Just hours after the first whispers, Google Maps Navigation, a free turn by turn app for Android 2.0 phones, has been outed. Yes, free. Pull out your calendars and mark down the date – this is year zero for GPS.
Android Invasion! Everything you need to know about Android phones
Google Maps Navigation is one of the highlights of the Android 2.0 update just made official. It’s free, doesn’t have ads, offers live traffic info and features both satellite and street views, and on some phones, will even run with a special car dock, kicking it into gear automatically.
Although Google Maps Navigation doesn’t match some of TomTom’s powerful live services, that price slash will scare dedicated PND makers silly. ALK’s CoPilot Live software for mobiles is badged pretty attractively at £26, but you can’t put a price on the number of customers Google will get locked into Android with Google Maps Navigation.
Google Maps to get turn by turn navigation?
Now for the bad news. Though there’s every possibility Google Maps Navigation will hit other mobile platforms, it’s US only. That’s not surprising, as Google still has to licence mapping data in other regions, but it does mean we may have a Street View length wait for it to arrive here. We’ll keep you posted.
Out TBC | £TBC | Google Maps Navigation
