News tagged ‘Google Maps’

Another iPhone 4 has been discovered in the world, and this time the place is the Czech Republic! We already know what the external design of the iPhone 4 looks like but thanks to some Czech folks from the website called Jablickar.cz we now have something much more!

The official photographs taken under optimal conditions by the iPhone 4 are already out but what about the iPhone 4 potential in real conditions? Now we’ve got exclusive images taken with the rear camera as well as an HD-quality video.

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Yesterday Dell officially announced its first 5-inch Android tablet. The announcement was made on the company's official blog.

So the device is now called the Streak. Previously it was shown at Consumer Electronics Show 2010 as a concept and called the Mini 5. The tablet has a 800x480 pixel capacitive multitouch screen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm, VGA front-facing camera for video chatting, 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, removable battery, 3.5mm headphone jack, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and MicroSD-card support. The Streak runs a customized version of Android OS with multitouch support and "Dell UI enhancements".  The system allows accessing to 40,000  apps in the Android Market, navigation with Google Maps, support for Google Voice and Microsoft Exchange Connectivity.

Blogger from the Round Rock company in Texas Lionel Menchasa thinks the Streak may be very perspective:

"I've been at Dell for 16 years, and I don't think there's ever been more buzz around a single Dell product than this. In my view, that's for good reason. Hardware and design-wise, this thing impresses. Add the ever-increasing capability that Android brings to the equation, and you've got a mobile device that offers a ton of flexibility while looking cool in the process."

The device will be shipped to the UK on June 4 and will be exclusive to the O2 network. Still there is no information on prices, data plans and American partners, but Menсhasa said everything will be soon announced.

In a video above one of the device developers Kevin Andrew tells and shows how useful the Streak may be in the everyday use.

Android phones have an advantage over Apple's iPhone in navigation, because Google includes their free nice Navigation program, while Apple doesn't have built in navigation in Maps. Here are some good news for iPhone users:

Google confirmed at a London press conference that it plans to bring free satnav to other smartphone platforms, including the iPhone, although it wouldn’t say when.

Unlike TomTom or iGo software, Google’s satnav software doesn’t store maps on the device but downloads them on-demand from the internet. However "Google Maps pre-caches the entire route," said Mobile Maps product manager, Steve Lee. "It needs a data connection when you ask for navigation. But while driving to your destination, if you intermittently lose the connection, it will still carry on. As long as you stay on the route."

Users can choose from several viewing options: standard maps and directions, satellite view and access to Street View, plus live traffic data. Sound like a good deal.

Yesterday Google has announced a new web UI for tablet devices like iPad and others. As you can see from the screenshot above some ideas were taken from Apple's Mail for iPad - the inbox is situated to the left of the screen and the messages appear on the right side.

Google's Product Manager Punit Soni also reported that iPad comes with such pre-installed Google services like Google Search in Safari, YouTube app and Maps app.

It looks like in spite of a tensity that can be observed in the Apple-Google relationship the partnership between these companies is still pretty tight.

Here is our live blog from Apple's event:

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Businessweek reports that Apple and Microsoft are currently in negotiations to replace Google as the default search engine on the iPhone with Microsoft's Bing.com. The talks have reportedly been underway for weeks.

"Apple and Google know the other is their primary enemy," says one of the people, who's familiar with Apple's thinking. "Microsoft is now a pawn in that battle."

With Google's entry into the mobile phone business as well as Apple's recent acquisition of a mobile ad company, the two businesses have encroached on each other's territories. Apple has even been said to be working on distancing itself from Google's Maps data in the iPhone.

If the negotiations are successful, it could also mean that Bing could eventually replace Google as the default search engine for Apple's desktop version of Safari as well.

Google today announced the launch of its Nexus One smartphone. It is based on the Android 2.1 operating system and offers 800x480 screen, 5 megapixel camera with flash,  Qualcomm's 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. The Nexus One offers 512 MB of Flash and 512 MB of RAM, and ships with a 4 GB Micro SD card with support for cards up to 32 GB.

Nexus One is initially available from the Google web store in the US without service for $529 or starting at $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile USA. In the near future, Verizon Wireless in the US and Vodafone in Europe plan to offer similar service plans.

Here is the full list of hardware and software features:

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This is the first video hands-on of Nexus One, best known as the first Google Phone to be released in early 2010. In the movie we can see the Android Market, the speed of the processor, quite functional browser, the ability to open documents, and even Google Maps Widget.

