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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
10/31/09
This seems so half assed, I still have to carry my Garmin. Does Verizon intentionally block the app during a phone call? If so that sucks.
11/01/09
10/31/09
This is probably the stupidest thing I've ever read in a Giz review. Here's a question, did you ever consider that they didn't knock everyone off the mountain and if you don't like the Google app you can spend money and buy another app or navigator?
Or is it that since it's free and it's from Google you feel the right to be extra critical and bitch about it?
10/31/09
Fact of the matter is, if this thing were widely available (on all Android phones, but especially when and if it makes it to the iPhone), that would be a huuuge dent in the mobile GPS unit market. For the outdoorsy types who would like navigation on the mountains, sure they'll still buy a TomTom. For the ditzy mom that gets lost in traffic downtown? Not so much. This app will do just fine. And you know those giant cities with thousands of people sporting expensive gadgets? Guess which of those two categories they have more of?
Giz is full of a lot of hype. The Apple Tablet rumors are example enough of just how out there their claims can get. This, though? This is dead. on. And no, they don't "feel the right to be extra critical and bitch" because "it's free and it's from Google". They're being critical because that's what they do. This is a software review! What else are they supposed to do? #googlenavigator
10/31/09
I understand that they are supposed to be critical. I usually like Giz reviews. In fact, with anything I am going to purchase techwise, I find info/reviews on Giz.
This was just a crappy review, in my opinion. #googlenavigator
10/31/09
Wait a sec; your take on this is that the author was merely exercising scrupulous diligence? With no overt bias, whatsoever? So, then, you would disagree that he underwent a sea-change in sentiment - accompanied by a charming reversion to adolescent phraseology - at the mere _possibility_ of finding Google Nav on his iPhone? To wit...
'Still, if this was built in to the iPhone's Google Maps, or offered as a free download at the App Store, damn would it steal customers like a mofo. [...] really, this thing would—and probably will—swallow the GPS app market alive.'
For those keeping score at home: the app he calls 'good for free, but far from perfect' will - only if and when it receives the Jobsian imprimatur - 'swallow the GPS app market alive' plus 'steal customers like a mofo'. Seriously, OCEnt, this passage strikes you as critical analysis, rather than...say, the ecstatic babbling of a self-absorbed twit with an Apple/iPhone fixation?
10/31/09
As for the claim that it will only be successful when it reaches the iPhone (not exactly what he said, but we'll go with it).....the iPhone has 50 million users! This is an app not a device! Even if 2.0 makes it to all Android phones, that's still a much smaller percent of the market than the iPhone (so far). I actually can't stand the iPhone and really think Android doesn't get the real attention it deserves. Yet, I can't ignore the fact that even if every single Android user was using this app in place of a Garmin or TomTom unit (such a universal is impossible, but I'll give it to you), we still wouldn't be enough to swallow the GPS unit market. Combined with iPhone users, and yes all the new Android users will see in the coming years, that is a force to be reckoned with. That is, simply logistically, what could make this app a threat. It has nothing to do with iPhone fanboyism. The app needs a platform.
And besides, even if it is fanboyism (it's not), that still doesn't mean the critiques of the software are wrong. A piece of software can be good, powerful, and popular while being far from perfect. Gmail, Windows. Heck Gizmodo even.
There's a place for accusations of bias and unfair critiques. This review? Not one of them. #googlenavigator
10/31/09
For a free beta that will be available to all Android phones running v2.0?
Well, bravo for your hard ass stance and demanding attitude toward reviews. No doubt you have taken exactly this cynical, 'glass half empty' approach in any number of pithy iPhone critiques, over the past two years. I mean, I'm sure you'd do that despite being an enthusiastic Mac and iPhone user yourself, right? Please post links to those, when time allows.
10/31/09
10/31/09
10/31/09
10/31/09
10/30/09
10/30/09
1. listening to music: assuming you can multi-task the gps and music capabilities. does the app pause music to announce the next segment of the trip?
2. does the display dim if not connected to a charger? any night mode? #googlenavigator
10/30/09
10/30/09
10/30/09
OK. That's more than one question, but you get my drift.
If it has Flash, that would be a nice difference from the iPhone. #googlenavigator
10/30/09
10/30/09
Google is the new Microsoft (but in a good way). #googlenavigator
10/30/09
10/30/09
Besides, it's far from being free if it's a feature of the device it's shipped on. Oh, sure, you might not have to pay an additional premium to use it, but the people that'll get to use this first plunked down hard cash for an Android device.
There's nowt wrong with constructive criticism. It's one thing to say "it's crap", but stating why it's crap is a whole 'nother level, and any software engineer worth his/her salt is usually happy to receive the latter rather than the former. #googlenavigator
10/30/09
10/30/09
PS - where can I get that suction cup phone holder? #googlenavigator
10/30/09
10/30/09
There will still be specialized units for hiking and whatnot, but I can't see ANY way the big 3 GPS companies -who've already been beating each other up- can possibly manage to compete with these for the larger in-car market when you can get a free app on a multi-purpose device for around the same money. That is unless Garmin's and Tom-Tom's drop to the $50-$75 price point with free traffic updates, which are $50-$100 a year right now. #googlenavigator
10/30/09