Google Developers Group
Google Maps 5 available for Android Market
Yes, it’s already available and brought us some rather nice changes. What’s new in it?
- 3D views. Tilt and rotate 360 degree so that to see how each street, house, building or tree actually looks like. You can change your viewing angle by rotating with two fingers. Note: this doesn’t work on Google Nexus One.
- Considerably faster results and snappier zooming using by 70% less data while loading images.
- Offline reliability. That’s a really good thing. As we know previously Google Maps apps were always asking for Internet connections. Due to the second cool feature, the results load faster and henceforth can be viewed offline without any need for network.
- It has a compass mode now, which adjusts the map view depending on the position you’re holding the phone.
It’s available as a free download from the Android Market and I honestly like it.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Natasha Dociu on -
Changes are really welcome. However I’d need to mention its features won’t run every android phone. You’ll need 2.0 or higher like Motorola Droid, Droid 2 and Droid X, HTC Evo and G2, Samsung Galaxy S, аnd Google Nexus S. And yes, these features won’t run Google Nexus One.
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Permalink Reply by Mikal Sutherlin on -
I'm using the new Google Maps on a G1 and an Evo. 3D is definitely a no-go on the G1, but the offline improvements will be welcomed on it. On the Evo-- the new functions are superb, although I can't seem to achieve the 3D view depicted in the screenshot above. I'm going to try reinstalling to see if that makes a difference.
This app comes alive on phones with larger screens. Can't wait to see how it functions on a tablet.
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Permalink Reply by Mikal Sutherlin on
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OK-- guess I have to actually tilt and zoom in on downtown and surrounding areas. Silly me . . . now I'm happy.
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