Which do you guys prefer? What gives you better routes for you?
Google map ???
Thoughts on why?
I am planning to install an 8in tablet in my car primarily for Navigation.
Thus I also needed to figure out if I wanted to use Google Maps or Waze.
Also, if I want to use Portrait or Landscape.
I normally use Google Maps on my phone and I tried out Waze this week so I'll give the Pro's and Con's to switch to Waze
= Accuracy of directions is about the same but Google Maps seems slightly better so far.
+ Shows police, speed traps, hazards
+ Speed limit icon (kinda useful)
+ Looks nicer in landscape mode with route to the right
- New UI to learn, but its not that confusing
- No Google integration (doesnt pull up google maps search results from your laptop)
- Waze has "ads", pins for places you dont care about
- Generally more cluttered
- No Android Auto integration YET (Does integrate with a headset)
- Smart zoom in Google Maps is better (zooms in more on intersection)
- Does not show next next turn. (If I have two turns one right after another coming, Google Maps tells me so I know what lane to get into.)
- Does not show which lane for exits
- Does not show traffic clearly on map or in alternate routes
- Takes two button presses to show alternate routes or exit
- No easy way to zoom out (see below)
If I don't have a turn for an hour or 60mi or so, the screen becomes pretty useless. Especially when I'm out in the country, it is basically just a vertical line. My old GPS unit had smart zoom based on how far your next turn was. It would zoom all the way out to a North up top down view showing either your entire route or to the next turn. That way it gives you a quick indicator of where you are and how far along you are. If you were zoomed in, that you have no quick way of knowing that. When you approach a turn, it automatically would zoom back in. In google maps, the fastest way is for me to hit the alternate routes button. It still retails to top banner telling me how far my next turn is. It also shows how duration, distance, and time of arrival. Alternatively, I can hit some buttons and zoom out manually. In Waze, I can also hit Routes. It gives me the zoomed out map but the next turn info is gone. It does show distance and duration left, but it doesnt update if you stay on the screen. I also lose indication of police activity which is the main draw of the app for me. In waze, I can manually zoom out, but after a few seconds, it automatically zooms back in. As you can see, this is a big annoyance of mine
Portrait vs Landscape:
- With Landscape you can typically see more map than Portrait because you can see the sides. Helpful for multi-turns
- With portrait you can see ahead more clearly. The same amount is shown in landscape but since the screen height is physically smaller, everything will appear smaller.
- Landscape "fits" in my car better. Portrait would cause it to stick up above my dash slightly.
- More room for info in portrait mode (if put on the sides) For alt. routes, Waze shows map on left and options on right. Maps/Android Auto does this on some cars but not on phone.
So overall, I'm leaning towards google maps. Maybe because I'm just use to it, maybe because I use it for public transit too. It just seems cleaner and more mature. If Google Maps added the police/speed trap/construction alerts, then there would be no question.
Related
Ok, so i have a tracking program i made for my phone in C#, basically it uses my GPS gets coords stores in db then uploads then to a server which tracks me on gmaps.... now we have little icons for a car or a person walking... but no way to tell the difference, so my idea was to use the Accelerometer to tell if i was walking or driving, but i have no idea where to begin or if this is even possible? ideas?
I don't know about the accelerometer but you may just want to put a speed cap on the "icons"
ex if your tracked speed is less than 10 miles an hour your icon would be a person, if higher than 10 your icon would be a car (maybe specify a time so that every time you stop at a light your icon continues as a car)
While driving home I got an idea to remove the lag in Tomtom 7 on the Touch pro by using an optical trick. And I need your advice....
In tomtom you can choose an image as the pointer of your location on the map (by default blue pointer). Some posts in this forum stated that the real position is at the tip of the pointer, where this used to be in the 'center' of the pointer. Still some people have to deal with lag.
