Contact search highlights Google Maps for iPhone update
Mapping is still a contentious issue for many iOS users, and Google looks to be taking advantage of that chink in Apple’s armor to improve its own offering. A new update to the free Google Maps for iPhone, released on Tuesday, adds a couple of new capabilities, whittling away at iOS 6’s last remaining competitive advantages.
When I reviewed Google Maps in December, I noted one key weakness that the app had compared to iOS’s built-in map option:
That said, Google Maps does have at least one notable shortcoming in search: Unlike Apple’s built-in Maps, it can’t recognize your contacts. So if you start entering John Smith, Google Maps won’t offer to find John Smith’s address—rather, it will look for a John Smith Street.
Though it will now search your contacts, they often come buried among other, less relevant results.
Tuesday’s update corrects that shortcoming, but of course does it in a typically Google fashion: The app doesn’t access your iOS devices’ built-in contacts, but rather pulls them from your Google account—which means that you must have a Google account and be logged in. That’s a benefit for Google, and a bit of a poke in Apple’s eye, though Google does point out in its blog post that it’s not too difficult to sync your iOS devices contacts with your Google account.
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http://www.macworld.com/article/2030088/contact-search-highlights-google-maps-for-iphone-update.html
