News - 3D features and offline reliability for Google Maps 5.0
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Android users get cool 3D functionality.
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Re: News - 3D features and offline reliability for Google Maps 5.0
Just had a play with it. Feels more like google earth now still its rather cool to get the compass directed 3d view working and spin in an office chair!
Re: News - 3D features and offline reliability for Google Maps 5.0
I'm getting more and more tempted to upgrade to a nice new shiny Android phone. But now LG have released the first dual-core phone, it can only be a matter of time until something really worth upgrading to comes along..
Re: News - 3D features and offline reliability for Google Maps 5.0
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Originally Posted by
miniyazz
I'm getting more and more tempted to upgrade to a nice new shiny Android phone. But now LG have released the first dual-core phone, it can only be a matter of time until something really worth upgrading to comes along..
without knowing what you have its difficult to say what it would be worth upgrading to. but getting an Orange San Francisco for a mess-around phone to see if android is for you wouldn't be a bad idea.
Re: News - 3D features and offline reliability for Google Maps 5.0
Well I've got a WinMo 6.1 HTC Touch HD - had it for a few months short of two years now, so it's getting slightly long in the tooth. But it was top-of-the-range then and still does everything I need it to, so I'm just waiting for something that really offers a decent improvement. I'm sure Android offers a far superior performance to WinMo, so 'testing it out' probably isn't going to sway me there - but thanks for the suggestion.
Re: News - 3D features and offline reliability for Google Maps 5.0
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Originally Posted by
miniyazz
Well I've got a WinMo 6.1 HTC Touch HD - had it for a few months short of two years now, so it's getting slightly long in the tooth. But it was top-of-the-range then and still does everything I need it to, so I'm just waiting for something that really offers a decent improvement. I'm sure Android offers a far superior performance to WinMo, so 'testing it out' probably isn't going to sway me there - but thanks for the suggestion.
I went from the Touch HD to the Desire. Trust me android on a san fran will be a big step up unless you need to stick with WinMo for it niche features (I do admit that WinMo can still do some things better than ios and android - handwriting recognition and other stylus stuff for example)
Re: News - 3D features and offline reliability for Google Maps 5.0
Looking at specs, despite being a budget Android it seems to have generally better specs than the Touch HD. There's nothing requiring me to stick with WinMo at the moment - though its Office capabilities come in handy every now and again.
All the same, I'd probably go straight for a high-spec Android phone and save myself the trouble of customising more phones than I have to!
Re: News - 3D features and offline reliability for Google Maps 5.0
Offline maps is where Ovi (Nokia) shine out the most. You just download the country or region you are going to and you can use if offline no data connection needed and your phones GPS. If you are visiting a foreign country where you may not have WiFi or want the extortionate data charges this is the best way of doing it.
For sure if you are in your own country and have a data plan then up to date maps are great. I would like to see Google offer something similar to Ovi though.
Re: News - 3D features and offline reliability for Google Maps 5.0
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Originally Posted by
Stringent
Offline maps is where Ovi (Nokia) shine out the most. You just download the country or region you are going to and you can use if offline no data connection needed and your phones GPS. If you are visiting a foreign country where you may not have WiFi or want the extortionate data charges this is the best way of doing it.
Agreed.
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Originally Posted by Google
... Consequently it can cache large areas on a user's phone were they use Maps most.
Why would I need maps of somewhere I visit frequently? For those places the map is in my head and I know the way, so apart from traffic updates, I am not interested in using a navigation device.
The places where you realy need maps are places you have never been before, and google would have to be realy smart to cache that in advance. In those situations my experiences of Google Maps on an Android phone have been realy bad, because it does not work properly in an out of the way place with no mobile reception.
Last summer, I took an Android phone on holiday on the Isle of White. Not a very out of the way place, (Compared with North Wales where I have been in previous years), but even there Maps let me down. At the worst possible moment, the phone would loose reception, the on screen maps would vanish, and I was reduced to stopping the car and looking at a paper map. In similar situations, Ovi Maps on my Nokia have worked perfectly, and has continued to work as a reliable sat-nav in the most remote and out of the way spots.
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Originally Posted by Google
... to ensure users get "get the freshest map and place data, search and voice search, live traffic conditions, satellite and Street View imagery,"
Personally I think that argument is rubbish. Apart from traffic information, everything else on a map that I might be interested in takes years to change. Most of the time when I use a Sat-Nav traffic information is a distant second to actually getting there. If the Sat-Nav fails in that first task, then having up to date traffic is irrelevant.
There really is no need for up to the second mapping information, especially if it is at the cost of being reliable. (In any case the map data that google buys is only updated once a year or so). Google need to make it possible to download map data for large areas (whole countries) offline, and then use sync to keep it up to date.
