News - Apple iOS 6 drops Google Maps and adds everyday refinement

[HEXUS]

Favours home-made maps solution with TomTom as map provider.

Read more.

[Brewster0101]

Wonder how well the new Apple Map service will work outside of the US.

[crossy]

iOS 6 doesn't bring too much to the table that hasn't already been done in one form or another, with some features clearly following in the footsteps of Google and Samsung

Quite.

[Bunjiweb]

Well that was highly disappointing - nothing really there to step up Apple's game, Google is going to really take the advantage. With no iPhone upgrade until at least September I can see Apple loosing further ground to the likes of the SGS 3 and other new handsets...

[LSG501]

Never really 'wanted' an iPhone, this update still doesn't make me want one... I'll stick with android, hell my old symbian phone did pretty much all the stuff that apple does albeit with a slightly less pretty skin...

[kopite]

Wonder how long it will be before Apple gain a patent for mapping and turn by turn navigation then use it to sue google, Tom tom, garmin et al

I am an android fan boi so my opinion will always be clouded but Apple havent really done anything innovative since they released the origingal iphone and even then it was more derivitive

[Funkstar]

Well, they would be hard pushed to sue Tom Tom, since it is them that are providing the navigation and maps data too iOS6

[Barakka]

Nothing major there, mostly catch up . But Tom Tom could be interesting, Android navigation is dire in comparison.

[Biscuit]

andoid navigation is hardly dire in comparison! I hope this does put a boot up their arse towards trying to soup it up a few notches though.

[mikerr]

Wonder how well the new Apple Map service will work outside of the US.

I worried about that at first, but since it's been announced that tomtom is the provider, it should be ok.

[kopite]

Well, they would be hard pushed to sue Tom Tom, since it is them that are providing the navigation and maps data too iOS6

Samsung provide screens to them, Intel provide chips

What i`m getting at is Just because you provide stuff to apple doesnt mean they wont go after you

I kinda like Google maps but as has been mentioned its far from perfect so hopefully this will give them the impetus to push on.

[mikerr]

What you will lose is google streetmap view, unless google release maps as an appstore app.

[Bunjiweb]

Nothing major there, mostly catch up . But Tom Tom could be interesting, Android navigation is dire in comparison.

Honestly I don't know how you can say Android navigation is "dire" in comparison. I ditched my stand-alone Sat Nav over 18 months ago, because Google's turn by turn navigation is in my opinion MUCH better, cheaper, updates for free and is far more intelligent than any Tom Tom i've played with.

I thought this was an interesting article comparing Google Maps and the new iOS Maps, it seems Apple have more than a long way to come, it doesn't matter what technology the turn by turn system is based upon....

http://gizmodo.com/5918176/google-ma...ide-comparison

Ben

[crossy]

Nothing major there, mostly catch up . But Tom Tom could be interesting, Android navigation is dire in comparison.

Would you care to elaborate on that last bit?

I've got Google Maps and CoPilot (the latter bought) on my phone. Now while both of them have shortcomings (e.g. Google Maps navigating me to a hotel and telling me I'd arrived, when in fact I was 1/2 mile away - in that case CoPilot was able to get it right!), but they seem to me to be the same shortcomings that "proper" satnav's have.

So given my very limited use of satnav I can't, in all good conscience, justify even a budget standalone satnav. My CoPilot cost me £20 and I fail to see what it can't do that a standalone unit could. I've not even had the hangups that used to plague my CoPilot on my old Nokia N95.

Still think the best satnav app I've come across was the old one that came as part of the Nokia N770 "Navigation Kit". Speaking of which, I wish someone would do a car mounting kit for my new SIII that was as good as the Nokia one that I had for my N770 and N95.

[TooNice]

I am quite used to Googlemap, so the new map system will need to be exceptional for me to ditch it. Since I do not have a car, I haven't really had much experience with sat nav. But the only time I saw a Tom Tom in use (in a friend's car), it gave us plenty of laugh as it keeps suggesting turning left when the path was blocked for cars as we went down a road in Aberdeen.

