Mobile Search Update, New HTC Touch Devices

This week I want to give you an update on two mobile search services — ChaCha and Google. And although you may be tired of hearing about HTC Touch devices, there’s big news in that arena: the HTC Touch HD, which has an impressive 3.8-inch screen. Plus, we offer other Touch news, including an unlocked Touch Diamond from Best Buy.

Mobile Search News: ChaCha and Google

ChaCha is being used more and more for mobile searching. The company recently announced that they passed the million-user mark and are now the fastest growing search service in the U.S.

As we discussed last month, it works from any mobile phone (but not a landline). What’s to like? You either call 800-2ChaCha (800-224-2242) or send a text message to 242242 with your question, and one of their Guides (a real person) does a quick search and sends you a text message with the answer.

Google's mobile search has introduced a neat new feature that automatically indentifies your location to give you relevant results when you do a Google search in your phone’s browser.

Called Search with My Location, it uses the same cell ID technology that Google Maps uses to identify your location, whether you’re looking for a weather forecast or finding sushi nearby. If you want to query somewhere else, you specify a location, such as “pizza Kansas City.”

You’ll need to install the Gears Location API to have this feature. Simply point your mobile browser at www.google.com/m, click on the Try My Location link, and tell it to install Gears. This will download a CAB file and give you brief instructions for installing.

Note that it’s limited to the U.S. and the U.K., and not all devices are supported. See the Official Google Mobile Blog for more information.

More HTC Touch Devices Coming

You’re likely getting tired of hearing about HTC Touch devices, but they seem to be in the vanguard at the moment.

The hot rumor is the new HTC Touch HD. The specs are amazing: 3.8-inch screen with 480 x 800 resolution, 5 megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, microSD slot — and thinner than the iPhone 3G. You can read more and see images on Pocket PC Thoughts.

Pocket PC Thoughts also has the press releases for the newly announced HTC Touch 3G and Touch Vivo.

And MobileTechReview has posted an interesting review that compares two different versions of the HTC Touch Diamond available from Sprint and the unlocked version that will be on sale for $700 in Best Buy very soon. Apparently, the differences aren’t trivial.