9 ms·
Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0
- davidw 17y agoI wonder if this droid phone will work out of the box in Europe. I'm not interested in some crappy scheme where you buy a phone that is locked to a network. It's high time I got an Android phone, though, and this looks to be a good one.
- mseebach 17y agoThat specific handset is for CDMA networks, specifically Verizons. There are no mainstream CDMA networks in Europe. The app, however, is for Android 2.0, and will likely work on all devices running that -- although there's only one announced atm.
- megaduck 17y agoMotorola makes a crapload of GSM phones, and they sell to virtually every major carrier. I would expect a Motorola Android 2.0 world phone sooner rather than later.
- arnorhs 17y agoYeah, I agree. All these fancy things in google maps is usually just available for a few cities. eg. street view, high-res satellite images, detailed roads etc... It's understandable.. but I always feel left out
- Poiesis 17y agoThis strikes me as the first (user-centered) thing I've seen that is hands-down better than the iPhone experience. Yes, Android has an open app distribution policy, yes, there are multiple phones and carriers. But I haven't heard anyone say "I have to have an Android phone because of this killer app," and this seems like it could do that.
- zhyder 17y agoThe 2 OS-level (as opposed to app-level) features that are better in Android are the widget-customizable home screen and the notification panel. But yeah, this is probably the first killer feature.
- Poiesis 17y agoI'm not trying to say you're wrong, but I get the impression that the reason Apple doesn't have something like that is that they think it will ultimately be worse for the user experience. Frequently they seem to eschew flexibility and customizability in order to simplify the interface. You could say they go too far (though I'd personally disagree in most cases), but I don't think that they simply overlooked features such as that. This map, though, looks like it could be part of the iPhone default apps.
- agotterer 17y agoThey get a nice cut when someone buys a $50+ navigation app on the iPhone. I don't see Apple making this or any other navigation app a native application and ruining the market that already exists.
- eb 17y agoThey could also get a lot of third-party revenue by wiping out all of the native apps and letting other people sell them. At some point you have to worry about the value of your platform and now they have Android to compete with. I think Apple's recent acquisition of Placebase, a mapping company, might indicate that they're willing to compete with Google on a navigation app.
- mattmcknight 17y agoUltimately, if they had a real keyboard and a better network, it would be better for this users' experience. I agree on the keeping it simple part though. No need to make everything customizable when you have people that can make things more beautiful than you can. Sure, you can customize your version of van Gogh's Irises, but why bother? :-)
- rscott 17y agoMy first reaction: "Well, I'm glad I don't work at a navigation software company today." Seems like a great product, would be fantastic if they port it to iPhone.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- Poiesis 17y agoFrom an above comment: "But they said it was up to the makers of those devices to decide whether to include the application." I wonder what percentage of app store revenue is the navigation apps? They're not insignificant. They'd be losing a chunk of change approving this. I suppose they'll lose more chunks of change in "street cred" or something if they don't have it and the Droid does.
- netcan 17y agoI don't think they'd bother with that sort of math. Appple enjoy their slice of the app pie, but I don't think they are dumb enough to get greedy about it.
- awolf 17y agoI wonder if Google will continue to forbid others from using their maps for turn-by-turn navigation (namely: Apple).
- jws 17y agoThere has been a change. Google used to license map data from a 3rd party for web display, now Google is increasingly making their maps from original sources. I just checked and the turn-by-turn prohibition is still in their terms of use, but one could imagine that when the data is all Google generated and owned they could lift that restriction.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- eb 17y agoGoogle didn't previously own the map data (Tele Atlas did and they're owned by GPS device company, TomTom) so it wasn't theirs to license. They only recently started using their own maps earlier this month for the US. Also, Apple recently acquired PlaceBase so they now have access to their own map data.
- dabeeeenster 17y agoDoes anyone know if this needs a persistent network connection? I.e. you can't download the maps in advance?
- eb 17y agoI think always having a network connection is sort of the point of developing this application for Android. Their address lookups are sent to Google's servers and the guy in that demo video is constantly mentioning "the cloud." I don't imagine this would work without a network connection since their intention is not to develop a standalone GPS device.
- pistoriusp 17y agoTo me a persistant connection is a deal breaker. My Internet is incredibly expensive.
- eb 17y agoThe navigation app is only available for the US, where data plans allow unlimited data so price shouldn't be an issue.
- dagw 17y agoIf it doesn't work off-line then it is far less useful. The problem is not so much that network connections are hard to come by, but that once you leave your little corner of the world they become stupidly expensive. I dare not think what the the bandwidth bill for using something like this for week abroad would be.
