It’s not surprising that having a mobile operating system from the guys at Google means you’re going to get some pretty fancy implementations of Google Apps. One of the great features that the HTC Dream offers thanks to its Android OS is the compass mode when viewing Streetview in Google Maps. It uses a combination of the phone’s accelerometer and GPS to create a compass, that when combined with Streetview, will show the street in 360 degrees as you rotate your phone.The best part is, you can do it anywhere in the world, right from your phone. It also works when you point the phone both up and down, tilting from the sky to the ground.
I’m certain there are a whole range of practical applications for this that I can’t think of (considering it is Friday afternoon), but even if there aren’t, this is one of the coolest features I’ve seen on a phone in a long time, and it’s built right into the OS.
[HTC Dream on Giz]
By the way – apologies for the video quality. I had to shoot indoors to be able to see the screen, which affected both the shooting quality and the compass’ accuracy.
iphan
Friday, February 6, 2009 at 5:13 PMthe fact that you have to be indoors to be able to see the screen doesn’t really sell it very well does it??!!
gary
Friday, February 6, 2009 at 5:36 PMThe HTC Dream has a bultin 3D compass/orientation sensor, I think you’ll find this is what facilitates compass mode when using Streetview.
The GPS receiver provides a compass ‘bearing’ but you must be moving to use this as a sort of compass, ie what direction you are heading in, which is different from the direction the handset is pointing…
Publius Enigma
Friday, February 6, 2009 at 6:08 PMThis represents the proliferation of mobiles, and our increasing obsession with them, perfectly. Now, instead of looking at the scence around you, it’s possible to look at your phone estimating where you are and showing a photo of the scene sent halfway across the planet via an extremely complex network of computers.
I hear there’s a new version of Google Compass coming soon. It will be in high definition, true 3d, surround sound and be live. It’s called real-life. Perhaps the Google Engineers would do well to experience it?
Jason
Friday, February 6, 2009 at 9:24 PMRegarding this feature, I get the “fantastic”, I would even add “extremely cool”, but I’m struggling with the “useful”! What would be the practical use of this?
formulated
Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 10:22 AMI also question how useful this would be.. if you’re lost in the CBD and the street signs escape you.. being able to orientate yourself with street view images and street lines superimposed over the top could be handy.
Often I use street view on my PC to show my Japanese housemate how to get to a shop in the city.. he knows just a few streets.. so being able to show moving along the streets makes it easier to understand – being able to do this on the go could be alright.