When I saw that Google had a new version of maps available last night I was really excited. However, that excitement died down really fast when I saw how much they'd stripped from it. Just read the 1- and 2-star rating comments that this app is now getting on Google Play if you don't take my word for it.
Here's just some of the big disappointments:
- No more Google Latitude, though in fairness this isn't really a problem with Maps per se, because Google is SHUTTING DOWN Latitude on August 9th. They want us to use Google+ and its Locations feature as a replacement, but Locations is mere toy compared to what Latitude was able to do. It's a sad joke. To make matters worse, the location sharing feature of Google+ only works if the app is a SYSTEM APP. If your phone didn't come with it and you initially installed Google+ from the Play Store, Locations WILL NOT WORK. You must have a rooted phone on which you can assign Google+ to a system app using a tool such as Titanium Backup.
- No more Labs functions. One of the features I used to adore on my S4 was the "Larger Text" lab. This worked great on phones with 1080p screens, as the native text was just too small. The new maps app has small text, especially on a 1080p screen.
- No access to "My Maps". I read somewhere that this will be restored IN THE FUTURE, but until then you won't have access to your custom routes and maps if you upgrade to 7.0.
- No more zoom buttons on the map, though it is apparently possible to double-tap, and the swipe up or down to change the zoom. However, this still isn't as convenient under some circumstances.
- No more scale on the map. Okay, not everyone used this, but I liked knowing how far 1 km (or 1 mile) was on the map at the current zoom level.
- The Pegman in Streetview is gone and overall this feature seems less usable than it was before.
- Offline maps are still available, but they've been hidden. It's rather like an Easter Egg now, in that you must type (or say) "OK Maps" to get it to cache what you are zoomed in on at the time. However, it doesn't store as large an area as before and there is NO WAY to list or administer your cached local maps.
- Many people have reported that Navigation is now quite buggy, though I haven't had a chance to try it myself.
- You can no longer create navigation shortcuts and no Navigation icon appears on your phone. To use Navigation you must start Maps first and go through that.
- No more Terrain layer.
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So, if you are curious about trying Maps 7.0, then I strongly recommend that you backup your copy of the older maps first (if you have Titanium Backup or another apps for backing up your apps). Failing that, Google has made the old version available for downloading, if you can find it.
If you have Titanium Backup, use it to remove Maps from Play Store list so that it won't keep popping up as an update. You might accidentally install it.
