The (im)Mobility of Web 2.0 Apps 106
narramissic writes "So many Web 2.0 apps seem like a natural fit for use on mobile phones -- more so, in fact, than the PCs they were written for. Take for example, Google maps or Flickr or any of the myriad social networking sites. Frankly, I wonder why anyone would even want to use them while sitting at a desk. And yet the reality of using those apps on cell phones is solidly disappointing because of the inherent constraints of mobile phones and networks. This article gets deeper into the ups and downs of reworking Web 2.0 apps for use on mobile phones."
Google Maps Mobile (Score:5, Informative)
Five Minute Rule (Score:3, Informative)
The phone's directional buttons work fine to scroll the map or pointer around, and although entering addresses to get directions is a pain, it's not intolerably bad. Overall it was handy enough that I'm definitely going to keep it on my phone.
My main complaint with it has to do with the connection speed -- my phone's internet connection is slow enough (the Razr doesn't do 3G or EVOO or whatever it is that the broadband-over-GSM is called) and that means that zooming the map, which necessatiates a complete reload of the map images, is painful. On a phone with high-speed, it would probably be great.
In the case of a mapping system, the handiness of having it on a phone greatly outweighs the inherent limitations of the medium. I hope that on a phone with GPS capability, that it would do automatic follow-me navigation...that would really be slick, for a free service.
There's a break-even point where it becomes easier to just haul out one's laptop and hook it up to the phone and use the internet that way, which I think is about five minutes. As long as doing it through the phone doesn't take more than five minutes extra, it's fine -- because that's how long it would take me to haul out my laptop and set everything up, and then break it down and put it away when I was finished.