Bing app for Android updated, Marshmallow-like Now on Tap features in tow

As part of its Android M announcement, Google showed off its Now on Tap feature which will allow you to get contextual information within any app or screen just by pressing the home button for a few seconds. With Marshmallow not set to hit the public until later this year, it gave Microsoft a chance to beat Google to it. And it has done just that in its latest Bing app for Android.

Once users have the Bing app for Android installed, they’ll be able to bring up a new Snapshot feature that taps in to Wikipedia to bring up relevant information. It also supplies deep links to relevant services like weather, Airbnb or Lonely Planet. In the promo video, Microsoft shows off the examples of bringing up movie reviews and cast details while watching a trailer on YouTube. Check it out below:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=384xrKf6s98]

This new Google Now-like feature is the company’s latest attempt to out-Google Google itself on your Android phone. Having released a beta version of Cortana for anyone to try, Snapshot with the Bing app is directly competing with Google’s own baked-in services. But we’ve yet to see how effective this attempt is.

Goog’s advantage, of course, is that it can incorporate everything within the operating system itself. Microsoft will always have to opt for making software available to download in form of an app. Before customers have even tried it, that’s an extra step required just to get the service on their phones.

If you want to give it a spin, you can download the newly updated Bing app for Android from the Play Store for free, providing your device is running Android 4.0 or later.