A Review of Around Me for iPhone

A Review of Around Me for iPhone
Page content

What is Around Me?

Have you ever been stuck in an unfamiliar part of town when you needed to find something such as a restaurant because you forgot your girlfriend’s birthday or a hotel at the last second? There are a million of those downright inconvenient situations; the ones where you just need to know what is going on around you and where things are. Finally, there is an iPhone app that can help you out with those sticky situations. Around Me uses the GPS location feature in your iPhone to figure out where you are and then uses Google’s business listings to find businesses that are local to you. The results are listed in order from the closest to farthest.

Listings (4 out of 5)

The listings all come from Google, so they are self submission. If you happen to own a business that is not listed then you will need to get it listed by Google. Then you will be able to see it in Around Me. Each listing comes with contact information. That way if you want to call ahead for a reservation, you can. After several test calls were performed, it appeared that the information given in the listings was accurate.

Maps (5 out of 5)

If you are not familiar with the street names in the area you can still get an idea of how far away something is by looking at the map. You have a choice of viewing a traditional line-based map, a satellite map or a hybrid of the two. As you probably guessed, this feature is based on Google maps.

Directions (5 out of 5)

If an address or a map is still insufficient for your needs you can get turn-by-turn directions that are suitable for either driving or walking in real time. This is a great integration of the existing GPS features in your iPhone.

Graphics (4 out of 5)

The graphics on Around Me are extremely good. All of the maps come through crisp and clear. The direction screens are clearly defined and you will not be at all disappointed by the user interface, which is clean and appealing.

Conclusion

In the end, Around Me is one of the most useful apps for iPhone that is out on the market today. Since you can have it free, there is no reason why you can’t have it.