By the end of last month, Google launched its free Google Maps Navigation system for Android 2.0 devices. Owners of devices with earlier versions of Android were jealous. So jealous in fact, they came out with a hack to port the system to the G1. Fortunately, Google just announced on the Official Google Mobile Blog that they are releasing Google Maps Navigation for devices with Android 1.6 [Donut].
Alas, not all the features found on the Android 2.0 version of Maps Navigation are found on the Android 1.6 version. For example, you can’t use the “Navigate to” voice command feature on the Android 1.6 version.
The application is still pretty awesome though. This version does include the “Layers” feature you find on the Google Maps application for mobile devices, which lets you overlay information on the map such as transit lines, traffic, Wikipedia articles about places, etc.
Google Maps Navigation is available for Android 1.6 phones in the Android Market as of right now. The service is available in the US only and according to Google it’s still in beta, so feedback is always welcomed.
