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Welcome everyone to the second installation of Geek Reviews from BBGeeks. This time around we are going to take a look at the Yahoo! Go 2.0 application which launched on January 6th, 2007. Initially launched as a beta product in the US, the application is now generally available, and offers versions for 17 countries around the world.

Originally we were planning on doing a complete walk through of the entire application and all of its features. However, Yahoo! has gone above and beyond with their online documentation. Therefore we now bring to you a complete overview of Yahoo! Go, with links to all the online instructions provided by Yahoo!. Enjoy.

Click the following link for a complete list of BlackBerry models supported by the Yahoo! Go application.

Getting Started

Taking the tour
If you are not quite familliar with the Yahoo! Go application, you may want to begin with the guided tour before downloading it to your BlackBerry. Located at http://mobile.yahoo.com/go/tour, the guided tour covers every possible option and functionality of the application. With visual examples of how to access and drill down into each section , following the application tour is very easy. In addition, there is a well scripted voiceover that makes note of all the important details.

Take Yahoo! Go for a test run
There is a great demo of the Yahoo! Go application available at the following URL. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go/emulator. This demo is a live working version of the application, so if you log in with your Yahoo! ID you’ll be able to access you email, stock quotes, etc in real time. It’s a great way to experience the actual product before deciding to download it to your phone. Please note that you will have to have Java enabled on your computer to properly experience the demo.

Yahoo! could not have been more helpful to new users who are contemplating giving this application a shot. The online Yahoo! Go emulator walks you through every aspect of the application from start to finish. For every step of the way you are shown a text overlay with specific instructions on how to complete every action.

Installation Instructions
For specific download and installation instructions, as well as a few specific Frequently Asked Questions, head on over to the following URL. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go/install

First Impressions

Upon first launching the Yahoo! Go application, I am impressed with the styling of the graphics and intuitive layout of the main navigation using widget icons. These icons are arranged in a carousel across the bottom your BlackBerry screen[FYI. On select devices, e.g. BB 8700, the widgets run along the right side of the screen]. As each widget icon is selected, it is surrounded by a orange glow, making it extremely easy to identify which area you are navigating into.

Once a particular icon has been selected, click on it and you will be presented with a more detailed view of relevant content in easily identifiable groupings. Take the News section for example. Once accessed, you will see news broken down into News Watch, Latest Headlines, U.S. News, World News etc. Each of these sections can be drilled down even further until you are looking at specific information that interests you. Also, you can add your favorite news sources to this page using RSS.

The implementation of Yahoo! oneSearch and it’s ability to use my Yahoo! preferences (such as my location) and other activity indicators when deciding what content to display is a strong step forward for mobile search.

Overall, the Yahoo! Go application is easy on the eyes, intuitive and a good addition to your BlackBerry application list. Give it a shot and I am sure you will agree.

Downloading Yahoo! Go

Downloading the Yahoo! Go application to your BlackBerry is a simple process. Navigate to go.yahoo.com on your PC and enter your phone number to have the application download link sent to your phone.

Alternately, you can type m.yahoo.com into your phones browser and click ‘Upgrade to Yahoo! Go”.

[FYI users can also get Yahoo! Go by directing their mobile browser to get.go.yahoo.com]

Getting down to the details

Yahoo! oneSearch

oneSearch is the innovative mobile search service created by Yahoo!. With oneSearch you can get instant answers in an easily digestible format. The results will be separated into logical categories/clusters in which you can then drill down even further. Searching for a current movie (we tried “The Golden Compass”) returns showtimes at nearby theatres, a description of the film and overall user ratings, as well as images, news articles & reviews, websites and wallpapers. With one click, you can get a map and driving directions to the theatre of your choice, and soon Yahoo! claims you’ll be able to purchase your ticket through your phone. All of these results are selected by oneSearch based on your previous search history and any preferences set in your Yahoo! account.

What the Yahoo! Go application does best is deliver “instant answers” to your phone when a search is performed, as opposed to a sea of links that may or may not be relevant to your query.

Try This:
Type any flight number into the oneSearch dialog box in order to see if the flight is going to be landing/departing on schedule.

Image Search
Search images from the web, news sources and Flickr.

Mail
Yahoo! Mail, in combination with the Yahoo! Go application, provides you with push email. This means you will be notified of new email as they arrive in your inbox. Reading and replying to email on the go is incredibly easy, requiring only a couple clicks.

Another great functional addition to Yahoo! Go is the ability to search your email by keyword. Find the specific message you are looking for quickly by typing a keyword into the oneSearch Dialog box.

Your inbox is fully synchronized with your Yahoo Mail account. This means that any messages you read on the go will be marked as read when you check your Yahoo! mail account from home.

Local Maps
Yahoo! Go is location-aware. Simply type in your location in the maps dialog box and you will be presented with maps, a city guide, and what’s happening.

