Yahoo Go Beta

I mentioned about the new Yahoo Go here. When I went to sign up after learning about the new beta YGO I found that the beta was already fully subscribed. I left my mobile number to be contact by text when the beta was available to download. I expected it to be at least a few weeks. So I was surprised to receive my text notification just the other evening. I downloaded the new Yahoo Go straight away and here are a few initial thoughts....

The new YGO is a java file. So this means it did not overwrite the YGO .sis file. YGO beta works in a slightly different way to the .sis program. One thing that I use YGO for is the integration it offers to my Yahoo mailbox. When I receive email to my Yahoo mailbox I get a copy on my phone. YGO polls my mailbox at different intervals. YGO Beta doesn't appear to do this. With YGO Beta running, the internet connection is live all the time.

YGO Beta offers a full range of Yahoo services, you can access Yahoo search

Yahoo mail, of course

Flickr

and weather, entertainment, finance and sports

One of the features I really like of the new YGO Beta is the Local & Maps feature

You can view guides and map information for a variety of cities. Below is a screenshot of a a city map loaded for Rome:

You can zoom in and out to get a good view and scroll around using the onscreen cursor to find your way around.

Overall, the new YGO Beta looks to be a nice useful program. It's a shame it doesn't offer the mailbox integration that the original offers, it can be a bit slow to navigate, and when you close the program it leaves your data connection open. You could do with a 'home' option too, so when you've navigated deep into the menu you can return easily to the home screen. But as it is only a beta I'm sure the niggles will be dealt with in time. For now I'm keeping both YGO programs on my phone.