Posted on 09/21/2012 12:21:47 PM PDT by SMGFan
There’s certainly a lot of buzz today about the new iPhone 5. But earlier this week Apple announced another new item that shouldn’t be overlooked: an update to its operation system now called IOS 6. Included in the update was a new map app that Apple created, getting rid of the standard Google Maps app. But as you’ll soon see, there are plenty of kinks to work out.
The fine folks over at Business Insider have put together a slideshow with the help of theamazingios6maps tumblr page detailing just some of the issues. Among the most hilarious? Road and bridges that are so distorted they look like roller coasters, an airport runway that looks like a quilt, and a very flat Eiffel Tower. Take a look for yourself:
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
I wondered if it labelled Kenya as Hawaii?
Apple Fanbois appearing to trash you in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
Looks like some of the maps comes from the parallel universe in Fringe (only one more week to go for season five).
The data will improve on the back end. I’ll tell you though, the vector based graphics are fast.
What I’m really not happy about, is how bad passbook is.
I read some comments by early users and they say the new map app is a disaster. It is almost useless in rural areas and small towns.
I think apple is going to have egg on their face once iphone5 gets out.
I wonder, would Steve Jobs have made such a disastrous decision? I’m seriously thinking of shorting apple. The fanboys will continue buying iphones but there’s plenty of agnostics who’ll probably dump it.
Compared to Samsung Galaxy S3, iphone5 is at least a generation behind.
Classic post, dfw..
I live in a major metro area (DC), and I have no problems at all with the maps. I expect the problems people are seeing will be short-lived, and every new release has something people like to gripe and moan about (e.g., "antenna-gate"). What I found interesting, playing with turn-by-turn, was that some odd decisions (go off onto the local lanes only to get right back onto the express.... which I ignored) it was making in routing on Thursday morning were corrected by Friday morning. It does seem to be learning from usage patterns.
What I’m really not happy about, is how bad passbook is.
Passbook should simply get an "incomplete", as no one will be able to tell how good or bad it is until we see enough 3rd party support to make it usable (or not, as the case may be). I was able to get Target to send me a digital coupon, but I'd like to be able to add my store loyalty cards (and my Sam's Club membership card), as that's where I'll get the most use out of it.
I ordered the iPhone 5 and currently have the 4. I tried the new maps. My street does not exist despise having been around since the early 70’s, but somehow it will still give me directions to my address, in a city 40 miles away.
Except for a pretty respectable NFL football team, not much lost.
I hope whoever is delivering the daily “why apple is wonderful and how I use it” speech to Rush Limbaugh uses this app and is never seen again.
For later bttt
I started with the iphone as well. And when I first got it I loved it. I give credit to apple for coming out with such a great concept and product.
Unfortunately apple’s business model relies too heavily on coming out with the next “wow” product. That is a lot to ask of any company and even genius like Jobs. Now that he’s gone, will apple lose not only his creative talent but his obsession with quality.
The iPhone 5 may be the first indication that that may be the case. It’s hard for me to imagine that he would have made such a boneheaded decision as replacing google’s very mature and feature rich map app, with something that looks like nobody bothered to test. Maps is one of the most important feature of the “phone” - I use it all the time.
I went from an iPhone to a galaxy Skyrocket. I’ve never looked back. I love the bigger screen, the way it handles text, (it reformats it when you zoom in so you don’t have to do horizontal scrolls - I use it to read FR and it’s great), I also like the navigation buttons and that it’s very fast. I’ve had 4G-LTE for a year, apple is just coming out with it.
Apple has been great at coming out with the “wow” factor, but when it comes to incremental improvents, it is going to get its lunch eaten by google, samsung, htc etc.
It wasn’t a “BONEHEADED” decision, it was a strategic one.
Google and Apple are at war, removing the google licensing from their product is a strategic long term move, and unlike companies like say MS.. I fully expect that Apple will resolve the issues.
Entire map is vector defined, so all these pics look like just some data fixes to me... and as to getting routed to wrong address or not finding addresses, happens with Google Maps too.
And just so the non techies know... Google doesn’t really own google maps either, they license the core data from another vendor, which is why it is technically illegal to have a turn by turn app on Apple or through the Google Maps libraries on Android as well.. the licensing agreement Google has for general public use doesn’t allowe them to do this so you must purchase through google a commercial license if you want to do this withough violating the licensing agreement as a developer etc.
As long as it turns Mecca, Medina and Iran into glass mirrors, I won't complain.
Those collapsed overpasses look prophetic.
Well see, that’s the thing. Why can’t I start using it by scanning in my loyalty cards like CardStar and others allow?
My GF had misplaced her Kroger card, and we were at Kroger when she discovered it was missing. I whipped out the phone and called it up.
Passbook should be that darn difficult.
“It wasn’t a “BONEHEADED” decision, it was a strategic one.”
Yes I know and understand the strategic part of it. The bonehead part of it is releasing it before it was ready. They could have put up with google maps through one more release cycle and then release a solid app. Now they’ll have to put up with all the inevitable jokes that people are going to make - it’s already started and the product hasn’t been released yet. It ain’t exactly going to be the type of PR apple loves.
And it isn’t just the screwed up vector graphics, it is also the lack of details in non urban areas. In some places it doesn’t even have the street names. Not to mention all the missing features that google maps has, like street views.
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