You can search for local services by typing the service keyword into the oneSearch dialog box and get results targeted to the area you are interested in.

Another great addition is the ability to find out what is happening in your city with one click. In “Local & Maps”, click on the “Today in My City” link.
Want to know what is going on in another city? Simply change the location and click the “Today in My City” link again.

Find out where to go using the City Guide as well. Highlights include: places to stay, places to visit, places to eat, places to lounge, places to shop, “in the neighborhood” (ATMs etc.), places to visit, and places for culture.

The city guide will also provide you with a “Getting Around” option. Here you will find a traffic watch option, which monitors real time traffic in your chosen city. You can also add specific routes to monitor on a regular basis.

Driving directions are available as well, provided on a turn-by-turn basis. Simply enter your start and end point and you will be given a mapped layout of your route with turns labeled by number.

GPS functionality
If you are fortunate enough to have one of the newer BlackBerry models which support GPS, the Yahoo! Go application will treat your present location, as broadcast by the GPS, as it’s point of reference for local search.

This means no more attempting to narrow down results from a wide search in order to identify which is closest to your particular location. Yahoo! Go and GPS will do all of that work for you.

For those of you who are slightly paranoid of being tracked via GPS by the Yahoo! Go application, rest assured that you can turn off this functionality and instead have the local search return data relevant to your default location instead.

News
Select a news source of your choice and receive all of the headlines for the day in real time. If you are not satisfied with the default Yahoo! feed, you can add additional news sources whenever you like.

The news watch list allows you to set a keyword that you would like to receive regular information about. Yahoo! will scour its news feed (or the feed you have selected) and all news pertaining to your chosen keyword will be saved for your viewing.

Other options while navigating the news section of the Yahoo! Go application include Latest Headlines and Most Viewed News. These two are pretty self-explanatory. If you are looking to keep up on general news items or news that the world deems important, these are the sections to check out.

Weather
The Yahoo! Go application provides you with the latest forecast from your local city, at a glance weather forecasts for multiple cities, and a 5 day forecast for any city you choose.

Sports
The Yahoo! Go application provides sports news and stats, delivered by Yahoo! Sports. The interface makes it quite easy to get all the latest sports headlines right on your BlackBerry.

Additionally you have the option to search by league, team, latest scores, and latest headlines. Each search also brings up relevant images located at the bottom of the feed.

You can add specific teams to a watchlist for easy access to all of their latest scores and trades. The info will be available in a rotating ticker box at the bottom of the sports home page for your viewing convenience.


Finance
Whether you are a seasoned investor or just learning how to read a stock quote, the Yahoo! Go finance section has the tools for you.

Ever wanted to dig a little deeper into a company you just read about? Use the “Get to know a company” feature and type the company name into the oneSearch dialog box. You will be presented with their latest stock information, as well as links to the company profile and notable mentions in the news. Additionally you will be presented with images related to the selected company.

Similar to the sports section, you can create a portfolio – or import an already existing one from Yahoo! Finance – to keep tabs on your favorite stocks. Click on any quote to get detailed trading stats, price charts and latest headlines for that company.

In the finances section you can also access market summary information and a financial news feed.

Entertainment
Yahoo! Go provides a great source for up to the minute entertainment news sourced from Yahoo! Entertainment. You have the ability to set up watch lists in a similar fashion to the sports and finance sections. Track all your favorite entertainers and see what they are up to.

Want to Keep up on all the celebrity buzz? You will be presented with a list of celebrities that are hot right now in the news. You can then drill down a little deeper and get access to related news headlines, images and professional history.

If you are in the market for regular entertainment news, you can subscribe to any entertainment news source you like, and add it to your custom feed. There are standard Yahoo! sources available as the default.

Flickr
Through Yahoo! Go, you will be granted access to all areas of your Flickr account. Uploading photos is an extremely easy process. Simply take a pic and upload it to the Flickr server with a few quick steps.

You can even invite friends, just like on the regular website. All new pics posted by your friends are located in an easily accessible area on the Flickr section homepage.

Search Flickr for pictures on any subject you like. Just type it into the oneSearch dialog box while in the Flickr section and you will be presented with any related photos.

Summary

After participating in the online tour, playing around with the emulator and finally downloading the Yahoo! Go application to my BlackBerry 8800, I can absolutely say that Yahoo! has successfully created a product that makes mobile search easy, intuitive and frustration free.

I am thoroughly impressed and would suggest this application to anyone who is looking for a way to locate information on the go using their BlackBerry. All the right bases are covered and information you require at a casual glance is always ready to go.

One word of warning to those of you who do not currently have access to unlimited data on your BlackBerry. From our testing we have found that an average Yahoo! GO session will incur a good portion of data. It is suggested that you have somewhere in the area of 25MB available to you monthly in order to use this application effortlessly.

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