With the launch of iOS 4.0 on the iPhone yesterday, Apple fans were treated to several new features, like multitasking and custom backgrounds. Unfortunately for iPhone users, Apple (which develops the iPhone version of Google Maps in house) didn’t provide iOS 4.0 users with any new mapping features with which to play. Android users, however, will be happy to learn that Google has pushed an updated version of its Maps app for Android into the marketplace today, adding enhanced support for Place Pages and transit times for trains and busses.
Google is looking to bring some of the features found on the desktop version of Google Maps onto Android with this latest release. With version 4.3, Android users will now be able to see transit times for local public transportation – at least where it is supported. Just as on the desktop, users can select a local rail or bus station and see when the next arrival times are. This could be very handy for people traveling from out-of-town looking for the best place to catch the next train on their phones.
Additionally, when searching for businesses within the app, users can now see more detailed accounts of how customers have rated the location. For a restaurant, various comments about food, price, sanitation and atmosphere are categorized together for quick viewing.
Whatever people mention the most about a business will filter towards the top, making it easier to make a dinner decision. If I were an Android user I might personally stay with Yelp for making such decisions, but the easily scannable reviews from Google are a handy feature to add to the maps app.