Now my idea: what if we change the default icon by a custom made icon of which for example the lower half is transparent, while the upper half is the default pointer. The resolution of the image that represents the icon would be a number of pixels higher (width stays the same) and it would be the questions whether Tomtom allows larger images to be read as icon.
But: assume it works, in your screen the blue pointer would move a but to the top of your screen, like as if it reduces your lag.
Probably there are other complications (like what wil happen during a turn, would it look like your position is outside the road....??), but it is just an idea.
My favorite idea I heard was to have a 5-10 meter pole (or whatever your lag is) mounted to the front of your car with your phone stuck to it and then have a pair of binoculars next to you so you can actually see the screen
But seriously, have you not noticed that when you stop driving the position reported is very close to where you actually are. With your suggestions this would change and IMO not be good.
I resolved my lag issues with my diamond (and I'm sure many others have as well) by using the latest versions of iGO8 and using it in 2D mode. I swear, I have no lag now what so ever. The same can't be said for in Tomtom but TTN7 is rubbish compared to iGO8 anyway IMHO .
GFXboost also apparently improves the visual performance of iGO8, so another point to consider .
After a week or so with the Captivate, one thing that bugs me is that when putting google maps in the background by pressing the home key-in other words, trying to multitask...it stops the gps. When going back to maps it has to regain a lock again..no small task for the captivate. Is there any way to "force" the app not to hibernate when in the background? This also happens if the backlight goes out. Very poor rendition of multitasking, unless I'm missing something
It is done so to conserv battery power. It is by design of GMaps. Keep a satellite lock consumes a lot of juice. Since you're not even look at the map when it is in the background or screen turns off, why waste your battery juice?
Some apps, like Google's My Track app will keep satellite lock on when it is recording your track even if you put the app to background or turn the screen off. That makes sense.
If the GPS on Captivate works properly, it should take no more than 10 seconds to re-accquire the lock. No big deal for other normal working Android phones.
Also, if you use the Navigation feature of Google Maps, it'll continue tracking you with the screen off.
I usually only use Maps to look for things, then I'll use Navigation if I'm actually using it for directions.
If you have the get position test app in LBSTestMode running in the background first before you run maps, it will keep the GPS locked on. I have a shortcut to open LBSTestMode.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
copilot live is only $5 through the market, it will keep the GPS running in the background, also allows you to download maps per region, so no churning through dataplans... its nice, a little buggy getting it setup... but tracks perfectly on my froyo captivate
Tracker Booster keeps the gps running in the background, as does mytracks and LBStestmode, as was mentioned
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897
Thanks for the quick replies guys. Makes sense I suppose..what is the "get position test app in LBStestmode"? Sorry for the newb question
anyone else experiencing slow tracking and movment when using google maps or latitude?
my GF's Wildfire S is perfect while my Galaxy S plus is slow to get GPS if it gets it at all and incredibly slow while using maps or latitude, its like when you used to play a game on a pc and the HDD would start thrashing lagging your game like crazy.
its as if something is trying to access cpu in the background, im getting sick of this phone it was supposed to be a bit of an upgrade to my Wildfire S but all i see is the Wildfire S kick its arse even with that 600Mhz cpu compared to my 1.4Ghz cpu.
can you check please how it runs by clicking the compass icon top right while looking at the map and setting it to follow you so the map moves around you when you turn.
Thanks
Hi BackDaws,
This is a common problem it seems across the SGS+ phones as I have also been facing the same problem. This is what I have found and you may check it at your end aswell.
1. Enter the start and the end direction and the route comes up.
2. Now tap the Blue icon which states your current position and it will now come to the centre of your screen.
3. Then press the cmpass icon on the top right. Now your screen will refresh as you move but now the problem that you will face is that the whole route has been compressed in one screen and you will not be able to make out if there are frequent turn in your rout.
4. Now go the Zoom out tab that is there at the right bottom corner and Zoom it to a level where you can see the route clearly with the turns.
See if this helps... It has helped me but there are times when the refresh rate is slow because of the data transfer rate.
