A new beta release of Beyond411 is available for over-the-air download at http://thebogles.com/beta/b411.jad; this is a beta 1 of version 4.0.

The new version is faster and easier to use than previous versions. Searching the yellow pages and showing driving directions are typically twice as fast as before (under three seconds on my phone); other operations like adding an item to your address book are also much faster. Context menus on address book items make the new version easier to use.

These improvements are enabled by a custom markup language called BML, similar to HTML. Rather than displaying yellow page results in the browser, the new version displays BML results using a built-in rendering engine.

BML combines the compactness of the custom, fixed feature protocols used in some applications with the flexibility of markup languages like HTML. New features can be added by updating the markup on the server without having to download new bits to the client. Native phone UI like custom context menu items can be specified in the markup.

Because of the scope of the new features, this is a beta release. Keep your hard hats on and please report any issues you encounter. A “Yellow Pages (classic)” menu item returns the old school results in case you are encountering any issues or simply want to compare the speed.