Using a Bluetooth GPS with Bing for mobile |
| | Bing for mobile is a highly useful program that allows you to search, get directions, and check on traffic conditions, movie times, and a whole lot more—all from your Windows Mobile phone. What many people don't realize, however, is that Bing for mobile also works with Bluetooth GPS units.
When you use Bing for mobile with a Bluetooth GPS, you gain even better search results because the software can direct you to what you're looking for based on where you are right now. And you can get accurate, turn-by-turn driving directions. Without a Bluetooth GPS, Bing for mobile is still tremendously useful, but when you add in the GPS factor, the combination is even better—especially when it comes to finding restaurants and businesses close to where you are. This article covers the basics of buying, configuring, and using a Bluetooth GPS with Bing for mobile. |
| | Picking the right GPS unit | Sometimes shopping for technology can be difficult because there are so many choices and you want to make sure you pick the right solution. Thankfully, buying a Bluetooth GPS is relatively simple—all modern Bluetooth GPS units have the same basic functionality. And although they will differ slightly based on the exact hardware (which affects price, battery life, satellite lock-in time, and other factors), in the end, any modern Bluetooth GPS should work with Bing for mobile. And here's some more good news: Because Bing for mobile has its own maps, you only need to purchase a standalone Bluetooth GPS unit—not one that comes bundled with software and maps. You will need a data plan for your phone to use the software, however.
The Pharos Bluetooth iGPS-500 is a popular unit that works very well: It's small in size, has a rechargeable battery, and, at a cost of about U.S.$89.95, it's affordable, as well. The same GPS unit from Pharos with mapping software added is about U.S.$199, so Bing for mobile is saving you money already! If you'd like to see what other Bluetooth GPS units are out there, a quick Bing search will give you plenty to choose from. After you've bought your Bluetooth GPS, make sure it's fully charged and ready to go. | |
| Getting the Bluetooth GPS connected to your Windows Mobile phone | Setting up a Bluetooth GPS to work with your Windows Mobile Professional or Standard phone isn't complicated, but it's certainly not intuitive the first time you do it. Follow the steps below to get it configured. For the purpose of this article, I'm using an older Pharos Bluetooth GPS PT250. It's similar to many other GPS units on the market, so regardless of the brand of Bluetooth GPS you have, the basic steps are the same. I've included steps for setting up both Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and Standard smartphones—depending on your phone and your mobile operator, the procedure may be slightly different for you. |
| Setup procedure using Windows Mobile 6 Professional | To set up your Windows Mobile Professional phone, follow these steps: |
| Tap Start. Then tap Settings, and look in the Connections tab. You should see a Bluetooth icon—tap on it. The Devices tab will show up first, and you'll see Add New Device as an option. Select that option. Ensure your Bluetooth GPS is turned on and within 30 feet of your mobile device. To establish a partnership, the Bluetooth GPS will ask for a passcode—this will be a number that you'll need to enter to create the partnership. In the case of the Pharos GPS, I had to enter 12345678. Many Bluetooth devices use 0000 (four zeros). The number will be in the manual for your Bluetooth GPS. After the partnership is established, you'll be prompted to select which services to use from the Bluetooth GPS. Typically, the only option that will appear is Serial Port. Select the check box next to it, and click Finish. You'll now see the Bluetooth tab from step 2, only this time you should see your Bluetooth GPS listed as a device. If you don't, something went wrong during the setup process and you should start the steps over again. Now that the partnership has been created, you'll need to create a COM port for the GPS to use. Click the COM Ports tab. Select New Outgoing Port. You should see the device name of the GPS you just partnered with. Select it, and tap Next. You'll have a drop-down list of ports to choose from. Select COM7 as the port. If for some reason, COM7 isn't available, select any other COM port. Leave the Secure Connection box checked, and tap Finish. You've now configured the partnership between your Windows Mobile Professional smartphone and the Bluetooth GPS! Congratulations!