Also do let me know if you find any other way out
Thanks
Sunil
Hey Guys!
MIUI, a skin over android that we all know and love/hate/neutral of... With the upcoming MIUI 10 update coming over, I'm sure all of us are very excited for the new features, like the single camera bokeh effect, full screen gestures, and so on. But of course, MIUI has it's ups and down, like maybe an app drawer. We also know that there are other "skins" for android from other companies like say Huawei, One Plus, Oppo, etc. They have their own unique things about it which may attract people over to their platform for that very reason.
With all the unique features that other UIs have, maybe we could take some inspiration from them and maybe with MIUI 11, it could be integrated in. Who knows? So here are some of my suggestions:
- Off-screen Navigations
I know MIUI has things like double-tap to wake screen and such. But maybe add more of it. Say a music's playing, maybe with like a triple finger swipe to the left will skip it, a triple finger tap will pause it and play it, and a triple finger swipe from top to bottom or bottom to top may control the volume. There could be so much more to the navigations. It be very handy for when your screen's locked and we wanna so a quick action.
- Gaming Experience Mode (GEM)
Maybe something for the gamers too? Like say we press an icon like the "switch" button to go to second space, but this time it's something new like an "Enter GEM" setting, when enabled pops up a button like second space does. When pressed, it basically turns of syncing and such, focusing all the ram, cpu, gpu to the games available, where calls/notification are all turned off or maybe minimised to a small pop-up on the corner of the screen, swipe it away to ignore it or tap it to open up a small tab for suggestions, like maybe a WhatsApp message comes on, you tap the small icon and then 3 suggestions pop up. Eg. "Cant talk right now", "Talk to you later", or maybe "Duude! I'm playing PUBG right now!". It's up to you, you can edit it in the settings or some sort.
- Side-Assistant
You know how Samsung has experienceui or touchwiz? With their "edge" devices, you pull the edge of the screen from that curve that will pull a tab with contacts, etc. Well, MIUI could maybe do something similar? Rather than the "quick ball" option which limits us to 5 actions, maybe make it so that you pull the edge of the screen, then a small tab opens, which will contain contacts, quick actions like screenshot, flashlight etc. Suggested apps? It's almost limitless. Maybe even make a small google search bar in the side assistant tab.
- Navigation Button Pattern (NBP)
Ever placed something in a safe or some sort, and then we placed in a code so it could open it, of course you did. Well this is something similar, say we made a combination of, home button, then recent apps button, then home button again. We make a command for that exact pattern, say we make it so that if we do the pattern/combination, it will open settings or open an app, or call someone. It's pretty much limitless, with something like this, it could pretty much make shortcuts with a small move. It'll be pretty dandy you know!
- Lasting Power Mode
With MIUI's integrated battery saver mode, it will pretty much disable syncing and processes to make sure the battery last longer, but with that mode on, we could still probably spend loads of juice from just say using the GPS. So like Samsung's ultra power saving mode, this will limit us to certain apps that are essential, while making sure that non-essential processes and background actions are restricted to keep the battery alive as long as possible, but it comes with the cost of experience. But sometimes we really do need it, so it may just be worth it.
- Gyroscope Gestures
Come on Xiaomi! With the gyroscope in your devices, using that sensor of yours could really come in handy! Like maybe shake the phone to turn the flashlight on. Wave it to accept calls and put it on speakers, etc. Oh and a favourite of mine would be to flip the phone twice to turn camera on or something.
- Phone H Check (H means Health)
Now something with the built-in security app. We know how useful it is, how much we love it. How we can save space with it, etc. But sometimes having to wait to make sure our phone is in the best condition is a bit of a drag, for me at least. So... why don't you add a night check session, say every 1 A.M, it will do the optimization. Cleared the ram, junk, battery stuff, etc. So when we wake up, our phone is all healthy and ready to use!
So that's all I've got for now... Comment if you think if they're a good idea or a bad idea, etc. Maybe even suggest your own!