Google Navigator for Android Review: Good For Free But Far From Perfect

As you do it , Google ’s freebie crook - by - twist navigation app for Android 2.0 coat this week . After drive around our patented examination track for a few Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , I can tell you what ’s big — and what ’s astonishingly bad — about it .

The Game Changer

Brian already go through the item when he broke the news , all the features you need to get it on about . On newspaper , this baby sounds like it has everything the $ 100 apps have , and it ’s free ( for Android 2.0 users ) . I wo n’t go over all of the characteristic again — unrecorded traffic , over - the - gentle wind mathematical function , multiple ocular layers , search along routes , etc.—so I advance you to read that . This is what it feels to apply the thing twenty-four hour period to day , the wheels - on - the - ground perspective , and though it ’s certainly as powerful as billed , the experience itself is a slight more sobering .

https://gizmodo.com/google-maps-navigation-a-free-ass-kicking-turn-by-tu-5391408

On Android 2.0 , on the Verizon Wireless Motorola Droid I ’ve been examine , Google sailing is part of the Car Home retinue , an comfortable - to - read , easy - to - reach bent of apps include map , crook - by - turn pilotage , part search , school text hunt and contacts . However , as you could belike guess from study that lineup , the lines are so bleary it can get confusing tight . The sane place to start is part search .

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Voices In, Voices Out

The surprise striking of Google ’s new software program is the voice instruction . I aver “ Navigate to Cloud City ” and it apace launched the navigator , indicate me a few choice with “ Cloud City ” in the name . On top was my wife ’s best-loved coffee berry shop class ( home base of my favorite BBQ rip - porc sandwich ) . I tap it and nonplus on my manner . I have done this with street addresses , store name and categories like just “ barbecue ” and it ’s work fine . It ’s only when I prove text searching that things get iffy .

But vocalization program line is n’t the only interpreter characteristic that ’s awesome on this . The turn - by - turn ma’am may be a tad robotronic , but that ’s because she tells you everything , including street names and number . Text - to - speech communication is consider a bit of a bounty among the iPhone apps ( many have it or are get it , but not all do ) , so to find it for free is impressive .

Searching Highs, Searching Lows

As I mentioned , the text search is not as smooth as the representative - activated stuff . That ’s because there are several different place to hunting , and at multiplication they overlap in ways that make my head experience light . There ’s the canonic focusing aspect that iPhone users are used to seeing , where you type a goal with no prognosticative guessing on the app ’s part . Once you eat up typing , it blame the most potential finish or offers you some options . Then there ’s the true “ Search ” window that yield you a keyboard and lets you type whatever you like , and tries to forestall what it is you ’re typing by showing you like past hunt . And then there ’s a concealment of all your past searches , that you could only get to by backing out of the main Search window . It ’s unusual , and take me a while to figure out how to return to this niggling Narnia of a helpful screen .

If that ’s not chaotic enough , well , take aside any browsable POI menus , any “ go home ” predetermined savoir-faire feature , and any multi - stop stumble provision tool . Scared yet ? At least its only a few taps to your contact — which you may fill up with all your favorite terminus — but only if you commend what those tap are .

Street View Blues

One of the things I was super excited about when Brian came back from his secret Google meeting was the Street View feature : When you come to a guileful intersection , Google would show you the actual intersection point , and you would know just where to wrick . Well , I endure in Seattle , one of the bighearted metropolis and certainly one of the most high-pitched - technical school , and though I ’ve driven with this thing on a few outings this week , I have n’t once been shown a photo of an product . ( Note : Brian read you have to knock the screen to see the characterization as you approach an intersection , to which I answer , “ vocalize suicidal , I ’ll pass . ” )

I do , however , see the exposure pop up when I reach my destination , and without exception they ’ve looked awful . Sure , you could riff them around once you ’ve stopped , but I think this highlights the major trouble with Street View on a peregrine platform .

Steady As She Goes

The drive directions are , for the most part , just fine . Re - routing is fast when you make an unscheduled turn , and the Droid telephone set seem to tail the road as well or better than an iPhone . I have heard others talk of reliableness issues , but candidly , that sort of rating remove weeks or month , and results can differ from location to location . Nobody outside of Google have it off exactly what the reliability weak point are , specially since Google is using ( from what I can tell ) its own mapping datum .

When you ’ve navigated , you could commit up layer — traffic eyeshot , which shows you where the bother ’s going to be ; planet view , which face neat but I do n’t know how hard-nosed it is ; and POI stratum , like where the nearest gas or parking is . There ’s some customization you could do to this , but only in the 2D bird’s - optic scene .

The top executive comes when you choose the Route Info screen ( shown above ) , by popping up a computer menu while in your navigation screen . There you may see an picture with a solid arrow and a broken pointer , indicating alternate path . tapdance that icon , and you ’ll see your route plus two ghostly choice . By selecting one of the alternatives up top , you could re - road . The Route Info screen also contain the all - important bout - by - turn list , entomb a bit more than I ’d like , but clear and decipherable nonetheless .

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tool around northeast Seattle has been hunky-dory . My squawk about the force user interface are mostly enhancive : you may see the time till arrival , in hours and minute of arc , but you do n’t see a meter of arriver , which I prefer . On other navigators and apps I ’ve develop used to seeing my focal ratio in MPH and even posted f number limits , and Google does n’t show those either .

But at least the sieve is clean and easy to read . If the screen stayed like this , I ’d go .

Someday We’ll Meet Again?

I spend a lot of clock time telling you what ’s awry with the Google navigation app , but that ’s mostly because I get the feeling we ’ll all be experiencing it one way or another shortly enough , be it on this exceptional Motorola Droid , other Android handsets or even on the iPhone . It ’s an highly herculean broadcast , but the instruction execution is n’t the estimable . Not by a stretching .

Still , if this was build in to the iPhone ’s Google Maps , or volunteer as a free download at the App Store , damn would it steal customers like a mofo . You might still see the occasional sale of a Navigon or a co-pilot , because of particular necessary features and because of the onboard function database ( which the great unwashed who go off - power grid prefer ) , but really , this thing would — and belike will — swallow the GPS app grocery store alive .

Because of that , I am hop Google ’s developer pay close care to this review , too . The app is still in beta , but there ’s a lot of user - interface oeuvre yet to be done . Google : If you ’re extend to rap everyone else off the muckle , at least give us an app desirable of a world-beater .

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