GoogleMapsForMobile
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Google's big week: Nexus S, Honeycomb tablets, Chrome OS laptops, and eBooks to boot
We gotta hand it to Google: if its goal was to own the technology news cycle for 48 hours, mission accomplished. The Mountain View-based company spent the first two days this week laying out pretty much every big announcement it possibly could: a new flagship phone coming next week (the Nexus S), a new Android build (2.3 Gingerbread), a preview of the next Android build (Honeycomb) on a never-before-seen Motorola tablet, the debut of its cloud-based laptop platform (Chrome OS) with hardware, and a giant plunge into the growing e-book market -- and that isn't everything. We've done our best to condense all the days' highlights into something easier to digest, so read on for a recap on all things Google!
Google Street View lands on S60 and Windows Mobile
Nokia's S60 and Microsoft's Windows Mobile were both treated to a Google Maps for Mobile update today with Google Street View. Apparently the popularity of S60 and Windows Mobile in new Street View markets like France, Italy, Spain, and Australia helped drive the 2.3 update, that also includes walking directions, transit alerts, and a revamped user interface. BlackBerry, iPhone, and Android users have had this functionality for a short spell, but it is refreshing to see the feature rolling out into other handsets. So, if you want to give it a run just pop over to google.com/gmm, follow the instructions, download, and pop back with your stories.
Google maps for mobile gets GPS
Google Maps' capability for the mobile environment won us over a long time ago. Alas, it was just a matter of time before GPS integration was unveiled in Google Maps for Mobile. That day recently arrived, and Google's mobile maps software will now use the GPS capability of many newer handsets (with GPS carrier support) to pinpoint your location and make directions and navigation just that much nicer. Right now, handset compatibility is a little hit-n-miss (with carriers too), but that is sure to change soon. We do know that AT&T's BlackBerry 8800 works as well as most Helio models. For Sprint, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile handsets, you'll have to keep checking to see when your day in the sun comes. Our conclusion? Free Google Maps with GPS support is, well, very nice.[Via The Boy Genius Report]
