Fri, 17 Jun 2011 Google Places for iOS review
App draws on Google’s database to deliver solid location-based search results
The free Google Places app is everything you should expect from Google: a clean, customizable, easy-to-use method of searching your iPhone for nearby bars, bakeries, and other types of businesses.
Google Places comes with a preset list of searches of business categories—the list is easily edited to reflect your preferences—and quickly displays nearby results for your queries. You can save favored results with a star, read reviews of that business from “across the web,” and even contribute your own ratings and reviews.
As a result, Google Places offers a wider range of opinion than the similar Yelp app, while allowing more input than the venerable Places app.
One minor complaint: Google Apps is inconsistent in how it uses maps. Search a category, and you have the option of viewing an in-app map showing all the nearby businesses of that type. If you want a closer look at the location of a particular business, though, you’re whisked without warning to the iPhone’s native Maps application. It’s annoying to have to flip back-and-forth between apps.

Search results in Google Places not only turn up addresses of nearby businesses, but also reviews pulled from across the Web.
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![Google Places for iOS [mac]](http://cdn.macworld.co.uk/cmsdata/products/3286586/googleplacessm.jpg)

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