
Feb 13, 2007
829
73
SL,UT
Title says it all. If you'd like to try out the new Bing search app but are not on Verizon, download the .apk below. Post below if you have any problems or thoughts about the app.

Today we are happy to announce the first official Bing for Mobile Android App available to Verizon customers. You can now download the free Bing App from your Verizon Wireless Android phones’ Marketplace.

The app homepage features the Bing image of the day, complete with clickable hotspots that you can explore and discover related trivia. Did you miss one of the latest images? Don’t worry; you can still swipe through up to 7 days’ worth of Bing images.

...

More info: http://www.bing.com/community/blogs...for-mobile-comes-to-your-verizon-android.aspx


I'm not on Verizon so it's not showing up in my market. Can someone post an .apk for the rest of us?

edit: I have a co-worker with an unrooted Verizon Android phone. Is there a way I can get the app without rooting his phone?

edit: .apk attached. Installed on Evo and seems to work just fine. Some nice features here.
 

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  • com.microsoft.mobileexperiences.bing.apk
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RedWingsFan

Senior Member
Jul 7, 2010
318
64
Installed on my EVO and it works great.

The traffic it shows on the map is a lot more accurate than google maps.
 

tnyynt

Retired Senior Moderator
Jun 18, 2007
2,270
5
Works fine on stock HTC Desire with Froyo OTA. Thanks for sharing!
 

khatta

Senior Member
Feb 19, 2008
84
5
Works on my XDAndroid on Sprint Touch Pro2

The App even works on XDAndroid on my Sprint Touch pro2. Awesome !! :)
 

gthing

Senior Member
Feb 13, 2007
829
73
SL,UT
Some initial thoughts:

The widget seems to perform faster then Google's at coming up with search suggestions. I also actually like the way the search results look more than Google. You can click anywhere on the result to go to the page, rather than just the title. Seems a bit more mobile friendly.

The Bing app also has a built-in browser. The search widget seems to be the only way to access it, or through the search box at the top of the app. It seems very capable and feels very fast. Might just be placebo effect, but it might be faster at loading pages then the built in browser. It is probably using the same engine as the built in browser, so who knows.

The browser does have a "favorites" feature which I assume is like bookmarks, but I'm unable to figure out how to add something to it. Also, the search box doesn't go away as you scroll down the page - a feature that used to bother me on the default browser but I have come to like. There appears to be no way to open a result in the default browser, if you wanted its features like saving images, adding bookmarks, etc. which is a drawback.

The image search is really cool, definitely better than Google's (as was the desktop version until recently), although it seems to be mysteriously lacking the feature to save or send images or set wallpapers from the images you find. You can pretty much search and view, that's it.

Movies feature is nice. Don't know if I'd use it over Flickster. It does have all the info available on one page, which is nice, but doesn't have movie trailers and you can't search by theater, just by movie.

Maps is okay. Google Maps is just such a mature product with Latitude, layers, labs, etc. that I couldn't see myself switching to Bing maps any time soon. Another poster said it had better traffic data, but it doesn't have Navigation (just directions). Might be a sufficient alternative if for some reason Google Maps is bugging out or something.

The news section just shows headlines for articles which link to the original articles on their respective pages. The interface looks the same to the search results. Nice for some simple browsing maybe.

The last thing is the picture of the day. Today's is of some mountains in China somewhere. The image actually looks a bit crappy, like it is compressed weird or something, but that might just be today. If you dismiss the menu at the bottom of the app, you will get highlight spots where you can click and learn more about the image. A nice feature, but they have it on their home page, too, and I never use it (or Bing, for that matter).

I'll play around with it a little more to see if it sticks. Overall I'd say it's a nice initial offering from Bing, and better than the crap that usually comes out of Microsoft. Missing features like the ability to save images, open links in a full featured browser, and add favorites(?) are the biggest drawbacks.
 

KiamatDusk

Senior Member
Aug 31, 2010
144
46
I tried DLing this straight to my Evo but it won't install. Do I need to DL it to my computer and install it via HTC Sync?
 

derrickmadden

Member
May 28, 2010
14
0
is there any way someone could put up the .apk file up? ii want it, but I'm not on verizon.

Sent From My Thoughts Using My Mind. And My Moment.
 

gotshores

Senior Member
Aug 4, 2010
613
59
San Antonio
It works-non rooted Evo

I downloaded it on my non-rooted evo, went through Astro, clicked on it and installed. Works fine, and it's pretty quick too.