Android Apps and News

Google recently updated the desktop version of Places to have a better, more organized results page for reviews. The mobile version gets the same treatment in a new update to the Google Maps application (Android 1.6 and above only).

Maps now shows reviews from professional sites like Yelp and Zagat in a more organized fashion. Users can click to see the review in full, or stick with Google users to get reviews from their peers. But the best part about the new version of Places is that it can filter results based on distance, rating, neighborhood, food type, and what’s open. This allows users to make better decisions about where to eat and speeds up the process by eliminating establishments you wouldn’t or can’t visit because they don’t suit the above mentioned categories.

Google Latitude has also been updated to support “real-time updating” that shows a friend’s location at a much faster rate. This is an optional beta feature and requires that all parties involved have Maps 4.6 and Android 2.2 or higher in order to be supported.

Download the update from the Android Market.

Note: As of this writing – October 28, 2010 at 4:05 PM – the Android Market is currently experiencing some difficulties for users across carriers and regions. If you are unable to download, try again later.