Google has launched an updated version of Google Maps for Android. The key new feature is a recommendation engine based on Google’s new Hotpot service.

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Here’s how it works. As you use Google Maps to find places (such as restaurants, coffee shops, stores, hotels, and so on), you can now rate places using a new home screen widget. As you rate places, Google will get a sense of your preferences and start offering you personalized results.

Hotpot takes things a step further by letting you share your recommendations with your friends, and vice versa. As you add friends, their recommendations ill start to show up in your search results.

I’m not really all that impressed with the home screen widget, which shows you a list of all sorts of nearby places. If you’re in an area that’s densely packed with stores, restaurants, and other establishments, it can take a while to find the one you actually want to rate using the drop-down list, although you can always resort to searching.

While the new features are only available for Android users today, Google plans to roll out a Places app for iPhone soon which will allow users to rate places and get recommendations. iPhone users can also use the Google web app in their browser.

Google Maps 4.7 is available as a free download from the Android Market and supports Android 1.6 and up.

While shopping for a new vacuum cleaner this weekend, my wife had a few items that she wanted to look at which had received high marks from Consumer Reports. Unfortunately, the first store we went to didn’t have any of those items in stock, so I whipped out my Nexus One, fired up the Google Shopper App, and used the local search results to see if any nearby stores carried the item we were looking for.

Unfortunately, once we drove to two of the stores on our list, it became clear that Google Shopper’s local search results are not updated in real-time. While Best Buy, Walmart, Target, or another national retailer might carry the item you’re looking for, that doesn’t mean it will be at your local store — and Google Shopper can’t tell the difference.

Milo can.

At least, that’s the promise behind the Milo app, which detects your location when you conduct a search and lets you know which nearby stores actually has the item you’re looking for in stock. We eventually wound up finding a pretty good vacuum, but I wish I had Milo this weekend.

Milo has partnered with stores throughout the US, and has listings for about 50,000 retail stores and 2.8 million products.

You can also check out Milo by using the company’s web-based local shipping service.There’s also a mobile web site which you can use with an iPhone or other smartphone.

The Milo app for Android is available as a free download from the Android Market.

via Lifehacker

Poynt is a mobile application that lets you search for people, movies, and businesses including restaurants and gas stations. The app is location-aware, and makes it easy to search for listings close to your current location.

Poynt originally launched as a BlackBerry app, but it’s now available for Android as well, as a free download from the Android Market.

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You can either search for a business by name or type. Or you can use the browsing functions to do things like sift through nearby restaurants by cuisine. Once you find a listing you want more information about you can tap on it to bring up more options — allowing you to place a call, view directions, plot the business on a map, or visit its web site.

Unfortunately the restaurant listings don’t appear to have menus. But if you’re looking for movies you can browse by title or theater. You can browse for gas stations by location or best prices. And there’s even a reverse telephone lookup function that lets you find a business listing by entering the phone number.

The free app is supported by ads in the search results, and you’ll find a fairly large number of sponsored listings in the search results. But you can scroll past them pretty quickly.

You can find more screenshots after the break.

via Android Central

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