Google +
One of Google’s best apps for iPhone and iPad is Google+ which lets you use Google’s social network on your iOS device. It has been recently updated and now lets you use the new Communities feature. This app is slick, fast and easy to use. The only thing it seems to be lacking is a way of managing/editing Page profiles via the app. Google’s recent changes to their social network make it an appealing alternative to FaceBook and Twitter and this app only makes it easier to enjoy it.
Maps
Google Maps for iOS is Google’s official Maps app, which now brings Street View back to the platform, and also introduces turn-by-turn navigation and a new interface. Apple’s Maps that were introduced with iOS 6 garnered a lot of criticism as they were developed in a hurry and released before they were ready, resulting in inaccurate maps, missing data, and all sorts of other problems.
Google’s Maps brings back reliable maps to iOS 6 with a sleek interface and useful features. I personally found features like Street View to be a little difficult to find initially, and the right-hand sidebar seems like a waste of space. Overall, this is a great maps app and the local places data is much more reliable than Apple Maps.
Gmail
Google offers their Gmail app as an alternative for Mail on iOS. Like other Google apps, it uses a very clean interface and has a left-hand sidebar like the Google+ app which gives you instant access to your mailboxes. Features like adding attachments to emails is easier than in Apple’s Mail app for beginners. The discussion view of multiple emails in a conversation is very useful and slick, making reading emails very fast. Google has made this one a no brainer – definitely worth a try.
Currents
This is Google’s approach to a news app for your iOS device. You can choose which publications are in your library. The layout of news is intended to make reading news a more pleasant experience. It bears some similarities to the Circa news app.
Chrome
If you fancy trying a different browser on your iPhone or iPad, Google offers its Chrome browser for iOS. Features include tabs, Incognito Tabs, advanced settings, and a ‘most visited’ screen like the Desktop version. Beyond these small things, there doesn’t appear to be many reasons to switch to Chrome. The ‘Reader’ feature from Safari is not included in Chrome.
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