Google has struck a major blow to the major GPS Satellite Navigation manufacturers with the imminent release of its new Google Maps Navigation software.
Like todays top of the range units, Google Maps Navigation gives turn by turn voice guidance, 3D maps, live traffic and points of interest.
Not only does the software offer the norm in satnav, they also offer plain english searching. If you want to find "A mexican restaurant in Ipswich", you just type it, and the software will find it for you. If you're driving handsfree you can just "ask" the software to provide you with directions using voice recognition.
Couple this will satellite views and Street View (where available), and they seem to have delivered a mighty adversary to the likes of Tom Tom and Garmin.
So, with all these state of the art features you'd think the price will be just as mighty as the software promises to be? Well, you'd be wrong, Google are in fact giving it away for free.
It all sounds too good to be true doesn't it? ....well it kind of is at the moment, Google are only offering the software on its brand spanking new Android 2.0 based mobile phone, although they plan on porting it other mobile devices, most notably the iPhone and Windows Mobile at a later date.
You will of course require a pretty generous mobile data contract as streaming in vast amounts of Satellite and Street Views will gobble up your data bandwidth quicker than the device can say "You have reached your destination".
To find out more about Google Maps Navigations click here
