The mobile web version of Nokia Maps now looks and behaves more like a standard native application on Google Android and Apple iOS devices, thanks to HTML5: The navigation service now provides offline downloading of maps. This ability can reduce mobile broadband data charges or allow map usage in areas that have limited or no wireless data service.

Enthusiast site Android Community noted the updates on Monday by way of the HandHeld Blog. In addition to the downloadable maps, the service — found at http://m.maps.nokia.com — also adds public transit directions to supplement the existing walking and driving navigation as well as points of interest (POI) and guides to the local area.

Nokia’s mapping service is arguably one of the best software products to come from the Finland-based handset maker, and this update makes it even better. Why else would Microsoft decide to integrate Nokia Maps in the Windows Phone platform going forward? I used the web version of Nokia Maps earlier on Monday, finding it to be so full-featured that it was almost difficult to believe it to be a web application.

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The offline mapping mode is welcome, especially when many smartphone owners pay for set amounts of wireless data. Google, too, recently introduced downloadable maps, partially for this reason. Nokia’s implementation is somewhat limiting, though, at least in my short tests. The initial geographic area I wanted to map was too large, so Nokia Maps wouldn’t save it. I had to keep zooming and cropping before saving.

The end result was a reasonable size — about 15 square blocks of Philadelphia — and I had to boost the storage limits allocated to the service to get the 19 MB area map downloaded. Nokia calls these “neighborhood maps,” so if you’re planning to visit several areas, each neighborhood will have to be downloaded separately. That differs from Google’s solution, where I was able to grab a map of 10 square miles. Once you have a local map from Nokia stored on the device, you don’t have access to the guides and POIs, but you can zoom in for greater detail, just like Google’s version.

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Apple verwendet einen proprietären Dock-Anschluss (Dock Connector) zur USB-Verbindung zwischen iOS-Geräten und Computern. Ab dem kommenden iPad 3 könnte diesbezüglich eine Änderung anstehen, wie im MACお宝鑑定団の-Weblog zu lesen ist:
New iPad seems to have re-designed dock connector. Dock’s 30-pins and electricity specification will not be changed, but shape will be more smaller than current “iPad dock connector”, which has released April 2003. New Dock connector design will bring compatibility problem with current dock connecting products.
Gemäss diesem Gerücht wird Apple weiterhin am proprietären Dock-Anschluss festhalten, den Stecker aber schmaler gestalten. Die Auswirkungen auf bestehende Stecker bleiben abzuwarten … wenn Apple schon nicht standardmässige USB-Stecker verwenden möchte, wäre immerhin eine Rückkehr zu einem stabileren und benutzerfreundlicheren Design wünschenswert.

MacMacken-Leser Ueli Isch liess mir per E-Mail zwei Hinweise auf Macken in iOS 5 zukommen – vielen Dank!
Einerseits …
Apple hat mit viel Trara die ortsbasierten Erinnerungen angekündigt. Dieses Feature steht aber nicht zur Auswahl, wenn die Erinnerungen mit Exchange synchronisiert werden. Erst nach deaktivieren der Synchronisation kann man sich an bestimmten Orten erinnern lassen. Das macht das Feature der Erinnerungen aber wiederum komplett unnütz. Was will ich mit Erinnerungen, wenn ich sie nicht mal synchen kann.
Lassen sich ortsbasierte Erinnerungen via iTunes oder iCloud synchronisieren? Apple selbst behauptet, es funktionierte auch mit Exchange ActiveSync («Outlook»):
Erinnerungen funktionieren auch mit iCal, Outlook und iCloud, sodass Änderungen automatisch auf allen Geräten und in allen Kalendern vorgenommen werden.

… und andererseits:
(Und das Erstellen von privaten Terminen geht noch immer nicht…)
Leider – diesbezüglich (und in vielen anderen Dingen) hat Google mit dem eigenen Kalender-Dienst die Nase vorn.

Google Voice Pulled Amid iOS 5 Massive Fail: I have hundreds of apps. The only one that I’ve seen that’s affected by the move to iOS 5 is Google Voice. It crashes every - single - time. 

I know I bitch about this a lot, but I really can’t understand for the life of me why Google doesn’t take more pride in their work on iOS. Yes, I know the focus is on Android. But it’s still their own name they’re sullying. Always better to release nothing than to release shit. 

Mit iOS 5 installiert Apple auf dem iPhone ungefragt die eigene App «Zeitungskiosk» («Newsstand» auf Englisch). Genauso wie alle anderen vorinstallierten Apps von Apple lässt sich diese App nicht löschen. Andere vorinstallierte Apps liessen sich aber immerhin in einem Ordner sammeln, wenn man sie nicht nutzen wollte – bei «Zeitungskiosk» besteht auch diese Möglichkeit nicht mehr, das Verschieben in einen Ordner scheitert … :(

iOS 5 is now available to the public after having been teased for months. Unlike the last major update to the operating system (iOS 4), we think iOS 5 could be the most significant update to the iDevice line since the rollout of iPhone OS 3 back in 2009. Why do we say that? Simple—because of the sheer number of new and improved features that make the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad more usable than ever.

We're talking significantly revamped notifications, Twitter integration, wireless sync, iCloud, home screen improvements, and more—so many, in fact, that we can't address everything buried within an app or setting in a single review. What we will do, however, is talk about the major updates as well as those tidbits that interest us the most after having used the OS. We did run across a few nitpicks here and there that we hope Apple addresses in future updates. Overall, though, we think it's worth upgrading to iOS 5.







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