How to use the "Places" Android app

When it comes to the under-rated Android apps maybe "Places" is the most under-rated and most often forgotten app. It's icon is a small innocuous looking red marker (see the screen shot to the right) and it looks, kinda dull and boring to be frankly honest though it's one of the most useful applications on Android handsets.

After clicking on the icon you will see a screen like the screen capture on the left hand side with a a search icon and a number of preset icons. If you are wanting to find for example a "Pub" or an "ATM" you can simply click on one of the icons on display; alternatively if your looking for something not given an icon you can type what you want in to the search bar.

For this example we are going to be searching for "Shopping centres" which I've typed into the search bar and done a search for. As you can see on the screen shot to the right a list of all the local shopping centres is provided. The list includes the destination, the name of the place and the distance from where you've been located (your location is picked up from GPS or the Wireless networks).

Where the app really comes into it's own is the fact you can get a list of local hotels or whatever is it, but that the app can quickly gather other useful information for you.
The screen shot here shows just some of the details you can find using the "Places" app and includes a contact number, and similar places. What is more useful however is that you can then get directions to the place.

In a practical sense this app could help your book a restaurant whilst on holiday or find a campsite at the last minute. However maybe at it's best it'll help you locate a specific building, for example an office block where you have an interview or a local ATM when you've run out of cash.

As with many of the "locational" applications (including "Maps" and "Navigation") this will use mobile internet and may run down the battery of your device slightly quicker than normal so just be aware of this.

Solution to the GPS problems on a Samsung Galaxy S2

Some people reported that the GPS was giving an incorrect place on google maps with the Samsung Galaxy S2. Although I  didn't get this error myself straight away, I did get it after I moved house. To correct this problem you may need to upgrade your fimware. To do this upgrade you will need to go into the setting screen and scroll down to "About phone" then click on "Software update" and then finally "Check for update".

This should help correct the GPS problem on the phone, though some people (including 2 comments on this blog) have reported issues with the updates actually stopping certain features so be careful for now.

How to use your Samsung Galaxy S2 as a GPS device

 One of the best "bonus features" about the Samsung Galaxy S2, as well as many other android phones is the fact they can be used as a GPS device. If you are somewhere unfamiliar then this really will make the phone worth taking with you all the time. Even if you are somewhere you know pretty well this can still be a very useful tool.

Firstly you need to turn on the GPS mode. To do this drag down the screen from a home screen to open up a screen a bit like the one on the right here. Make sure the GPS symbol is lit up (as you can see on the image to the right) and then go back to you
homescreen or application drawer and open up the "Maps" application (which will look something like the image to the left. The little blue on the maps application is "you" and as you move the little blue triangle moves on the screen.

In this example I've taken a screen shot (left) near ferry road then crossed over a bridge to "Promenade" on on the Isle of Walney. The GPS system tracked my every step and also shows all the roads around me that I may wish to walk down allowing me to plot a route.

Although this is brilliantly useful and really can help guide you around an unfamiliar location it does have some negatives. Firstly it does use your battery rather intensively so unless you're using it for a reason I'd advising turning the GPS light back off. Yes it serves it's purposes brilliantly but you really don't want to kill your battery when you're in familiar territory. The second issue is that is uses your mobile internet connection to load the maps up so it can also be very intensive and can, if over-used, be rather costly as well.

If you limit your use of the GPS system and the Maps app this is a really valuable tool and yet another reason that phones are becoming so key to our every day life. If however you use it willy nilly you will end up draining your Samsung Galaxy S2 of battery and running up a heavy data cost, so just be careful with it.