There is nothing about the iOS 6 that is particularly exciting, but the way I use my phone is relatively tame anyway. There are a small number of apps that I use a lot, and all that matter is that I am able to use them. Most of those apps no longer support the iOS 3 (last usable iOS for the 2G iPhone) so it's high time that I upgrade (I was really tempted to just get a 2nd hand 3GS, but I guess with only about 3 months or so of wait to go I'll just hold on).

The feature I will be looking quite closely though, is that Passbook and e-Wallet on other platforms. The first platform that successfully manage to aggregate most / all my loyalty cards will probably be the platform I'll choose in the future (I am tired of carrying a thick card holder and spending time looking for a card I would forget if I leave at home but do not use often).

[Barakka]

Would you care to elaborate on that last bit?

I've got Google Maps and CoPilot (the latter bought) on my phone. Now while both of them have shortcomings (e.g. Google Maps navigating me to a hotel and telling me I'd arrived, when in fact I was 1/2 mile away - in that case CoPilot was able to get it right!), but they seem to me to be the same shortcomings that "proper" satnav's have.

So given my very limited use of satnav I can't, in all good conscience, justify even a budget standalone satnav. My CoPilot cost me £20 and I fail to see what it can't do that a standalone unit could. I've not even had the hangups that used to plague my CoPilot on my old Nokia N95.

Still think the best satnav app I've come across was the old one that came as part of the Nokia N770 "Navigation Kit". Speaking of which, I wish someone would do a car mounting kit for my new SIII that was as good as the Nokia one that I had for my N770 and N95.

I've been using my Tom Tom for about 4 years now, and Google Navigation since it was initial beta on my HTC Desire, now on my SGSII so plenty of comparison, including using both simultaneously... while the main turn-by-turn navigation on Google Maps has improved massively it's the other navigation functions that are still lacking in comparison.

The turn-by-turn navigation is getting better with every update, I remember earlier this year using it when it used to announce road number literally and getting told "In four hundred yards take the A five thousand and sixty..." yeah you took so long telling me i've gone round the roundabout!! A lot of these things have been fixed, but there does still seem to be inconsistencies in when and how navigation is announced, sometime early, sometimes late, and the same with the display, the range displayed seems a bit unpredictable at times, although mostly OK now. It also doesn't seem to handle assumed locations too well either, like when going through a tunnel and losing GPS lock, Tom Tom will assume your speed it continuing as was until signal is restored rather than just stopping. But that may be partly down to the SGSII as it's naff, but that's a different story

The main issue I have with the Google Navigation is using in anger, if I hear that there's been an accident on a section of road further into my journey I know on Tom Tom I can adjust the route to re-calculate missing out that particular road with about 4 (not needing to be overly precise) presses of the screen plenty of time before my route needs to change. With the interface on Google Navigation I still find a slight wrong press can change the display to a different layout and it's a faff to even get back to the main navigation display.

I also find on Google Maps its difficult sometimes to get the route I want, rather than the route Google wants me to use, if i'm going to the other side of a major city at 8AM on a weekday I don't really want to go right through the middle of the city centre. I can choose a different route from the one or two Google has picked as alternatives, but not pick and choose parts of the route to get the route that I want, which I may do because I know there are major roadworks on a section of the route for example.

Now a lot of these are functions that Google Navigation is now capable of, but what sets a dedicated Nav device like my Tom Tom apart is that it makes them easy to do and change and adjust while driving. I don't mean stupidly like trying to type a postcode while in the middle of a 4 lane roundabout in a city centre at rush hour, but sensibly while queuing in traffic, or cruising at 65 in the inside lane of a quiet motorway. With the Tom Tom device I can usually do it with confidence, but with Google Navigation I need to either get a passenger to do it or pull over, it's the user interface that wins for me with Tom Tom, but whether Apple are going to use that, or just the mapping/routing info remains to be seen.

That's my tuppence anyway, I don't use Sat Nav on routes to/from work, or routes I already know well, I use Sat Nav when i'm going somewhere I don't know the route 100% and/or may need alternative routes and need it to respond and be usable to my advantage.

Dire may have been a bit harsh, but for me being able to plot a route and follow it is only 50% of a Sat Nav, it's giving me reliable, predictable instructions/graphics, and being able to respond how I need it to when i'm stuck or lost that counts.