Google Mobile Maps
 

2 thumbs up for Google Mobile Maps

Just like Google Maps you can search by address or landmark.
It shows you traffic using colored lines (red = traffic, green = none, yellow = slowness).

From your phone go to www.google.com/gmm from your phone's browser.

I will definitely give this a shot. I'm totally loving my new smartphone!

Google also has a mobile gmail client that doesn't involve setting up POP3 or your phones mail client as well as a mobile g-talk application (that I am having trouble finding the link for again).

I use this all the time on my phone. Robb makes fun of me and my phone and connectivity until it finds him what he wants...

We're using Octrotalk which has the advantage of being able to access not only gmail but yahoo, aim, msn as well at the same time.

:p Which phone did you finally decide on?

I hear that is a good app. If I didn't already have YIM, AIM on my phone I'd be all over it.

I have been exploring Handango.com of the recommendation of a friend. They have free apps and pay apps.

Got the Moto Q. Other than battery life and some weird power bugs (the first being solved by the extended battery I ordered and the second happening rarely enough that I'm not going to worry about it), it's a perfect phone for us.

Sorry for the :p I'm not exactly sure how it got there. I must have been channeling NA. I'm thinking about a new phone too.

Yeah, battery life can be an issue. I forget what I did but someone here on LoT gave advice on something you can shut off to burn less power on the phone.

My other issue is that if I set the phone down exactly flat or bump it too hard it randomly shuts itself off.

That being said, otherwise I think it's a terrific phone and I still recommend it to people.

(the Motorola Q, that is)

Okay, that's not cool - downloading the Google Maps app reset my background pic for some reason :mad:

(But dude, the app IS pretty cool!)

I used the googlemaps app on my Palm until I finally bought GPS. Love it.

The world now has too many gadgets. I'm drowning.
What's a smart phone? What's Handango? What's Octrotalk? What's happening? Where's Brad? Where's anybody?
:D

I'm in the luddite camp with Snowflake.

I'm in the same boat as you GC...I am clueless!

Smartphones are phones that will help you read LoT :)

I found Waldo!

A smart phone is a phone that is like a PDA. Think of it as a mini computer with a phone (aka the iPhone).

Handango is a website that has a bunch of software for your smart phone.

Octrotalk is software that runs the IM programs (Yahoo, AIM, etc..) similar to Trillian (but for your smart phone).

BTD: Resident Smartphone expert :)

Does this mean my phone is dumb?

Somehow all this makes me feel dumb.

Been using it for quite some time. It rocks. I am able to find the address for places not in my pricey GPS system in my Range Rover, then type them in. And traffic and its all free. Love it.

I tried to DL it on my T-Mobile MDA. It won't do it for me :(. I will try at home and then install it from the computer.

That was me. Go to Connections (I think) and uncheck Beam. Doing that tripled battery life for me.

Now if the screen were bigger...

I've been using it for a couple of months now - favorite search terms when out on the road making deliveries: US Bank, Starbucks, BBQ

Or, when showing up at parties short on spaghetti sauce: Smart and Final

In the end, we might have squeaked by on the bottle I had, but you still totally saved my butt that night!

My beaming's already deactivated, dang. But whatever, I've already ordered the extended battery, whcih cost me all of $7 or something.

Try disabling BlueTooth unless you really need it.

Also already disabled. The Q has notoriously crappy battery life, there's really nothing for it.

I agree. That was a final ditch resort. We use the Qs in my office.They are the bane of my existence these days.

So the Q is good, but has crappy battery life? Will the extended battery make a big difference?

Q? Bluetooth? Smart and Final?
Y'all are talkin' gibberish here.

:D

My secret is I have a charger at work and at home. Still have to remember to plug my phone in at night or it's dead in the morning though. Unless I didn't use it all evening and then it's just "mostly dead".

From what I've read, yes. It should got from not lasting a day without a charge (even when mostly idle) to actually being able to last a couple days at least, perhaps more. The drawback is that it is a thicker battery so adds some bulk to the phone, but it's so ridiculously thin that a little bit of bulk means it's still quite the tiny phone.

Everything else about the phone is ideal (for us).

Extra battery is only a couple milimeters thick, not huge. My coworker/thorn-in-my-side has one with the extra battery.

Take GDs opinion of it over mine. He uses it every day. I deal with the users who use it.

Note though that I'm no power user. I use it mostly as a phone, a good bit for texting, and occasionally for web browsing (email, imdb, google maps). I don't do any push email or exchange server or any of the business-type apps that BTD probably deals with. So if that's what you're looking for, take her word over mine.

What's made it so good for me is the full qwert keyboard that's great for typing (can even get away one-handed in a pinch), clear screen, more than serviceable camera, and reliable connectivity.

We use Goodlink for our email software and up until the latest version it brought the Q to a dead halt. It seems the latest Goodlink software works well with the Q.

Most of my end users are lucky they can turn on a computer.

I also recommend the Nokia E62 as a good smart phone. Our international travelers use that.

The main thing that I am not loving about my new phone is the keyboard. I don't mind the 2 letters to a key shure type, but the qwerty keyboard is throwing me off since I am so used to texting with a regular phone.

Hey GD - want to think about changing the title of the thread to "Google Mobile Maps and all things Smart Phone"?

Q aka Motorola Q. Smart phone with a full qwerty keyboard.

Bluetooth - a type of wireless technology that allows file transfers and bluetooth headsets aka "Borg* ear pieces" aka "what Lisa and Chris always seem to have attached to their ears" Most regular cell phones have this technology as well.

