Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/Google
Google-owned Waze has recently announced new goodies for drivers worldwide, providing them with festive car icons, moods, and navigation voices.
If you've been using Waze for the past few months, you probably know the application receives limited-time updates with special content to celebrate certain events.
Waze is getting two new driving experiences, one of which is the famous Santa Claus package that has also made its way to the navigation app in previous years.
Santa Claus will try to turn every second behind the wheel into a holly jolly ride, so the update includes the famous "ho-ho-ho" navigation voice. I've never been a big fan of custom Waze navigation voices, but Santa's commentary is entertaining, especially on the hazards ahead. The voice navigation, which is available exclusively in English, made its way to Waze alongside a new Santa mood and the famous sleigh that replaces your vehicle icon.
The second driving experience in Waze is the Gingerbread Man, which includes Snappy as the mood, a custom Slay Ride vehicle icon. The navigation voice is powered by Petolon instructor Matty Maggiacomo.
While such updates are great for long-time Waze users, it's not a secret that the application also needs different kinds of updates.
Waze has been significantly buggy lately, with essential features broken down for no reason. For example, Waze has started showing the travel time to a destination using minutes, so if you drive for more than an hour, you'll have to solve some basic math problems to figure out when you arrive. The Google-owned company has already acknowledged the problem internally, with the dev team working on a fix. However, it's unclear when a patch could roll out to the production channel.
The application's problems made many people believe Google could eventually kill Waze and integrate its navigation features into Google Maps. At first glance, it doesn't make much sense for Google to invest in two separate navigation solutions, though the company seems to focus on different approaches for its software.
Google Maps is an all-in-one mapping service that aims to provide users with a complete package that includes exploration features and a navigation component. Waze is specifically focused on navigation, and its crowdsourcing engine sets the app apart from the rest of the crowd. It lets users report hazards, including accidents, broken traffic lights, speed traps, fog, flood, potholes, and roadkill. Several companies have tried to copy this approach, including Apple in Apple Maps, but Waze has remained the champion of crowdsourced traffic data.
The two new driving experiences are already available today, and you can unlock them from the app's interface on iPhone and Android. The voice navigation updates are only available in English on both platforms.
Waze is getting two new driving experiences, one of which is the famous Santa Claus package that has also made its way to the navigation app in previous years.
Santa Claus will try to turn every second behind the wheel into a holly jolly ride, so the update includes the famous "ho-ho-ho" navigation voice. I've never been a big fan of custom Waze navigation voices, but Santa's commentary is entertaining, especially on the hazards ahead. The voice navigation, which is available exclusively in English, made its way to Waze alongside a new Santa mood and the famous sleigh that replaces your vehicle icon.
The second driving experience in Waze is the Gingerbread Man, which includes Snappy as the mood, a custom Slay Ride vehicle icon. The navigation voice is powered by Petolon instructor Matty Maggiacomo.
While such updates are great for long-time Waze users, it's not a secret that the application also needs different kinds of updates.
Waze has been significantly buggy lately, with essential features broken down for no reason. For example, Waze has started showing the travel time to a destination using minutes, so if you drive for more than an hour, you'll have to solve some basic math problems to figure out when you arrive. The Google-owned company has already acknowledged the problem internally, with the dev team working on a fix. However, it's unclear when a patch could roll out to the production channel.
The application's problems made many people believe Google could eventually kill Waze and integrate its navigation features into Google Maps. At first glance, it doesn't make much sense for Google to invest in two separate navigation solutions, though the company seems to focus on different approaches for its software.
Google Maps is an all-in-one mapping service that aims to provide users with a complete package that includes exploration features and a navigation component. Waze is specifically focused on navigation, and its crowdsourcing engine sets the app apart from the rest of the crowd. It lets users report hazards, including accidents, broken traffic lights, speed traps, fog, flood, potholes, and roadkill. Several companies have tried to copy this approach, including Apple in Apple Maps, but Waze has remained the champion of crowdsourced traffic data.
The two new driving experiences are already available today, and you can unlock them from the app's interface on iPhone and Android. The voice navigation updates are only available in English on both platforms.
Google News