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Google Maps Navigation hacked for extra-American use
Guess what, prospective Milestone owners, the Droid's one major advantage over its Euro cousin has just been coded out of existence by those proactive, un-American XDA Developers. The free Google Maps Navigation service, whose US announcement was so shocking as to decimate the stock prices of satnav purveyors Garmin and TomTom, has now been ported to work outside the land of the free as well. Not only that, but you can use the app on other Android devices, meaning your old G1 can get a breath of fresh air for absolutely free. That is if you don't count the time it takes you to learn how to insert all the code properly and the risk of bricking your device in the process. But we know our readers eat iron nails for breakfast and fashion elegantly optimized code before lunch, so we expect all of you to be using this by day's end, you hear?
The daily roundup: this is, in fact, the DROID you are looking for
Motorola Droid Motorola DROID first hands-on! (update: video, impressions, more pics) Motorola Droid unboxing! Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video) How-to: hack your own DROID dock with magnets and cardboard Motorola DROID spotted in fine GSM form (video) Google Maps Navigation (Beta) Google adds free turn-by-turn navigation, car dock UI to Android 2.0 (video) Google Navigation video hands-on: you want this The game has changed HTC HTC confirmed to be cooking up Android 2.0 update for Hero, other devices unclear HTC Droid Eris allegedly already in stock -- if you know who to talk to HTC Droid Eris priced at $99 for Verizon? Everything Else Windows 7 receives 7,000 domino salute (video) ASUS changes course, unveils 'first' USB 3.0 / SATA 6Gbps motherboards Netflix streaming purportedly hitting Nintendo's Wii next Mobile SonyStyle unleashes Sony Ericsson Aino in the US for $600 Storm2 now available from Verizon for those who waited HD LG's transparent 15-inch AMOLED display is amazing, possibly useless Microsoft temporarily suspends Sky Player for Xbox 360
Uh oh! Google releasing free turn by turn GPS app for Android
Just when you thought it was safe to buy a nav app for the iPhone, Google goes and announces a free app for Android, and says it's going to be available for the iPhone if Apple will let it into the App Store. The app, called Google Maps Navigation, will ship with phones running the Android OS 2.0 and includes search by voice, search for points of interest by voice while in route, satellite and street view, and support for a hardware dock for 'certain devices.' This won't be great news for TomTom, Navigon, or any of the rest. Google says the app is U.S. only for now, and will be seen first on the Verizon Droid which will appear in November. Talk about disruption! With the FCC watching it will be most interesting to see if Apple allows the app onto the iPhone and, whether yes or no, the effect on Android sales. I can't wait for all the fur to fly. You can watch a video of the app in action in this YouTube clip. Admit it. You want this!
Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video)
We knew good and well this thing was coming sometime in November, and now Verizon Wireless has made it official: the Motorola DROID will hit Big Red on November 6th for $199 on contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate). Naturally, the DROID itself is just the first of what could be many Android-laced phones coming to the carrier, and Verizon Wireless CMO John Stratton even stated that the phone "is wide open" -- pretty big words from a company like VZW. Android 2.0 will be front and center, along with Visual Voicemail, a 3.7-inch display (854 x 480 resolution), 5 megapixel camera (with dual-LED flash), a bundled 16GB memory card and a beta version of Google Maps Navigation(!). For those wondering, yeah -- the DROID is the first phone to offer that, which transforms Google Maps into a turn-by-turn routing system that'll have your dedicated TomTom / Garmin trembling in fear. There's also a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3G, WiFi, voice-activated search and over-the-air Amazon MP3 downloads. With all that, who needs the iPhone, right Ivan?Update: Check on our in-depth hands-on coverage on the DROID, Google Maps Navigation and the accessory dock! %Gallery-76678%
Google adds free turn-by-turn navigation, car dock UI to Android 2.0 (video)
Those nat service providers' fears were actually quite justified. Google today unveiled Maps Navigation (beta, of course), an extremely upgraded version of its current Maps software that'll be free and, from what we understand, available by default on all Android 2.0 devices. All the usual Maps features are present, including the ability to search by name of business and have it suggest the closest matches, both semantically and geographically, and traffic data. We're also now looking at turn-by-turn navigation, female robotic voice and all, and integration with satellite and street view, the latter of which will be able to show you what lane you need to be in when exiting the highway, for example. Instead of just searching nearby, it'll also now search along the route for when you're looking for upcoming gas stations or fast food joints that won't take you too far off your beaten path. Select addresses can be added to the Android home screen as their own icons, and given the limits of living in the cloud, trips and their respective visual feeds will be cached just in case you hit dead spots along the way. Still no multitouch, but as VP of Engineering Vic Gundotra noted at a press conference, there's nothing stopping a company like HTC from adding that feature à la Sense UI. In addition to demonstrating the basic navigational functions, Gundotra also showcased a new user interface that appears when the device hooked up into a car dock, one that is intended for use "at an arm's length away." Essentially, it means much larger iconography and a convenient "voice search" option front and center. We later got confirmation from a Google product manager that car dock detection was definitively a hardware-based feature, which we take to mean Android devices currently on the market won't necessarily have the same convenience. If Android 2.0 takes off how Google (and Verizon!) hope it does, companies like TomTom and Garmin are going to seriously need to worry about their bottom line. Watch Gundotra demonstrate the app after the break. Update: Navigation for the iPhone? Gundotra said the ball's in Apple's court, so no telling if / when that'll happen. Remember how well Latitude integrated? %Gallery-76633% %Gallery-76637%
