Google Maps Navigation brings sat-nav to Android phones

By Flora Graham on 29 October 2009, 12:33pm

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If it wasn't for Google Maps, we'd be more lost than the Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Now we bow to our googly overlords yet again with the announcement of Google Maps Navigation for the next version of Android, 2.0.

Yep, it's Google sat-nav for your Android phone, and it looks pretty mind-blowing -- and unlike existing sat-navs, this bad boy is free like lunch isn't.

We already prefer Google Maps to the pricey sat-nav applications available on the iPhone, but it currently lacks several features compared to fully fledged sat-navs. It'll give you directions, but it won't show you your route as a 3D path along the road, it won't hold your hand and guide you along the route, it won't read out the directions as you go, and it won't update your trip if you take a wrong turn.

Google Maps Navigation should do all that and more. Just like the current version of Google Maps, however, it'll download its maps as it needs them -- unlike other sat-navs, which store them in the phone's memory. That means if you're abroad, it'll cost an arm and a leg to use, thanks to data-roaming charges.

Google Maps Navigation is only available in the US for now, on the Motorola Droid (it's a pint-sized power plant!), which is the only phone that's been released with an early version of Android 2.0. Google's not saying when we can expect it in the UK, and Motorola is similarly tight-lipped about our prospects for the Droid or another Android 2.0 phone.

Nevertheless, on your home turf Google Maps Navigation is packed with interesting features. Click 'Continue' to peruse the mappy wonder and find out more from Google's Web site.