Here are some characteristics of the device:

• OLED display with capacitive touchscreen
• Home Screen renovated with the possibility of using an animated background
• Two microphones to reduce background noise during a conversation
• The new version 2.1 operating system,
• Snapdragon processor
• Supports GSM networks
• WiFi
• Great camera
• Virtual keyboard on the screen, but there is ability to use voice to dictate the words

Here is a side-by-side photo of Nexus One and iPhone:

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Media research firm Nielsen released its lists of top U.S. mobile phones, sites, and brands for the first ten months of 2009. The iPhone 3G took the top spot among mobile phones with 4.0% of the market. The iPhone placed slightly ahead of Research in Motion's BlackBerry 8300 series at 3.7%, and well ahead of the remainder of the pack, which was led by Motorola's RAZR V3 series at 2.3%.

Apple also made an appearance on Nielsen's list of top ten brands accessed via mobile networks for the January-September 2009 timeframe, taking tenth place on a list topped by Yahoo! and Google.

Here are the results:

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MacRumors has found a new Apple job listing seeking an iPhone Software Engineer to join the iPhone and iPod Touch Maps team with the goal of taking the iPhone's built-in Maps App to "the next level":

The iPhone has revolutionized the mobile industry and has changed people’s lives and we want to continue to do so. We want to take Maps to the next level, rethink how users use Maps and change the way people find things. We want to do this in a seamless, highly interactive and enjoyable way. We’ve only just started.

Apple and Google have increasingly become competitors in the mobile space while Google's mapping data remains an integral part of the iPhone's Maps application. Add this job listing to previous news that Apple quietly acquired Placebase, a would-be Google Maps competitor, back in July, and it certainly looks like Apple is planning something interesting (and less dependent on Google) for future Maps.app updates. Rumors say this new app will have navigation functionality.

Google today announced that it has issued an update to Google Earth the companion iPhone and iPod touch application to the company's desktop application offering virtual globe and other geographic information.

Among the biggest changes in Version 2.0 of Google Earth is the ability to view custom maps stored in the "My Maps" section of users' Google Maps accounts:

By logging in directly to your Google Maps account, you can view the same maps that you or others have created, using the My Maps interface.

What's new:

• Take your maps with you wherever you go. View Google Maps created on your desktop computer on your iPhone.
• Visual feedback when you select photos, businesses, and other icons. It's now much easier to browse.
• Improved performance
• Available in many new languages and countries

The app is free and avaliable in AppStore (link).

Google created a new application called Google Maps Navigator. This is a full and free navigation software supported by advertising. The app will have turn-by-turn navigation, traffic information, POI, voice search, sattelite, 3D and street views. There is only an app for the Android platfom, but an iPhone version will be released soon. Hopefully Apple will not reject it. Let's watch the video:

It looks like Google and Apple have been steadily moving from friends to enemies. Google created Android and CloudOS, Apple rejected Google Voice and Google Latitude, Google’s CEO left Apple.

So Back in July Apple stealthily acquired Placebase, a mapping company that provides a service similar to Google Maps, but with more robust customizations and set of APIs, called Pushpin.

The obvious interest Apple would have in the company would be the mapping content and expertise that they are currently relying on Google for in their iPhone maps application. Placebase, however, also offered additional functionality that is not currently available in Google's offerings that Apple could theoretically take advantage of.

Given that Apple wrote the iPhone Maps app themselves, and just used Google for the backend, a switch to Apple Maps might even be transparent to the end user.

Placebase CEO Jaron Waldman LinkedIn profile now listed his position as part of the "Geo Team" at Apple.

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The new 1.2.5 xGPS version will appear in Cydia in a few hours. If you want to try it asap, you can manually download it here.

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This app didn't work very well in the past. Today has been updated up to version 1.2, which adds numerous bug fixes and real-time turn tracking. It does indeed provide turn-by-turn directions (distance countdown to each turn) by way of GPS. Local points of interest (Food, Fuel, etc.) can be found, addresses can be searched, routes can be edited, detours added, and types of roads can be avoided (highways, toll roads, etc.). If a turn is missed, the route is recalculated. By having actual maps stored on the device itself, it does not require the use of an active internet connection to pull mapping data (like Google Maps).

The 800-900 MB applications each cost $19.99 and carry regional maps for the Western and Eastern halves of the United States (Europe coming soon, some time in March).