iPhone 2.2 style Google Maps Street-view, Transit, Walking Directions, and Location Sharing still not enough Google love for the iPhone? Want just that much more proof of affection? How about this: Google Earth is coming to the iPhone!
According to CNet, Google Earth for the iPhone runs almost desktop-class well over WiFi and taps into CoreLocation Services, just like Maps. The accelerometer can be used to adjust the angle of the view, and multi-touch gestures are likewise supported. Geo-tagged photos, and Wikipedia tags round out a pretty dang impressive offering!
Says Stephen Shankland:
What’s most interesting to me, though, is that the iPhone’s multitouch screen actually made using the application easier than the PC versions. Dragging a fingertip across the screen slides the view appropriately, of course. Two-finger pinch gestures not only zoom in and out, but also, by adding a little twirling rotary motion, steer the view’s orientation in one direction or another.
Google isn’t monetizing the app with ads yet, but doesn’t rule it out at some point. Likewise, they’re not talking about an Android version yet (sorry AC!)
You may not realize it, but the site you’re reading right now is a part of one of the premier networks of smartphone news and review sites. We call it the ‘Smartphone Experts Network’ and if you haven’t heard, we’ve recently added a new member to our family, Android Central. That brings the number of our smartphone communities up to five sites. You can find links to these sites and to their latest stories either in the sidebar or footer of every SPE site.
I thought now would be a good time to introduce a new weekly blog post I’ll be putting up at each of our sites called ‘Around SPE,’ which will give you a very quick roundup of the biggest stories at each of our sites. Now, ‘big stories’ are just a tiny part of what we offer, as each of our sites also feature vibrant communities, engaging podcasts, and also accessory stores if you’re looking to make your smartphone a little better.
In addition to our new sister site, there’s also some other SPE Network news to share, so follow me after the break to learn more!
Apparently, when it comes to working on unlocking the iPhone 3G to run on other carriers, for the iPhone DevTeam, Sunday is funday…
So, still no software unlock for the 3G (don’t let the web scams fool you!), but they’re getting closer…
Since Canada has no other GSM carrier, this won’t change much for me locally, but it would make traveling so much easier (change country, change SIM!). How about you? Waiting to get your unlock on?
TiPb loves answering your emails, but we also love sharing our answers with the community in hopes that more people will benefit, and even better answers will present themselves (hey, that’s why we have them forums!). Today’s question comes from Chris:
“Why doesn’t the iPhone have real GPS?! Even the [redacted] Samsung Instinct has turn by turn! Why does Apple add [redacted] like street view [but] not the things users really want?”
Dieter’s been saying for a long time that Google hearts the iPhone — and why wouldn’t it, it delivers an incredible amount of mobile eyeballs for advertising. We’ve also said that the ultimate edge the iPhone enjoys over Android is that while Google produces great service for both Android and the iPhone, Apple only produces for the iPhone. The iPhone gets the best of both worlds. Latest case in point, iPhoneYap (via Apple Insider) has posted extensive screenshots of the new Google Maps 2.2, and it looks like we’re getting:
Public transit directions (including schedule info)
Walking directions
Street view
Location Sharing
Since Google pimped out Street View for Android already, it’s no big surprise that the iPhone (and other mobile platforms) are getting it as well. Same thing happened with cell tower location services last year. Still, we’re hoping Apple’s usual UI expertise will make this a particularly good implementation. No word yet, however, if we’ll be getting Android-style real-time rotation…
Sampling of images after the jump, see the full gallery at iPhoneYap
Way back on March 14 we covered some of the bold, bodacious pontifications the CEOh-no’s of Microsoft, RIM, and Palm had made about the iPhone. Quick-on-the-buzzer as always, it’s time once again to go back to our judges and see how they did!
“We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”
“Talk — all I’m [hearing] is talk about [the iPhone's chances in Enterprise]. I think it’s important that we put this thing in perspective.” [...] “Apple’s design-centric approach [will] ultimately limit its appeal by sacrificing needed enterprise functionality. I think over-focus on one blinds you to the value of the other.” [...] “Apple’s approach produced devices that inevitably sacrificed advanced features for aesthetics.”
THERE’S a reason that R.I.M. is averse to the iPhone’s glass pad. “I couldn’t type on it and I still can’t type on it, and a lot of my friends can’t type on it,” says Mike Lazaridis, R.I.M.’s co-chief executive and technological visionary. “It’s hard to type on a piece of glass.”
Judges?
10 Million iPhones sold in 2008, almost 7 million in Q4 alone. More units of a single SKU moved than all RIM SKUs combined, and more than (we think!) WinMob licenses as well. 200,000,000 App Store downloads, 5500 Apps available, and now being copied by Microsoft, Google, and RIM. Form factor and touch-centricity copied by both Microsoft-OEMs and RIM (who’s also introducing a no-keyboard Blackberry Storm!). And Palm? Er… Anyone heard from Palm lately?
[The Lightning Reviews are over, but from their ashes rise... the Forum Reviews! TiPb has assembled a crack team of App-aficionados, and every week we'll be bringing you a few of their very best reviews right here on the blog. And be sure to check out TiPb's iPhone App Store Forum for even more!]
Kooaba allow you to take a picture of a movie poster, then looks up the info about the movie.
You just push the camera icon on the main screen, snap a picture and it load (takes a long time – 30 secs+), then it opens safari and displays the movie details.
You can also view the history of your searches (if you ended up wasting that much time)
Microsoft’s Xbox King, Lord of Zune, and Master of All Things Windows Mobile (i.e. basically in charge of everything but the revenue generating OS and Office franchises… ouch!) decided to comment on the huge iPhone numbers Apple released last Tuesday. Marc Flores over at BGR reports (via BusinessWeek):
“Apple had a big launch of a new product, and they launched at scale in a lot of new countries with a lot of new [wireless] operators. This quarter, RIMM is having its big launch, and at some point we’ll have our big launch. We’ll have to see where things normalize”
Now, we don’t necessarily disagree that there was pent-up demand for a 3G iPhone in existing markets, and introduction of many new markets, along with the honeymoon period many new gadgets from a player of Apple’s caliber enjoys, but…
How about we get some good news round Microsoft Entertainment and Mobile Way, rather than Xbox write-offs, Zune lack-tion, and continued Windows Mobile 7 push backs, before we spend our expensive executive time stepping to Apple, b’okay?
