Google Maps launched for the iPhone and iPod Touch yesterday and
has become the fastest selling app on the App Store in just 7 hours of
becoming available. It's currently the number one app on the App Store.
The new Google Maps
app, no longer built into iOS natively, can be downloaded for free from
the app store. The app includes turn-by-turn navigation, public transit
directions and Google Street View. The app also brings voice-based,
turn-by-turn driving instructions and live traffic information from
across the world.
Apple had decided to remove the Google Maps app, along with YouTube,
potentially over the spat between the two companies. Apple Maps
promised users turn-by-turn navigation with voice, something that
Google’s app was lacking. However, when Apple Maps made it to the users,
it was, to put it nicely, a fiasco. Incorrect directions, horribly
disfigured 3D views of buildings and roads, not to mention, Apple Maps'
complete inability to map anything in India. Read How to get lost? Use Apple Maps.
Google Maps making it to iOS 6, is the biggest thing to happen to iOS 6 since the iOS 6.
It would seem like there is no reason to now hold back from upgrading
to the newest version of the OS. We recommend watching this space for
our brief hands on with the mapping app. Users who wish to get great navigation back to their iPhones can download Google Maps for iOS 6 here.
We also have our review of Google
Maps for iOS live. Put simply, Google Maps for iOS 6 is quite a sigh
of relief. It’s everything we had wanted from a mapping app, accuracy
and functionality, all packed into a neat, simple user interface. Our
only beef is that it runs a little slow on our iPhone 4, but it would
run just fine on the new iPhone 5 (which the app is compatible with).