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Waze Gets a New 5G Feature, Though It’s Not What You Think

The 5G rollout is underway in plenty of regions around the world, and some carriers have found a new way to let their customers know where coverage is already available.
5G pins on Waze 1 photo
Photo: Smart Communications
For example, Smart Communications has joined forced with Google-owned company Waze to display 5G pins on the map in the Philippines to make it clearer where upgraded speeds are currently live.

While at some level, such collaboration makes sense given many consider 5G quite a big thing, more pins on Waze could end up making the interface of the app even more cluttered.

First and foremost, 5G support in Waze wouldn’t change too much the way the app works anyway, as 4G speeds are enough to download the necessary data and power the built-in reporting engine with real-time updates. Having even more pins on the map makes it harder to figure out what shows up on the map, as they would be displayed alongside traffic reports like speed traps, accidents, and construction zones.

But in the end, Smart Communications and Waze claim this is something that users are going to love because they see where they can enjoy next-level speeds on a 5G smartphone.

The feature is already rolled out across several regions, and the pins look exactly like the ones you can see by zooming in the photo we included in this article. And of course, don’t be too surprised if more carriers embrace a similar idea in other countries worldwide.

In the meantime, Waze is getting ready to face a rival it never actually wanted. Apple will update its very own Apple Maps with incident reporting, with such capabilities to be part of the iOS 14.5 update due later this month.

So with this new release, Apple Maps will also let users report things like accidents and speed cameras, pretty much just like Waze already does right now. The new feature in Apple Maps will be first aimed at U.S. users exclusively but will most likely launch in other countries rather sooner than later.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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