Bing: the new Microsoft search engine. Now available in Beta in the UK!

I was quite intrigued to test Bing, and find out what the fuss is about. Since Microsoft are rumored to be spending $100 million advertising Bing, there must be something special. Surely.

My first thought on loading the Bing Homepage was wow! It looks really nice, with some really great background pictures. On my 4mb Internet Connection, the picture did take a moment to load.

I then did a quick search: camera. It seemed like a good plan, and I was expecting some shopping listings, as shown in the Bing preview video.

I was disappointed with what I got. Just links, like Google. Wow. Obviously shopping and other cool new features are only going to be available in the US, at least for a while. This seems typical, as UK users always seem to get left out

However, there are some cool features working in the UK! Such as the live preview pain: this is quite a good idea on Microsoft’s part, and something that I think I will actually use. It would be easier and quicker though to have the orange dot on the other side of the listing. (You’ll see what I mean when you try).

Another good development is the ability to preview videos. Like the Preview Pain, this cuts down the amount of clicking needed for searching.

You can also watch the full video through Bing.

My first impressions of Bing is that it’s a great search engine, that I will continue to use. I would like to see the full features that are available in the US in the UK though. The questions everyone seems to be asking is Bing vs. Google. I think that Bing takes the prize: something I never expected to think.

JK

JK