By Google has announced a new feature entitled “Near me now”. This new feature allows Android (2.0.1 and later) and iPhone users to search for results based on their GPS location. Google Mobile’s blog says the “Near me now” feature was designed to address two problems:
First, we wanted to make it fast and easy to find out more about a place in your immediate vicinity, whether you’re standing right in front of a business or if it’s just a short walk away.
Second, we wanted to make searching for popular categories of nearby places really simple.
Check out Google Mobile’s blog for more info!
[via Google Mobile Blog]
What a terrible advert.
Agreed!! I hope they didn’t actually pay anyone to make that!!
This looks to be awesome especially if you’re traveling etc. I could definitely use this when I visit Chicago!
Might be kind of useful if there are enough reviews on places.
So, basically this is just like the Google Places Directory or any number of 3rd party apps?
I don’t think Google pays anyone to do anything…from what I can tell, they make all of their own ads. And honestly, it doesn’t matter to me how crappy the ads are, Google’s so amazing that all they have to do is mention a product and I’m all over it :).
Oh and my favorite part of that little ad…is when the guy whips out his Droid and makes it do a little flip in his hand like he just pulled a gun out of a holster…haha. I wish I had the balls to try that with my Droid! :)
Why does this require 2.0.1?
Anand – That’s what it sounds like and looks like; it’s just the Places Directory. Good idea I guess. I think it would be better if they could have just purchased Yelp and integrated that instead.
thats just stupid, why it requires 2.0.1 !!!
I just tried it and it works fairly well except for a flaw in their search algorithm. I live in a city with the with “Bar” in the name (it is mostly on an old ranch). If you search for local Bars, it returns a number of businesses that do not serve alcohol but have the word “bar” in their name returned including city hall. I hope the folks at Google work on cleaning up their relevance scores in this nice new service.
How is this different from opening the browser and clicking “Local” at the top of Google’s home page? I can already see what’s near me now via GPS or cell tower triangulation, without typing anything. There are categories, “Restaurants, Shopping, ATMs”, etc.
I have this awesome near-me-now function already, it’s called “eyeballs”. :)
Just kidding, that feature sounds cool.
Crappy ad but got it tell you that I just use this and works pretty cool.
I can’t find the app in the “Market”… Does anybody know what it is called? Very common problem I’ve found with apps that I read about online. Pretty much my only complaint so far with Android.
Nevermind… I’m an idiot! :)
How fantastic, when in the big apple, att users will theoretically be able to find places near them! But they won’t have any signal on their iPhones….
yup, not the best advert at all.
I’m only getting it if it comes with that cool music…and it must play when I try to voice dial.
Isn’t this much the same as the google earth program. On my mobile, using google earth, I can search for nearby farmacies or groceries stores or other things and they pop up on the map, even with directions on how to get there.
I don’t think this is really an advertisement. It’s more of an info video of 2 Google employees quickly showing this new feature. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them somewhere.
I think the ad is great, almost definitely Google employees. The guy with the phone is nearly dying with the effort to control his smile. Nice feature, hope it works in the UK, am already disappointed that turn-by-turn and google voice services won’t work here.
to all the complainers…this is something that makes finding things easier… it is already on the google search screen as the guy on the video says…..Yo
Why was he on a Moto Droid and not on a Nexus One?
I love that 1970s “Shaft” music in the background. Makes me wanna break out my disco ball and bellbottoms.