02-02-2007, 12:30 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Google Maps for Pocket PC Released
"User feedback is always an important part of our product development process, and for our latest version of Google Maps for mobile, we decided to put ourselves in the driver's seat. Hailing from London, I recently hopped across the pond with my fellow software engineer Jonathan Dixon to help test out the new features on the Windows Mobile(TM) edition of Google Maps for mobile while visiting the Mountain View campus. I focused on staying on the right side of the road while Jonathan, oblivious to the sights around him, focused on trying out the satellite imagery on his mobile phone."
A very oblique reference to the fact that, yes, Google Maps for Windows Mobile has been officially released today. That's a pic from my Treo 700w, including traffic information on the infamous Cross Bronx Expressway (and as usual, it's backlogged through the Bronx). Overall, a nice app -- since it's more official than Virtual Earth Mobile, I think it feels a bit more polished. If you're curious, hit the link above to download a copy, or just visit google.com/gmm on your Pocket PC and download the CAB from there.
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02-02-2007, 01:05 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 9
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I haven't had a chance to install this yet, but in case somebody else has answered this before I do: what's different, what's better, what's worse than Virtual Earth Mobile 1.69?
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02-02-2007, 01:31 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 67
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Usability is much better than Virtual Earth. It is also MUCH faster as an application. VirtualEarth has major compatibility problems with Win2003SE devices (really slow to drag around the map). These problems don't exist on the Google app.
Here are my screenshots of Google Maps, grabbed from my Dell PDA and it shows that the app fully supports the VGA mode:
http://eugenia.blogsome.com/2007/02/...e-maps-for-ppc
__________________
PDAs: x50v, rx3115, PalmV, TH-55, SL-5500, T-615C (previously owned: Axim X5-Adv, h2210, e800).
Phones: QTek 9100, W810i, M600i, E61, A780, 6288, SLVR L7, U8500, KG800, ROKR E2, D840, K300i, 3300, K700i, i-Mate, T310, (previously owned E680i, E398, MOT M1000).
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02-02-2007, 02:59 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 36
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This app works great with my iPAQ hw6945 with the built-in GPS. It maps from my GPS coordinates to my destination then shows my progress along the way, while showing traffic conditions. All it needs is to announce turns and it would completely obsolete paid navigation programs (maybe).
Brian
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02-02-2007, 04:33 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1
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I've got a Cingular 8125, and originally Google Maps didn't work very well on it. I had to run it in that MIDlet Manager, and if I tried to switch to the satellite view it would give me an error stating that my phone didn't support jpgs.
This version works MUCH better! First it gave me the option of installing to my SD card instead of the internal  And now both map & sat view work perfect. Oh and using the stylus to move the map is nice. And esp if you use a wireless connection it seems to run pretty smooth, and traffic works too.
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02-02-2007, 05:54 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 56
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Still not quite as good as Windows Live Search Mobile, I think:
http://wls.live.com/
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02-02-2007, 06:18 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 9
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Sogarth
I haven't had a chance to install this yet, but in case somebody else has answered this before I do: what's different, what's better, what's worse than Virtual Earth Mobile 1.69?
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So, I've had a chance to compare Google Maps (Windows Mobile native) to VEM 1.69 and... I'm not impressed.
Pros:- Maps load fast. A lot faster than VEM. Which I suppose isn't surprising, considering that Google probably throws more servers and bandwidth at mapping than Microsoft does.
- The usage instructions are more intuitive. On VEM, there's no clear indication of how to handle numbered marked points. You need to press a number key to be able to jump through the marked points (which isn't intuitive)... which is a little difficult on units that have no keypad/keyboard (I assume it was originally developed for a SmartPhone). Meanwhile, Google Maps displays two arrows (on the display) that you can press to jump between its numbered marked points.
- Google Maps keeps a history of searches in a drop-down menu.
Ambivalent:- When you perform a search, Google Maps shows all of the locations it finds directly on the map. This becomes a little bit more complicated if the locations are further apart, this means that you're going to have to load the maps for all those locations if you want to just look at their basic information (in contrast to VEM, which has a text-based drop-down menu that you can peruse through initially, with a Map All menu option).
Cons:- There are little signs all over the place that it's not designed to be a Windows Mobile application. The fonts used in a lot of the dialogs aren't a standard size, so don't look right. Every time you run it, you get an informational dialog box that pops up first. The zoom in/out buttons, along with a few others, are sitting on the screen, making it difficult to do one-handed operations (since you need to keep poking the screen). The action button does absolutely nothing on the main screen.
- There's no ability to set where your cache is. It's always on your main storage in \Application Data\GoogleMaps, so it can easily eat up all of your storage space without you realizing it.
- Even for map sections that you've viewed on a different resolution, Google Maps display the "unknown map" background while you're loading it from the servers. If you have a slow connection (say, GPRS only), this is a letdown compared to VEM (which scales the map pieces you've seen).
- On searches, Google Maps displays a maximum of 9 locations. Compare this to VEM's 30.
- When you obtain directions, there's no way to get a listing of the directions. VEM's approach is somewhat strange, although it works - it pastes the directions into an e-mail.
- For those that like it, Google Maps doesn't support the hybrid mode, whereas VEM does (the Road and Aerial mode).
This is about all I can find at the moment... I can't actually address whether or not scrolling is significantly faster than VEM, since, well, I don't have a WM 2003 device....
All said and done, I would have to respectfully disagree with Janak, and say that although this is a very good first pass, it doesn't feel more polished than Virtual Earth Mobile - it actually feels less so. There are some areas where it's definitely better than VEM, but there are also some ways in which it's noticeably worse. I would personally prefer something that combines the advantages of both. :wink:
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02-02-2007, 06:29 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 9
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by krypticide
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Figures. This is what I get for not having gotten around to checking out Windows Live Search Mobile. :roll: Why? Because it's better than Virtual Earth Mobile for the second (usability) and third (history) Pros listed for Google Maps, and it also seems to be faster than VEM (partially addressing the first). The biggest catch is that you can't search for your contacts... (which is actually a pretty big bummer). Other than that, it loses no ground to VEM on any of its advantages (except that it has a maximum of 25 locations to VEM's 30), as well as having a number of other features that VEM doesn't....
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02-02-2007, 07:31 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,041
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Eugenia
Usability is much better than Virtual Earth. It is also MUCH faster as an application. VirtualEarth has major compatibility problems with Win2003SE devices (really slow to drag around the map). These problems don't exist on the Google app.
Here are my screenshots of Google Maps, grabbed from my Dell PDA and it shows that the app fully supports the VGA mode:
http://eugenia.blogsome.com/2007/02/...e-maps-for-ppc |
Man, that's beautiful...
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02-02-2007, 07:44 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 55
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with my cingular 8525 (HTC hermes) I couldn't use it with wifi, only cellular. it would not find a connection. i was hoping i could hit faster speeds with my wifi to properly test it out, but no connection at all. anyone else have this problem or something similar?
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Linear Mode
