The first Google Maps update of the year for BlackBerry mobile devices adds features such as voice search and Google Buzz. Users can also touch a location on a map to get details about a business.
Google has rolled out a Google Maps for Mobile update
for BlackBerry handsets. Though this is the first update of the year for
BlackBerry users, the wait for Version 4.0 may have been worth it as it
includes, among another features, a Search by Voice option.
"Simply press and hold the green 'call' button, speak your search and see
your results quickly appear without typing a single letter," Software
Engineer Ole CaveLie explained in an April 7 post on the
Google
Mobile Blog.
Users can speak the name of a specific business-"La Pergola in Los
Angeles"-or request a more general search, such
as, "Italian restaurants."
CaveLie also said, "Currently supported languages include multiple English
accents and Mandarin Chinese." (Surely the phrase "multiple English
accents" is enough to warrant a download.)
Care to forego voice searching for some tried-and-true typing? A time-saving
personalized search function-already enjoyed by Android handset users, CaveLie
said-begins pulling up terms that a user has already searched for, using the
first letters typed.
Still other new features enable BlackBerry owners to:
"Use Labs to try experimental
features like the Scale Bar or Terrain layer (great for hiking enthusiasts!)
See nearby businesses at an address or
location by selecting a point from the map.
Report a problem with the map data or
a business listing."
BlackBerry owners can now download Google Maps 4.0 for BlackBerry "by
going to
m.google.com/maps in your BlackBerry Internet Browser. The update for
BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrators and users, including support for
BlackBerry OS 5.0 phones, is
available
here.
RIM's BlackBerry fan base continues to grow, and in 2009, RIM
was second only to
Nokia in worldwide smartphone market share, shipping
34.5 million handsets. On March 31,
RIM
announced revenue of $14.95 million for fiscal year 2010, up 35 percent
from a year earlier.
However, according to AdMob,
the
fastest-growing smartphone operating system in the United States is Google's
Android.
Google's Nexus One smartphone, as Google reminds visitors to its Google Maps
for Mobile page, comes with Google Maps preinstalled.
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