Android Thoughts: Google Voice & Maps Updated

Last week, Google updated their Voice and Maps apps. The update to Google Voice brought a nice new widget that allows you to view your messages. It displays both text messages and voice mails, giving a preview of the message right on the home screen. The update also added a settings widget that gives you fast access to all of your settings and also displays your balance.

Google Maps brought out quite a few changes as well. A big addition was walking directions. I'm constantly using Maps when I'm in a new city so I expect that the walking directions will prove very valuable. They've also added a Street View smart navigation feature which allows you to quickly jump to the street view of your destination. The search bar has also seen some improvements and is now always available at the top of the Maps application.

If you haven't updated them yet, hit the Market to get them. To see all of the details you can visit the Google Mobile blog.