Windows Phone 7 is due out by the holiday season, but Microsoft isn’t allowing Windows Mobile 6.x to wither away like a raisin in the sun. Today, the Bing team announced new turn-by-turn directions courtesy of Microsoft’s Tellme unit. The new feature is available on Windows Mobile handsets for T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T — but not Verizon, which both surprises and disappoints me. I recognize the carrier needs to sell their own services of course, but the Motorola Droid on Verizon sports that nifty, free Google Navigation. Go figure.
Folks with a supported handset and carrier will find the Bing application update available today or can hit up http://m.bing.com for the new feature. Older Windows Mobile handsets gain a slight interface update too — the new UI provides faster access to more common searches, such as Movies and Traffic. Since I no longer have a Windows Mobile device, I have to ask: has anyone used the new navigation yet, and if so, how does it compare to Google’s free solution? I’m also wondering on the timing of this addition to Bing — is it coincidental that it was launched the same day that Google added biking directions and sharing to Google Maps for Android?
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