JPWhite's Tech Blog

Google recently released a new version of Google Maps for the droid which supports multi-touch (aka pinch-zoom). Mutil-touch zooming is vastly superior to the Plus-Minus zooming previously available on Google Maps. This is a great feature upgrade.

The release of this feature has been done very quietly by Google, almost stealth like. I noticed this morning that an updated version of Google Maps was available. I performed the upgrade and it informed me of some new features. Oddly multi-touch is NOT listed as a new feature even though it is present.

The new Features listed for version 3.4.0. of Google Maps are :-

• Starred Items synced with maps.
• Search Suggestions from maps.
• Night Mode for Navigation

Nice features but the unmentioned multi-touch feature addresses an issue many have criticized Google over. The European version of the Droid, the Milestone, had multi-touch from the get go.  The fact that the Droid can physically support multi-touch is old news. I and many others have been using the Dolphin Browser in place of the stock browser because of the multi-touch capability (amongst other improvements).

No, Google ‘chose’ not to include multi-touch on the US version. Theories as to why Google did not include multi-touch are wide and varied, my favorite theory is that Google chose to exclude it as apart of a ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ with Apple. It seems that the gloves are off and Google and Apple will no longer play nice with each other.

Some applications submitted to the Apple app store recently have been rejected because they mentioned ‘android’ in their release notes. Apple recently decided to switch the default search from Google to Bing on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Google’s android operating system, limited to phones to date, is due for deployment on netbook and tablet like devices. Android vs iPhone OS is on, especially with the recent announcement of the iPad.

It seems that Google maybe readying the Droid for full multi-touch support when 2.1 of Android is released to that device. The Google Nexus One phone which uses Android 2.1 uses multi-touch in many of its applications. Was this a ‘slip’ by Google? Did they released it early in Google Maps unintentionally? Maybe, maybe not. Whatever the reasons, no matter, life for the Droid user just got better.