Hello Everyone,
I recently changed from a G1 (Android) to a iPhone 3G. While I have never been an Apple fan, you could call me an Apple Hater, I have grown to like much about the iPhone. While I think it stills falls short in some respects to the Android, there is much to like. However I am having one issue that I can’t figure out, so hopefully someone here will know.
On my Android I got in the habit of using the Google Maps app for my GPS. I found it much better than my Tom Tom. When I first got the G1, the Google Maps application left a lot to be desired, however an upgrade brought it right up to snuff. Once I switched to the iPhone I was very sad about loosing Google Maps, but soon discovered that it is an OEM feature. That is the good news, the bad news is it seems as if it is the first Google Maps edition and sucks big time.
The main problems are:
1: No voice commands to tell you when to turn. Not that big of deal, but sometimes frustrating in traffic.
2: The icon that represents your position on the map is just a dot. Being a dot you cannot tell which way you are pointing. Once you start moving you can tell your direction, but not standing still. This presents a problem when you have no street signs around, you start the navigation and have no idea which way to start heading.
Those are really the only two problems, I had both problems with my G1 until I upgraded. I have looked on the Apple app store and nothing comes up for Google Maps. Does anyone know how to upgrade it to have the above features? This was a free upgrade on the Android.
Google maps doesn’t have turn-by-turn spoken directions, at least not yet.
If you want to know which direction you are pointing, tap on the arrow button - it will turn on the compass, and orient the map in realtime to the direction the phone is facing.
If you want spoken directions, you can get them with the Mapquest application for the iPhone. It’s free. Or you can pay AT&T ten bucks a month (or seventy bucks a year) for spoken directions, via the AT&T Navigator service.
On my Android my Google Maps did speak the directions. I am almost positive that this was a Google update that gave it this capability and not a 3rd party app.
The Google Maps application on the iPhone is developed by Apple, not by Google, though obviously it uses the same data. It’s not related to the official Google Maps application on Android, and Google can’t change it or add features to it. It’s up to Apple to do that.
I’m pretty sure the map data itself is pulled in real time from the Google API so it should be just as up to date as the maps online or in the Android app. It’s just the app features that Apple controls. I’ve been using an iPhone since shortly after it came out, and I don’t recall ever seeing a standalone update to the Maps app, so I assume it just comes as part of the OS updates.
I have the Navigon app, which does turn by turn directions and seems fine, but I have built-in navigation in both of my cars and generally find using a phone for it pretty unsatisfactory, so I haven’t used it very much. I just bought it because it was on sale and I thought it would be good to have a backup.
I agree that the phone isn’t the best solution and I have a Tom Tom in my cars. However, there are occasions when the Tom Tom can’t find an address or has lead me the wrong way. Not often, but when it does, the phone makes a great backup to use.
The built-in iphone app isn’t called Google Maps. It’s just Maps. It doesn’t seem to be intended as a driving navigation tool, more as a search engine.
There are any number of apps in the store that do what you want, both free and paid.
Grab one of the navigation applications. There are many; they’re all good. TomTom, Navigon, many more. Some free, some cost money. You can’t really miss them.
It may be that I don’t have enough free memory on my iPhone 3, but I find the Maps function almost useless as it freezes up on me almost constantly. I never have a similar problem on my wife’s iPhone 4.
From what I’ve heard (Apptastic Reviewers podcast from TechJives network, 11/3 episode), Apple is buying up some mapping companies, soooo… this may well herald the development of a new map/navigation feature. Or, maybe they’re just going to shelve those companies’ tech.
Another good one (and my personal favorite) is Motion X Drive. The app itself is very cheap, I think 99¢, and the voice turn-by-turn is subscription based; I think it’s like $1.99/month with a discount if you buy a full year at once. There’s no commitment on the subscription; if you don’t need it very often you can just let it run out and re-subscribe the next time you need it. I think it also has the best user interface.
Google Navigation does. And it is easily accessed through Google Maps. When you search for a destination in Maps, you have an option to navigate to those directions which automatically opens Google Navigation – which provides turn-by-turn directions. It is one of Android’s biggest advantages in my view.