Wow, Apple Maps. Just wow. (Screenshot from an iPad, via NPR News)
I’ve been ranting a lot about driving recently, but at least in one aspect, you will find me ranting no more.
I’m talking about using my smartphone to get around.
I was an Android fan before buying the iPhone 5 about a month ago, and to be honest, I nearly didn’t buy it because of all the hullabaloo over the failures of Apple Maps. In a hilarious turn of events, Australian police have called the app “life-threatening” to users in that part of the world, after getting calls from distressed drivers who found themselves lost in a national park. I’ve had a couple bad experiences using Apple Maps here in CT — while I was driving to a pretty big high school in Woodbridge, the app told me to park on the side of a residential road. “You will have to walk to your destination from here,” Siri intoned.
I was a mile from the school. There’s a giant surface parking lot at the school.
Google Maps’ iPhone app is infinitely better. And — you knew I’d like this — it has public transit! Read David Pogue’s review in the New York Times here.