If you’re in mainland Europe, you might want to fire up your Android phone and see if your Google Maps has suddenly magically started working as a fully-featured satnav, as many users are reporting that Google has activated Maps Navigation right across Europe today.
Here, for example, is the German-language product page and a couple of demo shots from German roads:
Lucky Germans. And also lucky today are people who run in-car accessory shops in Europe, as there’s bound to be a sudden rise in car-charger and dock sales on the back of this.
According to Engadget, Maps Navigation is confirmed as now working in Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium.
UPDATE:
We now have the official announcement from Google:
“Today we’re launching Google Maps Navigation version 4.2 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland for Android devices 1.6 and higher. Google Maps Navigation is an Internet-connected GPS navigation or ‘satnav’ system that provides turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps.”
It’s smooth to use, the 1080p display is sharp, clear and bright, the device is extremely light and thin and therefore very pocketable and portable — much more so than other 5-inch phones we’ve used. And yet… we’re a bit unimpressed by the overall package…
A relatively high-spec smartphone, with a 4.5″ display running at 480 x 854 resolution and powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, plus the Ascend G510 arrives running Android 4.1.1 — albeit potentially hindered by Huawei only sticking 512MB of RAM inside it..
The Panasonic Eluga marks the company’s return to the European mobile phone scene years after several years of absence, and it’s come back to us with a moderately high-spec Android model that features a rather stylish, slim case.
Sony returns with an all-new mobile design for 2012, pairing a dual-core processor with a 720p display. It’s a lovely phone, but is it enough to end our Samsung and HTC obsession?
LG’s updated Prada phone comes with an absolutely crazy black & white theme, but is it just for fashionable suit wearers who want to make themselves look a bit more interesting?
Mark
/ June 9, 2010Worth pointing out, it was already working in the UK. (not sure about “turncircle” rather than “roundabout” thou…)
Bristolboy
/ June 9, 2010This will reuslt in a few more people on mainland Europe/Canada considering an Android phone as their next device I expect!
Shahzada Hatim
/ June 11, 2010Waiting for Norther Europe (Sweden)