Sprint made significant changes to its location-based search offerings today in a partnership with Microsoft. The deal adds voice search through Microsoft's acquisition earlier this year of Tellme, as well as full Internet search capabilities.

Sprint also is making the search technologies available at no additional cost to subscribers. Advertising will be included in some search results, based on the keywords used in the query, according to spokesmen for Sprint and Microsoft. Mark Chan, senior product manager for mobile search for Sprint, says the ads will be included at the bottom of a list of results. Subscribers can click on the ad to get more information.

"The number of ads have been limited to date because we don't want to bombard users," Chan says.

Another wrinkle in the location-based search service is that it does not use satellite signals to pinpoint a user's location, instead using network-based information. That gives a less specific location but does open up the location to any phone instead of just those with satellite GPS capabilities. It also provides location when the handset is inside a building.

The voice-enabled search service, which uses a Java application, initially is available only on five handset models, but Chan says they are among Sprint's most popular handsets and are used by millions of subscribers. Other handsets will be added in the near future. The first handset models are the Samsung a900, a920, and m610, plus the LG 570 "Musiq" and all variants of the Motorola Razr.

Matt Champagne, director of mobile services for Microsoft, says the company's Live Search capabilities make it possible for Sprint's subscribers to search the entire Web, get local listings and maps, plus the operator's mobile content catalog. Users with a data plan can use the service with any Sprint phone to get location-based search results for things such as the closest pizza restaurant, he says.