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Mobile technology should not be about cramming the office into your pocket but a way to enjoy your everyday life.

Virtual Earth in your phone

13-JAN-2007

Would you like to have Google Earth in your phone? I would, especially after seeing Steve Jobs keynote speech where he demonstrated Google Earth/Maps on the iPhone. And as it turns out, you can get Microsoft's competing service Virtual Earth / Microsoft Maps for you phone - at least if you have a phone with Windows Mobile.

At ideas.live.com (Microsoft's alternative to Google Labs) you can download Windows Live Search for Mobile (beta) and it will give you a similar service as Google Earth with satellite photos and maps (or a "hybrid" mode) of the entire world. At least for Finland, it includes a complete street map of every city, zoomable to the finest detail where you can see even the smallest alleys and all street names - and the service makes excellent use of my phones 640x480 pixel display. This is not a browser based service, but a Windows Mobile application that you install.

I have used Microsoft Pocket Streets for years, but this is much better and with 3G/UMTS speed, it is quite usable.