One of the apps I use the most on my iPhone 4S is Google Maps. I use the app to navigate around traffic and direct my wife when she calls to tell me she doesn’t know how to get somewhere. Frequently, I drive between my home in Boston and my in-laws in New York City and sometimes need the traffic info to figure out detours. I’ve lived in the Microsoft world for so long that I never upgrade to a new OS version until I can get some real world feedback on what’s good and what’s bad. I preferably wait for the first round of updates to come out. So, when Apple announced iOS 6, I didn’t jump on the bandwagon and immediately upgrade. I waited to see how it would all shakeout. Obviously, one of the first things people started talking about was how awful the iOS 6 Apple Maps app is. Apple Maps was so bad that Apple CEO Tim Cook had to publicly apologize. Ever since the iOS 6 release, I’ve been steadfastly clicking cancel every time iTunes and my iPhone tries to get me to upgrade.
I’ve wanted to to upgrade. I like the idea of Passbook. Facebook consumes way too much of my life now, so I might as well have tighter integration with iOS. My kids and I use FaceTime all the time to talk with their uncle in Florida and all of my wife’s family in New York and New Jersey. Being able to use FaceTime over cellular is huge. But none of those things were more important than having Google Maps.
My wait is finally over and my phone is updating to iOS 6 as I write this. Google Maps for iOS 6 has become available in iTunes. Initial reviews declare that Google has developed an app that reflects the power and accuracy that users come to expect from Google Maps and has wrapped it into an elegant, easy-to-use interface. The downside I have heard is that it doesn’t contain Biking Directions, Offline Mode, or Indoor Maps. I didn’t use any of those features in Google Maps in iOS 5, so I don’t anticipate needing them anytime soon in Google Maps for iOS 6.
Stay tuned for a full review of my upgrade to iOS 6.
My wife and I had upgraded our iPads to the new iOS but held off on updating our iPhones, since we use the native Google Maps extensively. Our plan is now to update our iPhones to the new iOS tonight. Which will be good, because a lot of my apps have been upgrading to new versions that require the new iOS.
It’s funny though, All the directions take you to a store selling Android phones.