After a very detailed post on search in Android, David Convey, product manager, just posted more details on the official Google mobile blog about the Google Maps app for Android.Besides already detailing what we all already know, it is interesting to see a recurrent theme in each of these posts. The developers are very adamant to remind us two main things:
- There will be strong interactions between apps so that in only a few clicks, you can perform several actions. The example taken here is that once you have received a mail or a text message with a location, click on it and it will show in Maps where you can find your way and have directions to go there. If that location comes with a number, click on it to instantly make a call. There's nothing new and many phones can actually do similar things but it's reassuring to see that for a first phone, it's working very well
- What's more interesting though is the openness of the platform and Google have been insisting on this for a long time. But it's coming to life and in this case, for example, any developers will be able to use the MapView or Location APIs to implement them in their own apps. This particular point is Android's biggest strength. It offers an easy and free environment for developers to create their apps. There were also recent rumours that some developers who planned to develop their apps for the iPhone have given up to turn to Android. At the moment, the App Store is a definite success with over 3,000 apps (mostly games) available and have topped 100 million downloads since July. But would it be a surprise if the Android Market reach those numbers? Surely not.
Coming to the Google Maps app, you can check out the video below. It will show all the different features we have come to know very well: location, map, satellite and street view with compass mode and search.
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