Nov 022012
MapQuest
- Includes voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation: your device speaks to you, telling you where to go (available on GPS-enabled devices)
- Offers voice search capabilities; all you have to do is speak your destination or search parameters for hands-free input
- Provides auto re-routing; if you make a wrong turn, MapQuest will automatically adjust your route to get to your destination
- Choose to walk or drive, you will get the best route either way
- Covers live traffic and incident reporting to help keep you on time–traffic coverage is updated every five minutes
List Price: $ 0.00
Price: $ 0.00
Good, but some features won’t work on the Kindle Fire,
Since the Kindle Fire doesn’t have the Maps app like the iPad/iPhone, I downloaded the MapQuest Android app as a substitute. As a mapping app, it’s not too shabby, although it obviously requires a 3G connection, which the Fire lacks, for all the features to work. (that’s not a slam – I love my Fire).
When MapQuest opens, you have your choice of a roadway map or a labeled satellite map (similar to the hybrid map in Maps). There are icons representing locations such as hotels, restaurants, post offices, schools, etc. Clicking on one causes all the locations within the map boundaries to be pinpointed. Clicking on one of these pinpoints opens up a box with the name, address, and (sometimes) phone number. The selected route from your location to the location you want is then highlighted in blue. If you have a GPS and 3G connection, a computer voice (not very good, in my opinion) will guide you to the destination. With the Kindle Fire, it serves as a route planner. You have some ability to adjust the route, and you can turn on traffic conditions for major roads to help plan the route.
The maps look pretty good, although you can’t zoom in as close as with the Maps app in the iPad/iPhone. The map was up-to-date for my area.
There are a number of other features and settings that can be adjusted. The app even pinpointed my location within about a hundred yards (I have no idea how it does that in a Kindle Fire).
Please note that this app relies on an active wi-fi connection for route planning, and a 3G connection and GPS, as in a smartphone or iPad, to be used for traveling. For the Kindle Fire, it’s an acceptable mapping and route planning app.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Need to add capability to cache maps for offline use,
I installed this program on my Acer A500 (Honeycomb 3.0).
Program works reliably.
The only problem – it works only if you have internet connection. And since my tablet is Wi-Fi only – i can’t use this program, as navigation tool. I wish i can cache all map data on the device.
Was this review helpful to you?
|It works, about the same as GoogleMaps.,
It’s a fine app, the price is right (free), but doesn’t everyone already have GoogleMaps installed? MapQuest doesn’t really offer anything different, aside from preloaded locations from several categories, like POST OFFICES, GAS STATIONS, HOTELS, etc., which you can access through the task bar. But you can get that easy enough on GoogleMaps as well.
There is also something called TOUCH POINT here, it hilights the point on the map where you touch, with the ability to give you navigation directions to that point, if prompted. Again, GoogleMaps does the same thing, but in MapQuest this function is annoyingly intrusive, as these points seem to light up almost every time you touch the map to move it or to pinch-to-zoom. In GoogleMaps you need a longer press to activate this function (around a second or so), which is a good thing — on a small screen I am moving my map all the time, and I don’t need these TOUCH POINTS going off all the time.
Each of these two apps has its own quirks, UIs are slightly different, so I guess it comes down to what tickles your personal fancy.
Since I’m so used to GoogleMaps UI, and generally very happy with it, I personally see little need for MapQuest. But if you for some reason don’t have GoogleMaps, then I wholeheartedly recommend MapQuest, and I give it about 4 and a half stars (half a point taken away for annoying TOUCH POINTS popping up unnecessarily).
I will keep it on my DroidX for now, just in case, but if I ever need to clean up some of the apps for more memory, this one will go.
p.s. If you are interested in further detailed comparison between these two map applications, check out a great music video for the song “Lazy Sunday” by Lonely Island — it’s all over the Internets )))
Was this review helpful to you?
|