Google has finally woken up to the prominence of symbian fifth edition platform with its recently released update for Google Maps following on the close heels of its release of YouTube client, which we covered the other day.
We weren’t much amused by the YouTube client, but the developers at Google seemed to have hit the bull’s eye with the latest version of Google maps by incorporating layers on to the already impressive navigation app. With the latest update, Google maps on mobile is now much closer to the capability of the desktop version of Google maps. The latest version is numbered v3.2.0 and can be downloaded for free from m.google.com/maps.
Screenshots:
You would have probably heard of Google Latitude, which was a standard feature of the previous version of Google maps. With the new version, we can now access this feature by adding the Latitude “layer” on to the maps. We just love Google latitude, which is akin to some of the most popular augmented reality apps on the iPhone platform. What Google latitude does, is it shows the location of your fellow latitude user-friends in real time and we use this pretty often to arrange a quick meet over a coffee or lunch.
Another great layer is the Wikipedia layer, which doesn’t need any introduction, now does it? To check out how this wiki layer pans out on our 5800s, we did a quick search of “Statue of Liberty+New York” and we were quiet amazed with kinda info the app pulled up from the web.
Just tapping on the wiki button, lists address, links to other websites for more info, and even reviews too. With a database of the magnitude of Wiki, we think this is one of the best navigation features of this app. And yeah, the call button is an embedded link, meaning you can directly call the number by just tapping on the call button.
What we like?
- Layers. It just blows our mind away!
- Embedded call and sms buttons
What we hate?
- No offline support (Nokia Maps aces in this department)
- The SMS option, just sends the link of the map to the sender (We were looking for something like a snapshot of the image to be sent, a standard feature in Nokia Maps)
Verdict
We just love the all new Google Maps with its layers and other amazing features. Save for offline support, this is one of the best free navigation applications available on the symbian platform today. With layers of Wiki and Latitude, Google Maps is going to be a big hit among the mobile netizens. Take our word on this, just download the latest version of Google Maps and get ready for an “edutaining” navigation experience on your 5800s.
Tags: google maps, google maps layers, gps navigation tool, mobile navigation, nokia 5800 google maps, nokia 5800 gps
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Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I’m already using this. Cool experience
Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Just updated my Google Maps on my 5800 to v3.2.
Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
In my country google maps is A TOTAL FAILURE.
Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Hey, we got a firmware update in South Africa today. OTA V 30.0.011
Don’t notice any major differences, the phone seems faster.
Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
@Lyly- Yes buddy, the update is finally available. Share your experience with others here-
http://www.tube5800.com/nokia-5800-firmware-update-v30-finally-arrives/
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 10:46 am
I think one of the best features Google Maps should have (and added in this release) is caching of downloaded maps by the user to the memory card- whether the app is installed on the phone’s memory (especially) or installed on the memory card.
My Google maps is installed on the phone and the cache size for user downloaded maps is 19.3MB (over the course of 3-4 months) on a 78MB phone memory limit, that’s a lot of space to give up.
here’s one way it could work.. when the card is taken out, Google maps can, either not cache the map data or store it temporarily on the phone’s memory then transfer it to the memory card when it is inserted again later. And when the memory card is out, the cache that was on it will obviously not be able to be used by the Google maps app.
As far as I’m concerned this feature would be the most helpful to me, more than the ones added in this 3.2 maps update. Does anyone else think this feature is as important as I do?
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
this new version just crashes and dumps me back to the apps menu after 10 seconds..
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
WARNING!!!!
if you receive a “CORRUPTED FILE” error you try to install on phone memory. I can’t install on SD card
(firm v30)
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 5:29 pm
thx thx thx thx
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 1:47 am
does google maps use gps to fix your location or just the phone mast thing