iOs 6 was just released. As usual, Apple giveth and Apple taketh away.
If you're an iphone/ipad/touch owner who uses the Map app's transit directions, hold on before you upgrade! iOs 6 replaces the old Maps app with a new one which does not do transit. So if you live in a city, this is a deal-killer. If you commute to suburbia via commuter rail, this is a deal-killer. If you ever travel to other cities where you count on your device to usher you around via public transportation, this is a frickin' deal-killer. But, hey, think of the endless milliseconds of delight you'll experience from the new app's cool 3-D panoramas of buildings!
Apple expects third party developers to fill the gap by offering apps with transportation info. But it will never overlay directly on Maps, as it has in the past. You won't be able to instantly flip between walking, transit, and driving directions. It'll never "just work". As with the unthinkably shitty "Podcasts" app (I now use Downcast) which was split off from iTunes, we can now enjoy the unsynergy of sloppy fragmentation.
The only thing to be hoped for is that Google eventually offers a separate Google Maps app, as they've released a new YouTube app now that Apple's removed the old built-in one.
But for the time being, never early adopt with Apple. Sooner or later, it will end in tears.
Oh, and we've also lost "street view".
Update: see this.
I was surprised about street view, although honestly the new 3D view zoomed in is possibly better. Different, certainly.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of transit data is surprisingly annoying. I won't be surprised if Google Maps appears as an app shortly - what's really sad is that if Google had updated the maps app on their own at any point in the last few years to include directions instead of making that an Android-only feature, they'd probably still have the Apple account.
Except for the transit thing, I love the new maps. They load super fast on my iPhone 4 and the way it handles point to point directions is beautiful, with the large green directions you swipe through at the top of the maps. Don't really understand all the hand-wringing.
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