- eb 17y agoGoogle Maps Navigation is only available in the US. I don't think it's really reasonable, at this point, to expect a GPS device to work worldwide. Are they supposed to store the world's mapping data locally? Google is still licensing their maps from Tele Atlas (TomTom) outside the US so I don't think it's even possible for them to provide navigation in those parts.
- megamark16 17y agoI can't wait for my Droid! This is going to be awesome.
- pilif 17y agoThe problem with Google's offering here is the fact that the navigation is an online application. Roaming charges are excessive here, so the moment you leave your home country, using an online navigation app becomes prohibitively expensive. Combine that with the fact that, especially here in little switzerland, the only time you REALLY need a navigation tool is, of course, when you are abroad. Interesting and a nice addition (as it is free), but no replacement for the traditional solutions.
- nostrademons 17y agoIt's much more useful in the U.S, where you can get cell coverage in most major highways and cities, usually on your original cell carrier. And people often need some sort of navigation app in an unfamiliar city - the U.S. is big, and many older cities don't have the most logical street plan. Does the EU not have some sort of unified cell network? I'd think that'd hurt their competitiveness a lot, if people can't take their cell phones with them when traveling between countries for fear of huge roaming bills.
- pilif 17y agoexactly. I totally see this being useful in the US. I was just pointing out a counterpoint from Europes side. And. No. The EU does not have a unified cell network. And as long as nobody does it, nobody will start with it as these excessive roaming charges (EUR 10 per MB is common) are a really nice way to make additional money - especially considering that people are moving around more and more.
- borism 17y agoWell, that's our problem in EU - no unified Cell Network - operators milk their intra-EU traveling customers however they want. There's some progress in EU parliament/commision, but it is so slow it will take 50 years before we get unified market. US has range of other problems with telco market though.
- symesc 17y ago
- gourneau 17y agoThanks Google. Using this app instead of Google Maps while driving is likely increase my chances of living.
- fjabre 17y agoGoogle Maps GPS has been a dream for a long time. It's about time.. All my friends are on ATT right now.. but it's going to be really hard for me to avoid getting a Droid when it comes out. Anyone know if its chipset supports GSM-based networks like ATT? If so - me thinks I'll be getting an unlocked one.
- eb 17y agoDroid is CDMA-only but at some point, AT&T will have their own Android 2.0 device.
- larrykubin 17y agoLooks like Garmin stock didn't take the news too well: http://www.google.com/finance?q=grmn http://www.google.com/finance?q=grmn
- pilif 17y agothis made me smile. Yeah. Not too well.
- jws 17y agoNor Tom Tom: http://www.google.com/finance?q=TOM2.AS http://www.google.com/finance?q=TOM2.AS
- jkincaid 17y agoThey just released their quarterly results, which say that average selling price is going way down. So it's not just the Google announcement: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=alkDjigFnRs0 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=alkD...
- borism 17y agodidn't help GOOG either ;)
- neovive 17y agoI could imagine that if the new Android 2.0 comes are released to the market with these full capabilities that the entire in-car navigation market will be shaken up. Or at the very least, prices will have to come down significantly. Looks like some market consolidation is in the near future for many of these companies.
- buro9 17y agoI dunno... does the Google app cache the whole route and a reasonable surrounding distance and then rely on the GPS for the navigation? Unless it does, there's still an enormous scope for the in-car navigation market as driving is one of the scenarios in which you are likely to lose your mobile signal or see it weakened enough to hurt a fully online navigation application.
- billybob 17y agoThe downside of using internet connectivity for navigation is... that you need internet connectivity. Sucks to get part way through a trip and lose your navigation. This could be solved by pre-fetching the whole route's data. If Google can tell where people tend to drop service, they might even decide automatically whether pre-fetching is necessary.
- jkincaid 17y agoThey cache your route, so if you lose your connection you're fine. However, if you make a detour it won't be able to recalculate a new route until it gets connectivity again.
- borism 17y agoIf Google can tell where people tend to drop service, they might even decide automatically whether pre-fetching is necessary. They collect a lot of data from mobile Maps users, so I wouldn't be surprised if they'll give it back in form of all kinds of neat automations/optimizations.
- oomkiller 17y agoThis seals the deal for me, I will be buying a Droid the day they come out. Anyone want to buy a Blackberry Tour? :)
- jgilliam 17y agoWhen the product manager says he navigated to the museum and is standing in front of it, he's actually on a green screen. You can see the difference in the lighting on him vs. the background. Kinda amusing.
- mhartl 17y agoI noticed the same thing.