andrways: Google Maps v7.7 For Android Rolling Out, Adds Public Upcoming Events To Place Cards

Google's begun rolling out an update to the Maps app on Android today, bringing it to version 7.7. While not much seems to have changed, a full 0.X release typically denotes at least some kind of new feature or significant alteration, though thus far we've really only seen one.

What’s New

For the moment, all we're noticing in the new version of Maps are the "Upcoming events" listings populating some place listings. For example, search for "AT&T Park" in San Francisco, pull up the place card, and you'll see a list like the one below.

Update: You can now save pins dropped anywhere you want, even in the middle of an ocean (thanks, Adrián Ayllón):

We're not noticing any other user-facing changes in the update, but we did manage to pull the following new strings from Maps 7.7, so if you notice something that might be related, definitely let us know. One of those strings seems to indicate automatic dimming in turn-by-turn mode will be making a return at some point, though it's nowhere to be found right now:

    <string name="USE_POWER_SAVINGS_TITLE">Save Power</string>

    <string name="USE_POWER_SAVINGS_MESSAGE">Conserve power by dimming your screen between turns.</string>

    <string name="USE_POWER_SAVINGS_ACCEPT">Dim screen between turns</string>

    <string name="USE_POWER_SAVINGS_DECLINE">No thanks</string>

A few others seem to relate to the reviewing system, offering new options (reporting an owner's response to a review) and some new dialogues for exceeding character limits. Woo!

    <string name="REPORT_OWNER_RESPONSE">Report owner response</string>

    <string name="REVIEW_CHAR_LIMIT_INLINE">Character limit exceeded</string>

    <string name="REVIEW_CHAR_LIMIT_TITLE">Over character limit</string>

    <string name="REVIEW_CHAR_LIMIT_MESSAGE">Your review exceeds the character limit. Please shorten and try again.</string>

Otherwise, we haven't seen much in the way of changes. Regardless, you can get the new APK from the mirrors below.

Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

File name: com.google.android.apps.maps-707001324-v7.7.0_API18.apk

Version: 7.7 (Android 4.3+)

MD5: abf5be0df4dc21fca562069a05b3584a