Smart and Final - a club type store similar to Costco. Don't think it requires a membership.

*Fire Fox recognizes borg and makes it into a proper title Borg.

Downloaded both Google Maps and Octro to my phone today. Maps is cool, but Octro seems to let me send messages in Google Talk, but not revcieve anything beyond the first post. I have to check google mail to read the other side of my conversation - so I'll hold off on this one for awhile.

Knowing that we have the same phone and the same service, this peeves me that you could do it and I couldn't :mad:

K - what is it doing or not doing?

I have a DumbPhone... I'm jealous of your SmartPhones!

My "smart" phone (Sprint PPC-6700) was fully charged at 6:02, when I left my truck in the Downtown Disney lot last night. At 8:18, when I took it out of my pocket to check the time, the battery was completely discharged. This is a 2 month old battery, I took no pictures, received no calls, I have roaming and beaming turned off, and all applications were turned off. W. T. F!!!

Sounds like a faulty battery. Try fully charging it again and if it happens again I'd see if there is a known issue with the battery...

Phones that ride the short bus?

The Sprint store people told me the Q battery was operating properly when it only lasted a day. But for me it was only lasting a day when it was just on standby, heaven forbid I actually used it. Instead of the extended battery (no fat phones for me!) I just bought a spare battery here. That's where I got some tips about maximizing battery life and now I can actually use the phone and the battery lasts for two or three days unless I'm doing a lot of web browsing.

But it sounds like you're doing the right stuff. Do you also go to Task Manager and close the functions you already thought you closed? That helps. The only weird thing with my phone is that when I'm at home it keeps trying to search for e-mail or text messages (whichever I've done most recently). The phone lights up for no reason and when I check it's been trying to call the mother ship or something. A few days ago it was trying to find Outlook e-mail and I've never even set that up. It only does that at home. Maybe it wants to be friends with the laptop.

Just to be clear in such an informative thread - Octrotalk handles chat, not gmail.

Bummer - it's been working pretty well for me. It may be a tad more laggy than using my laptop, but still perfectly usable.

Same here! In my neck of the woods, when it starts to get foggy, it's really really bad. I have this fear of breaking down and not being able to call for help. Also, while I'm working, the phone is charging. Everyone wins!

I'm big into the smartphone thing now. I piloted every major provider and nearly every smartphone made at the time. For my purposes, the Palm Treo 755p on sprint worked best. There is no perfect phone yet though. They all have fatal flaws. It's just a matter of running the numbers, being honest about how you really use a phone, and deciding what works best for you based on that.

Even the iPhone, as swanky cool as it is, has some serious flaws that for me would not allow me to consider it. I don't use my phone often as a phone (I hate talking on a phone) so txt messaging, IM support, Slingbox support and high-speed web access were my top priorities.

In order of preference, here were my top 3 fave smartphones:

1. Palm Treo 755p (Sprint)

Plusses:

• Palm OS ease of use, multitude of software and relative stability (compared with Windows)
• Comfortable to hold in the hand
• Solid durable feel
• High-speed internet access anywhere I have a Sprint signal
• Built in IM client
• Slingbox support and software
• Touchscreen
• Screen resolution
• Rubberized coating

Negatives:

• Bulky and heavy-ish
• Palm OS is now ancient (but still works well)
• Crashes on occasion

2. Blackberry 8830 (Cingular)

Positives:

• Sleek, thin design
• Great display
• VoX dialing built in
• Thumbwheel "nipple" close second to touch screen for ease of navigation

Negatives:

• Cingular high-speed data network sucks. No availability at all in South OC and many other locations
• Couldn't get a good signal at my office
• Lack of a touch screen
• Slingbox not available on Blackberry
• No cameraphone

3. T-Mobile Dash

Positives:

• Loved loved loved this phone!
• Relatively stable even though it was windows-based (contrary to all other windows phones I tried)
• Thin pocketable design
• rubberized coating
• good keyboard
• great screen

Negatives

• T-mobile doesn't have any high-speed internet capability NONE and doesn't plan on adding it in the future (deal breaker there)
• lack of a touch screen.

Do you recall the mAh rating of the extended battery you ordered?

I honestly don't know. I went with the cheap-o generic battery off e-bay which doesn't have it listed. I know that the branded one that's available is 1640mAh (the OEM slim battery is 1100mAh), so I'm guessing it's the same or similar.

With the extended battery I'm getting close to 2 full days' worth of battery life. Not stellar, but much much better. If you're willing to pay more I know there are larger ones available (there's a 2100 and a 3200 mAh, maybe even bigger).

Thanks. As a result of this thread there is a moto Q charging on my desk right now. It's fun to play with. I was able to get an SSH client on it so I can SSH into my linux box.

Still lovin' the Q. :) My battery life is pretty good. If I want to use the internet for longer than a lunch break I do need to charge that night, but no big deal, I don't use it that often.

I'm still lovin by BB Pearl. T-Mobile not so much (plan issues).

I love Google. They just released an enhanced mapping application that does a pretty good simulation of GPS for non GPS equipped phones.

Google Mobile Maps with My Location (beta)

I use Google Maps to watch traffic every day (seems fairly accurate). But for a while this morning for some reason, I was just outside of London (England). I don't think I was driving that fast.

Every once in a while I end up in Dubai. It's very weird.

They just released a new version and so far I haven't had that problem.

I wouldn't mind visiting Dubai.