- The current location of selected friends displayed on Google Maps on your mobile, intuitive navigation option
- Automatic upgrade of Google Latitude in the T-Mobile G1 environment
- Available for many other smart phones as well
Prague 26 February 2009 - Starting 26 February, T-Mobile G1, the first phone with the Android operating system, will offer its users the Google Latitude function. This new feature will allow friends to share their current location and display it on Google Maps directly on the phone. Google Latitude supports, for example, profile pictures, the set-up of status messages, route planning and making direct calls and sending messages. The new feature will be distributed to T-Mobile G1 owners as part of the free wireless upgrade of the handset's firmware.
"Google Latitude adds two new dimensions to immediate mobile-phone contact among people - geographic latitude and longitude. The service offers a wide range of possibilities of use. Google Latitude may become a full-fledged community network, which unlike other networks will be location-based," says Martina Kemrová, Senior Head of Corporate Communication at T-Mobile.
When designing Google Latitude, great emphasis was placed on the protection of its users' privacy. After logging in to the application using a Google account, everyone may define to whom they will disclose their current position. Without the prior consent of the account owner, no one can find out the user's position. The application allows adjustment of the user's visibility for each contact at any time and also definition of a chosen fixed position to be displayed to selected people.
The Google Latitude application can be used free of charge. Data transfers carried out when updating the position and displaying maps are charged according to the user's tariff or included in selected data add-ons or packages. A relatively exact position can be determined also without an active GPS module, based on network data. For more information on the Google Latitude application, please visit: http://www.google.com/latitude/intro.html.