Microsoft: Hey, Apple Maps haters, Use Bing for iPhone instead
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Not that it's putting me out. I can search bing from Safari. Just a strange move on their part. It's like the intern who's job it was to ready the international version got fired and nobody checked his pending workload.
Isn't in my mainland europe store either, though I have "Bing Get MeThere" which is apparently for London traffic and public transport (I'm not in the UK).
> It's like the intern who's job it was to ready the international version got fired and nobody checked his pending workload.
And considering the biggest issues Apple Maps have are outside the US, really doesn't make much sense to promote Bing Maps when they're not available to those who'd benefit most from them.
A lot of features are disabled for no good reason, and the rest of them has no data for Denmark.
For example when you play music on your phone you can set it to show pictures of the artist on the lock screen. On my phone the background just turns red. Also Local scout is disabled, though there aren't any data for it in Denmark anyway...
Skype (when not yet acquired by MS) shelved any plans of producing a Windows Phone version, so Microsoft (after the deal went through) probably had to start at near-zero with its version. At the same time they were likely working at the more native integration for WP8.
Just how many people would you expect them to throw at a problem that likely won't generate that many new customers? It all comes down to that in the end.
So if I take a balanced view and consider that there are good things about the new Apple Maps but on the whole think there was a laughable lack of quality control -- that makes me a 'hater'.
Words are the functions of speech -- the API of natural language. Differentiation of meaning matters. Using crudely simplified language is like using a crudely simplified API in your programme; it restricts the scope of your expression and what you can create.
If we insist on 'beautiful' APIs with our software, why not go further and reach for the right word when it comes to criticising software?
Edit: You will see the new bing maps once you change country to USA. Which is way better than older version.
This made me recall this great comparison between Google and Bing Maps from 2011: http://www.hostileuser.com/2011/01/06/google-map-legibility/
Added: It appears the source is no longer available.
Yeah, I only tested one search but it was hardly some tiny dive restaurant or other obscure landmark. App deleted.
I love the app more. I loaded it up the first time and saw how it highlights parks with very vivid colors instead of a light gray outline. My first thought was "I live next to a park???" Low and behold... I live next to a park that I never knew about.
If Bing released it with retina tiles and a native iOS UI, I think they could win significant market share. It could create a halo product that might make me more inclined to use and think positively of other Bing services.
But it did fundamentally work.
That is about all I can say on iOS too. It is... definitely a Microsoft product. That said it has way more POIs/businesses than Maps, and a few that Google doesn't include. Though to be honest knowing where comcast has an academy in my city is less than useful its rather complete and doesn't have bars listed that have been out of business for years.
A for effort and data contained. C+ for execution. Would like to see what Google comes up with on iOS.
This is not a suitable replacement for Google maps, I'll be deleting it.
"Transit directions aren't available for these locations" (Nottingham, UK).
Nearest pub not on the map (admittedly it's not there on either Google Maps or Apple Maps, but I guess it's only been open for about three years), and the nearest one that is listed has actually been demolished for about 3 years (it's gone on both Google and Apple maps).
No traffic shown on the driving view, at least around here.
Also no street view, but at least it's got aerial views of the town that aren't just clouds.
So unless I'm after an aerial shot of an area and maps.google.com isn't working, it's a "no thanks" from me.
http://www.bing.com/maps/#JnE9Lld1aGFuJTI1MmMlMmJDaGluYSU3ZX...
In particular, the complete lack of public transit data (which I used heavily) and poor turn-by-turn where big factors in driving me to get an Android device with Google Maps.
Good third party options:
- The Transit App – http://thetransitapp.com
- Lumatic City Maps – http://lumatic.com
- Transporter – http://www.transporterapp.net
- Pocket Muni – http://www.pocketbus.com
The first two also do routing and integrate with iOS 6 Maps. Regarding public transit I am actually happier with iOS 6 than I was before, precisely because of the 3rd party integration.
I tried using Google Maps through Safari but it was so slow it was unusable.
As a joke I said "I know, let's use Bing maps!"
for those who don't know, Nokia owns Navteq (purchased a few years ago) which powers over 85%+ of automotive navigation systems (as well as Garmin, Mapquest, and many other popular mapping services)..
Bing like many other major sites, make the poor assumption that the user's location == preferred language.
From a usability perspective, the interface language should primarily be based on the browser user agent Accept Language, and THEN an ip-to-geo database lookup can OFFER the user the location based user interface language.
Finally there should always be a way to change language.
Bing, as in the entirety of Bing, does not have a way to change language. I am currently in Germany, and there isn't a way for me to use the maps in English.
It is a schoolboy mistake from a major player. Idiotic if you ask me.