PC World — When you're sitting at a computer, a good search engine puts the entire Internet at your fingertips--but that probably isn't what you want when you are searching from a cell phone. Skimming pages of Google results on a tiny screen with sluggish connectivity can be frustrating, and typing keywords on a small (or software) keyboard is not fun.

New mobile search services and apps let you speak (rather than type) search terms and filter results based on proximity (on the assumption that you're likely searching for something nearby). Microsoft's TellMe, Yahoo's OneSearch, and offerings by smaller companies such as ChaCha may not be perfect, but they do try to tailor their searches to meet the needs of mobile users.

Applications that accept speech input and return Web results are the latest development. New versions of TellMe and OneSearch (available at launch as downloadable apps for recent GPS-enabled BlackBerry devices) let you search by holding down the green Talk button and speaking keywords into the handset. Speech-to-text technology then turns the digitized audio into text fed to searches that use the handset's location information.

Results on OneSearch look and act more or less like traditional links, organized by category. When I spoke the words "dim sum," the first results OneSearch returned (under the heading 'Businesses') were Chinese restaurants and a link to retrieve more of the same. The restaurant listings included links to maps, reviews, and a call dialer; conventional search results, including an entry from Wikipedia, came next.

The new version of TellMe hadn't appeared at this writing (it should be available by the time you read this), but in a demo it, too, presented a list of businesses. Clicking any entry produced a screen bearing the company's address and phone number at the top, with icons for relevant info or tasks such as initiating a phone call, displaying a map, or even making a purchase. If you don't want the GPS data to guide the search, you can tell your preferred location to TellMe. It does not provide general search results, however.

An earlier version of TellMe, which accepts voice input for directory assistance, is available on Sprint and Helio GPS phones. Or you can try out the lookup service by calling 1-800-555-8355, or text search keywords to 83556. Starting today (April 23, 2008), BlackBerry users will be able to get the TellMe app over the air by pointing their browser at m.tellme.com; alternatively, they can download the app at http://www.tellme.com/you.

Continue Reading