Google has launched the popular free Maps Navigation turn-by-turn GPS in 11 new nations, says the search giant, while adding new language packs, as well, to the Search by voice feature.
Android 1.6+ users in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland can now use the turn-by-turn voice guidance, as long as they update to version 4.2.
Until this week, the turn-by-turn was only available in the U.S. and the U.K.
Google first announced the Maps Navigation app last year, and other mobile companies have adopted similar approaches, like Nokia’s Ovi Maps, in an effort to catch up.
The search giant says voice search was first developed for English, and then for Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.
Search by voice can run on the iPhone and BlackBerry phones, as well.
Result for: blackberry phones
RIM has announced that BlackBerry phones will soon be video broadcasting machines thanks to new support from Qik.
The service will allow owners to broadcast live video from the phone’s camera directly to the Internet using a Wi-FI or 3G connection. The feature is currently available on jailbroken iPhones, Windows Mobile and Symbian smartphones as well as Java 2 Micro Edition feature phones, but BlackBerry phones were notably missing it.
Initially the Qik service will only work on BlackBerry Bold, Pearl 8120, and Pearl 8130 smartphones. Curve and Flip support is coming soon.
“We are excited to bring our lifestyle technology to the millions of BlackBerry users worldwide,” added Ramu Sunkara, CEO of Qik. “In our quest to bring mobile live video sharing to the masses, we now support the broadest range of platforms, including Symbian, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Java-enabled mass-market phones.”
The public beta will be available in a few weeks and BlackBerry owners can get it at the Qik official site.
