The search button does Bing, why can't it search my phone

[SanFranMan]

One of the (many) things I love about webOS (and now iOS and Android) is that the search feature will search both the Internet and your phone, making it a very powerful launcher.

I can type "Mom" and get a one-touch to call or SMS mom, any Emails with her, or I can type an app's name and go to it right away. Or if I'm looking to Google (sorry, I mean Bing) something I can do that too from the same query.

Why is MS limiting us only to Bing web results when I'd like to be searching the contents of my phone? Is there a setting or hack to fix this? Is it planned for a future update?

 

[selfcreation]

that be a cool feature i have to admit

but the fact that the phone doesnt consist of ENDLESS pages of Icons like the Iphone u dont really need a search option . u can find anything from the main page with the swipe of a finguer fairly fast. or simply PIN the the things u want on ur main page

Every page of the wp7 OS has a search option ( contacts games ect.. ) maybe thast why bing is bing and people search is people search.

but your right it still be nice to have in a update.

 

[action_efn_jackson]

IMO. Not really needed since there is no file manager. I suppose it could come in handy so you don't have to scroll around looking.

 

[NickA]

Kind of a related question: When I'm in IE, and hit the search button on the phone, why does it bring up Google and not Bing? Seems like MS would have set Bing as the search page in the browser.

 

[Rico]

To be honest, given that Bing is the go-to option for everything search, there's a lot more it could be doing since we've got to rely on it. A universal search would definitely be nice, but I don't feel like I really need it. It's easy enough to go into the respective hub and search. And the number of times I need to search for something across multiple media is rare, at least on my phone.

 

[selfcreation]

To be honest, given that Bing is the go-to option for everything search, there's a lot more it could be doing since we've got to rely on it. A universal search would definitely be nice,.

it be cool if some one found a way to integrate GOOGLE into BIG

personally i HATE bing , i think the google engine is MUCH better ( maybe just cause ive been using it for the last 10 years lol )

 

[Rico]

Kind of a related question: When I'm in IE, and hit the search button on the phone, why does it bring up Google and not Bing? Seems like MS would have set Bing as the search page in the browser.

It brings up the Bing app for me.

it be cool if some one found a way to integrate GOOGLE into BIG

personally i HATE bing , i think the google engine is MUCH better ( maybe just cause ive been using it for the last 10 years lol )

Yeah, I'm more used to Google myself, but on the desktop I'm usually using search strings to narrow down what I'm looking for before I even complete my first search. On mobile, I generally just want to start with a fairly broad topic then drill down a bit.

In terms of search, I really doubt most people would know the difference if you switched one from another.

 

[merrick]

Kind of a related question: When I'm in IE, and hit the search button on the phone, why does it bring up Google and not Bing? Seems like MS would have set Bing as the search page in the browser.

i read somewhere that the phone maker or the mobile network can change the search provider when adding their own software.

I think your stuck with it.

cant find any evidence but am sure i read about this somewhere.

 

[spitothec]

It's technical name is Universal Search, I think Blackberry has the best one, and I'm pretty sure I read that MS was working on it. Not going to have it ANY time soo .

 

[foosball]

Definitely would like to see a Universal Search feature or as webOS calls it "Just Type" in WP7. Its amazingly handy and for the record Palm introduced it, while iOS, Android and BB decided it was too good not to copy.

 

[NickA]

i read somewhere that the phone maker or the mobile network can change the search provider when adding their own software.

I think your stuck with it.

cant find any evidence but am sure i read about this somewhere.

I don't mind being stuck with it because I like Google search. I just thought it was weird that it defaulted to Google on a Microsoft phone. But I guess that's no different then Verizon stripping my Android Samsung Fascinate of Google and putting Bing all over it.

 

[barrypicker]

bandwidth

I noticed when using google the amount of kilobytes (KB) downloaded is far less than with Bing. Probably because every Bing search starts with a page full of graphics. This is not an issue where WiFi is available, but if using precious KB from your phone data plan, this might become an issue. Not everyone has unlimited 3G (or 4G).

I am curious if the Bing graphics are actually stored on the phone, rather than downloaded. Obviously, if browsing to Bing.com using the built-in Internet Explorer the graphics will be downloaded, but what about the Bing button on the face of the phone? (Samsung Focus) I believe that is an app, not a web site.

 

[spitothec]

The image used on the "Bing Page" when you press the Search button is downloaded via your data connection. There are probably zero images stored on the phone since the images changes daily, and always matches precisely to the image on bing.com.

The image itself, if it's downloading it at 800x480, SHOULD be around 250KB max, so the most data it could possibly use in a 30 day period is around 8MBs.. not exactly terrifying, but I know some people have crazy plans where they pay per MB.

 

[Luisraul924]

You know? I kinda got the idea that since looking for apps is pretty straight forward and some of the deepest level stuff is probably like searching your music or dialing/texting a contact stuff within an app, a lot of it can be launched with the voice command by long pressing start, and some other people here are right without an actual file explorer, and overall just the way this OS works, a universal search isnt really too necessary. I would see it as a small extra luxury that we don't exactly need right now.

 

[Pete C]

It's funny I always wished there was a way to remove this feature from my iPhone so I wouldn't accidentally swipe to it. I never found a use for it.

 

[tuffluck]

IMO. Not really needed since there is no file manager. I suppose it could come in handy so you don't have to scroll around looking.

i disagree. if you want to listen to a song and have 10,000+ mp3's, the search function is way simpler than scrolling through your zune list.

 

[tuffluck]

I don't mind being stuck with it because I like Google search. I just thought it was weird that it defaulted to Google on a Microsoft phone. But I guess that's no different then Verizon stripping my Android Samsung Fascinate of Google and putting Bing all over it.

mine goes to bing every time.

 

[Luisraul924]

mine goes to bing every time.

lets get this straight; search button on the face of the phone opens up bing for every windows phone out there, what some people here are talking about, is WITHIN internet explorer close ALL tabs (or even on a web page) press the search button (while still in the browser) and the browser gets redirected to Google.

 

[Luisraul924]

i disagree. if you want to listen to a song and have 10,000+ mp3's, the search function is way simpler than scrolling through your zune list.

well I myself have about 1500 songs, which may pale in comparison to your supposed 10,000+ song library (I find it hard to believe 16gb, or 32 for that matter can hold that many songs, unless you dont mind really low bitrate **** sounding songs) regardless, 1500 is still quite a library to search but if you have your music properly ID3 tagged, its pretty easy to find music without a search feature.