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These screen shots show that the Pharos Bluetooth GPS has been added as a device and that it's configured to use COM7. | |
| Setup procedure using Windows Mobile 6 Standard | To set up your Windows Mobile Standard smartphone, follow these steps: |
| Click Start. Then scroll down to Settings and select it. Once inside Settings, scroll down to Connections. Once inside Connections, select Bluetooth from the list. Once inside the Bluetooth settings, select Bluetooth again. You'll see a menu item called Add Device. Select that. The smartphone will begin to scan for nearby Bluetooth devices. After about 10 to 20 seconds, it should find your Bluetooth GPS device. My Pharos GPS shows up as "Pharos iGPS-BT." Select the Bluetooth GPS you want to partner with, and click Next. To establish a partnership, the Bluetooth GPS will ask for a passcode—this will be a number that you'll need to enter to create the partnership. In the case of the Pharos GPS, I had to enter 12345678. Many Bluetooth devices use 0000 (four zeros). The number will be in the manual for your Bluetooth GPS. After it has paired, click Next. You'll be prompted to enter a display name—this is the name your GPS will be known by—but it should have a default name that you can use. Click Next. After the partnership is established, you'll be prompted to select which services to use from the Bluetooth GPS. Typically, the only option that will appear is Serial Port. Select the check box next to that option using your control pad, and then select Done. You'll now see the Bluetooth Devices tab from step 5, only this time you should see your Bluetooth GPS listed as a device. If you don't, something went wrong during the setup process and you should start the steps over again. Now that the partnership has been created, you'll need to create a COM port for the GPS to use. Click Menu, and then select COM Ports. Click Menu and choose New Outgoing Port. You should see the device name of the GPS you just partnered with. Select it, and choose the Select soft key. You'll have a drop-down list of ports to choose from. Select COM7 as the port. If for some reason COM7 isn't available, select any other COM port. Leave the Secure Connection box checked, and click Done. You've now configured the partnership between your Windows Mobile Standard smartphone and the Bluetooth GPS. Congratulations!
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| After you've connected your Bluetooth GPS to your Windows Mobile phone, the next step is to get Bing for mobile installed and configured. | |
| Installing and configuring Bing for mobile | The best way to get Bing for mobile installed is to go to http://m.bing.com/download using the web browser on your phone. You'll be given the option to select the operating system on your phone—Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 2003 SE, Windows Mobile 5, or Windows Mobile 6 (this includes Windows Mobile 6.1 and Windows Mobile 6.5). After the download starts, it will take less than a minute, and when it's completed, the software install will kick off. The only decision you have to make at this point is where to put it: internal memory or on a storage card.
After you have installed Bing for mobile, follow these steps to get your Bluetooth GPS (which should still be powered on after you created the partnership) working with Bing for mobile: |
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Configuring Bing for mobile to use your GPS and using it to find your location. |
| After the Bing for mobile software has loaded, click Menu, and then click Settings. You'll see that the second option references GPS—it will probably say No GPS. Select it and move the control pad on your smartphone to the right or left until you've selected COM7 (or whatever port you selected in the Bluetooth setup procedures). This is the COM port that your GPS will use. After you've picked the right COM port, click Done. To test that everything is working ok, select Choose a New Location from the home screen of Bing for mobile. You'll see several options, one of which is Current GPS Position. Select that, and you should see "Waiting For GPS" appear on the screen. If you have configured Bing for mobile and GPS correctly, after a few seconds, Bing for mobile will ask you to name the GPS position. Use something easy to understand, such as Work or Home. You can repeat this step as many times as you want from different locations—so you might do it once for work, once for home, and once for a centralized location, such as downtown.
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| That's it—you're done. Now, whenever you use Bing for mobile to find something, you can pick your starting point as one of these GPS locations. Or, if you're someplace new, Current GPS Location will try to find you. Cell carriers vary in the extent of their coverage area. | |
| Using Bing for mobile with a GPS | Bing for mobile has many great features that need an article unto themselves to explore. For example, the 4.6 release features speech recognition. So you can say "gas station," and Bing for mobile will locate all of the gas stations nearest to your GPS location, ranked by distance. After you've selected the gas station you want to go to, you can save it to your contacts, get driving directions, call its phone number, search near that location for where you want to go next, or send an SMS message with the location to a friend (more useful for restaurants than gas stations). You can also combine speech functions by asking for the name of a business in a certain city. Say, "Best Buy in Las Vegas," and it will find the results after confirming that you said "Best Buy" and "Las Vegas." Amazing!
Other functions of Bing for mobile include looking up movie times and locations, finding the lowest gas prices, and even providing traffic information (in supported locations). The combination of a Windows Mobile phone and a Bluetooth GPS catapults the usefulness of Bing for mobile from a handy application to a must-have information tool that you'll rely on more and more every day. | |
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