I have just remembered that Mr C asked me to write about the downside of the Google map via Android experience, just to provide a bit of balance to my previous post on the subject.

We were headed out and about to visit the lovely Alex and Kat, but only managed to get five minutes from our house before hitting some serious traffic. We don’t tend to sit in traffic if we can help it, and would prefer an adventure through all the back streets rather than sitting snapping at each other. You don’t normally expect to have to break out Google maps before you’ve even got going, but this we had to do.

There was a distinct lack of 3G coverage on these unfamiliar roads, and the terrible start to our journey was made ten times worse by the fact that our map wasn’t working. The GPS signal was perfect, and there was a great blue dot travelling up and down the Google phone screen, but there was not enough connection to provide the map underneath. We could see ourselves in the virtual form, but had no idea where we were.

Oh dear.

We drove for an hour and ended up pretty much back where we started. If that wasn’t a sign it was to be a bad journey, I don’t know what else could have been. I will spare you the rest of the horrors, but there is a video on the subject if you are particularly interested. Mr C even managed to get out and walk about on the motorway. Enough said.

In the end, this post is simply to say that Google Maps on Android is awesomeness, until you have very little 3G to help you out. Seems as though it is worth keeping hold of those paper maps for just a little bit longer.