If you're rocking an Android 1.6 device like the T-Mobile G1 or myTouch 3G you'll be happy to know that you can now download Google Maps Navigation in Android Market. Yep, after drooling over the screenshots of Google Maps Navigation in Android 2.0, Google has decided to extend this killer app over to Android 1.6 (and above) devices. According to Google:
If you have a phone running Android 1.6, you can download an updated version of Google Maps from Android Market to use Navigation today. Google Maps Navigation is in beta and is currently available in the United States. Some features of Android 2.0 are not available on Android 1.6, for example, the ability to use the "navigate to" voice command as shown in our demo video.
We're getting this onto our T-Mobile G1 as we speak and will report back on how it compares to Google Maps Navigation on the Motorola DROID. Go and get it now!
thanks for the tip Torrey Jones & Tyler Peters!
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I have to say that this works beautifully on my G1 under Cyanogen 4.2.5. No real processor/memory lag issues or anything. Very cool.
Anyone tried updating this over the Droid one some of us pushed onto our G1's?
hi ,i just want to know when google maps navigation apps be available on htc tattoo?
The version on my droid is 3.2.0. In marketplace, I see 3.2.1 (with navigation). Wonder if I should upgrade the droid to 3.2.1?
When it's gonna be available fot Sprint HTC Hero???
Now I definitely won't buy a Hero until it's upgraded to at least 1.6, preferably 2.0.
Nice Post, Thanks for your share.
with the 1.6 on the g1 I thougth the text to speech was part of the update with the 1.6 check ur settings
The 1.6 update did not include Text-To-Speech for G1 users. It can be downloaded from the Market. The data, contrary to what some believe, is saved to your SD card and not the internal memory of your phone.
I tried this today on my G1 (Stock 1.6, not rooted). It works, but there are two problems anyone interested should be aware of:
1) In order to use Nav, you have to install TextToSpeech, which takes about 4.5 MB. This is a lot for the G1's tiny internal memory. And I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I've noticed that my phone gets unstable if I have less than ~30 MB of internal memory free.
2) I tested it out when I was driving home from work. As I said, it works, and it's really nice. But while I was driving, my wife called, and when I tried to answer the call, the Phone app Force Closed and I lost the call. I don't know if that's typical, but it's a bad sign. This isn't very useful if the price is possibly not being able to answer a phone call.
I'm probably going to root my phone soon so I can install all my apps on the SD card. I'm tired of being so limited in what I can run. Maybe I'll try it again after that, but for now, I don't feel my G1 can handle this.
1) The 4.5MB of data gets stored on your SD card, not within the internal memory.
2) You must understand that this is the (BETA) version, meaning that it is still somewhat in the testing stages.
My un-rooted G1 handles it just fine!
I know that it stores data on the SD card (it would be stupid not to!), but I could have sworn that the installer app itself took 4.5 MB of internal memory.
And yes, I agree that it's beta, so I'm not trying to be too harsh. I just wanted to report my experiences with it.
HAHAH
I was just using Google Maps NAV a few blocks away from the screenshot for this article.
Google Maps told me to make an illegal U-Turn on Fell street to Oak by golden-gate park.. I almost got busted!!
There is a warning from the start that this is in (BETA) form and some directions may not be exactly correct. "Keep your eyes on the road" is a part of the disclaimer!
Please Google, we want Map Navigation for Europe (for France precisely) !!
Please !! :(
Whole Europe will do. Now, we are second class citizens. We were used to this feelings before 20yrs, and it makes me just more angry. We are all your customers, dear HTC and Google and we paid same price, mostly more then our friends in US.
Google Maps for Mobile is no where to be found as of this minute 00:10 Pacific. Maybe Google took it offline for some reason???
Hey Decorative Painting, the Text-to-Speech thing is actually stored on the memory card, not internal phone memory.
Yes, the data is stored on the SD card. But the installer app that downloads that data takes ~4.5 MB. I have no idea why, but that's what it told me when it was installing it.
Why wait for the Sprint Hero to go to 1.6 for turn by turn directions? It comes with Sprints excellent GPS app that has turn by turn direction. I love google maps, but I will use Sprints program because I know it is reliable.
Anonymous:
Yes, you're right, the *data* for TextToSpeech is stored on the SD card. But the installer app is, like all apps, stored in internal memory, and it takes ~4.5 MB.
This is really cool, installed it on my G1 and workes great. I really like when you reach your destination, you get a street view of the address you are going to if avaiable.
I updated the app this afternoon and used it on my way home from work. It worked great, no lag or any issues on my stock G1. It even rerouted quickly when I decided not to take a turn it suggested.
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I think that the new google maps is a fantastic start and will definitely be a game changer in navigation software. I love the way it can visually step you through your desired trip even though some street views aren't available yet. My updated Google Maps install used about 5MB but my CoPilot software used about 20MB. I also experienced issues while data and voice were in use at the same time. If I wasn't on the phone everything worked pretty nice. Right now CoPilot is still my main navigation software because it works if I have internet or not. I can even use it when it doesn't have a SIM card installed.
Since, I have been hearing that it saves data on the SD Card, a nice feature would be advanced trip caching. Basically, you would connect your android phone via wifi to the internet and enter a starting and ending destination. Then choose "Save Route". This would pull all of that routes map data down to the phone (your choice of internal or external memory)over WiFi and then when your on the road, you won't be interrupted when you get a phone call. I think this was a similar feature in one of the old versions of CoPilot so they might not be able to implement it without infringing on copyrights.