Difference Between Google Maps for Android and iPhone

Google Maps for Android vs iPhone

There was a time, not so long ago, when people bought navigational devices specially developed to track down places. These devices helped people to find out their destinations, also helped in avoiding streets and turns that caused unnecessary delays. But with Google coming up with Google Maps, and its intergration with smartphones, most do not feel the need to carry a separate GPS device when they have these phones. Google Maps is available on both Android based smartphones and iPhones. For those who use Google Maps frequently, it is important to know the efficacy of this app on Android based phones and iPhones to be better able when making a selection between mobile phones. Let us take a closer look.

Google Maps is today available on Android, iOS, Symbian, Blackberry and Windows based operating systems. So you can make use of this wonderful app whether you have an Android based smartphone or an iPhone. But there are reasons to believe that Google Maps is better off on an Android based mobile rather than an Apple device.

Google Maps is a Google product, and it is therefore only natural that it would work well with Android phones as Android is an OS developed by Google itself rather than integrating seamlessly on all features with an OS that is developed by another company.

There are some features of Google maps that are common to both Android smartphones and iPhones such as business listings, location map, traffic reports, view of the street, directions for driving, and compass mode. There are some features in Google Maps that are exclusive for Android users, and iPhone users do not get to avail these features. Google turn-by-turn navigation and 3D Maps are two such features only available for Android phones. Also, Voice Search is not available on iPhone, but Google Latitude can be down loaded from App store. Google turn-by-turn navigation allows the user to navigate effortlessly from his present location to a destination after feeding it in the app. When using it on an Android phone, you feel like a true navigation system that works like a standalone GPS device. You need not do anything and the app updates your next turn based upon your current location. However, since navigation is not there, you need to advance the directions when using Google Maps with your iPhone, which could be quite troublesome while you are driving.

There is another advantage to android users as Google Maps has offline capability because it saves cache of frequently used routes and areas in the form of maps that get displayed even when there is no connectivity in your phone. This is one other feature lacking in iPhone. What is great is that Google Maps is an app that is free for both Android smartphones as well as iPhones.

Android users are also privy to latest Google Maps features even before they are made available to public.