It looks like Google have finally started to create some distance between their products and the Open Handset Alliance’s OS Android. When Android was first announced Google mentioned that they would take the lead, but that the system would be open source and so anyone could work on it. At the moment it seems that the Google Android team are still leading the development and, although that’s a great thing with the resources at their disposal, it does kind of keep everyone else in that nice warm “we can sit back and relax – Google will do it all” frame of mind.
Until today the updates for the packaged apps within Android have been pushed through with OS updates like 1.1 and Cupcake. But today the Google team released the newest version of Google Maps, and it’s a doozy!
The new update includes voice search, which is surprisingly accurate (actually, so is the standard Google voice search if I’m honest), driving and walking directions (there’s also a bus on there but it doesn’t work for the Newcastle area yet so I don’t know how good that is), Latitude integration, business details and reviews (including one-click adding to your contacts) and a new less cluttered interface using the long press for selecting street view etc…
I haven’t been able to test it extensively (I’ve only had it a couple of hours!) but I think it’s a fantastic leap forward in the way that Maps integrate with the other functions of the phone. It’s obviously something that has been worked on by a team who are passionate about the services that Google offer and who want to make sure that the services available to Google’s mobile customers are as useful as possible.
In short, it’s a fantastic update that showcases just why the smartphone is the way forward. Since I got my G1 I’ve regularly described my phone as a mobile computer in my pocket, and an excellent map application is the ideal way to show people just why that’s a good thing.
But for me the most important thing about this update is the use of the Android Market to forward the update to the community. After the recent announcement that Google are designing their own Linux based Chrome OS does this mean that they are distancing themselves from Android somewhat so that they can be in a clearer position next year? Or did the Maps team just want to get the update out as soon as possible? Maybe Google have decided that they don’t want to carry the whole weight of the Android development alone.
Whatever the reason, I think this latest update is probably much more important than people realise and I for one will be watching the developments carefully!
