Comments on: Platial finds Apple iPhone App Store with Nearby http://siliconflorist.com/2008/07/22/platial-finds-apple-iphone-app-store-with-nearby/ Rose City + Silicon Forest Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:24:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Travis Cannon http://siliconflorist.com/2008/07/22/platial-finds-apple-iphone-app-store-with-nearby/#comment-3672 Travis Cannon Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:17:55 +0000 http://siliconflorist.com/2008/07/22/platial-finds-apple-iphone-app-store-with-nearby/#comment-3672 The Platial Nearby iPhone App is a good start, but not ready for Prime Time. The biggest problem I had was the map interface. They are using Microsoft Virtual Earth, which is extremely slow even over WiFi. This seems strange since their regular website uses Google Maps. In addition, the map interface doesn't support standard iPhone hand gestures for zooming in and out; pinch and spread. The second problem I had was finding information for somewhere besides you current location. Every time I panned the map to a different location no information came up. And even worse there was no way to type in a different location and find information. How are you supposed to find information for downtown when your somewhere else? I would also agree with some of the posts in the iTunes store. Information about different places is very limited; however, I would expect this to get better as more people use the service. Lastly, for some reason the app would occasionally just crash and exit. Overall I think the app is a good start, but I think I would wait till version 2 to install it. The Platial Nearby iPhone App is a good start, but not ready for Prime Time. The biggest problem I had was the map interface. They are using Microsoft Virtual Earth, which is extremely slow even over WiFi. This seems strange since their regular website uses Google Maps. In addition, the map interface doesn’t support standard iPhone hand gestures for zooming in and out; pinch and spread.

The second problem I had was finding information for somewhere besides you current location. Every time I panned the map to a different location no information came up. And even worse there was no way to type in a different location and find information. How are you supposed to find information for downtown when your somewhere else?

I would also agree with some of the posts in the iTunes store. Information about different places is very limited; however, I would expect this to get better as more people use the service.

Lastly, for some reason the app would occasionally just crash and exit.

Overall I think the app is a good start, but I think I would wait till version 2 to install it.

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