14 DAY TRIAL // In the coming weeks, Android mobile phone users should be able to enjoy a new version of one of the most popular of the applications Google puts on their devices, namely Google Maps.
The new Google Maps for Mobile 5 has been showcased at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference, where Google's Andy Rubin showcased the application using an yet unannounced tablet PC from Motorola, which runs under the Honeycomb flavor of the Android operating system.
It seems that there are some pretty appealing changes in store for Android owners who use Google Maps on their devices, starting with a series of visual modifications.
With the new Google Maps for Mobile 5, users would enjoy dynamic map drawing, as vectors instead of flat images. Richer 3D buildings will be there, set to appear as one gets down to the street level.
Another change is that one can now use two fingers for tilting and rotating the map. Pinch-to-zoom is also there, of course.
The upcoming flavor of Google Maps should offer a better, faster experience. Not to mention that the storage space for the said vectors would be smaller than the one needed for images at the moment.
In the beginning, there should be 100 cities covered in by the new maps, 70 on which would be from the United States.
Among them, we can count San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and more. There will also be 30 international cities, including Melbourne, Vancouver, Copenhagen, Dublin, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Venice, or Buenos Aires.
The new Maps was set to remember visited locations, so that one can it can re-route when offline in Navigation. A connection will be needed for those interested in setting up an alternate route.
Most of the latest Android devices should receive the update, starting with Motorola DROID onwards. The list would include Galaxy S, Droid, Droid X, Droid 2, Droid Incredible, Evo, Nexus S, or G2.