Hunaid Udaipurwala
Banned
The way I see it, its 12:36 pm ( 00:36hr i.e. 6th January, 2013) now when I'm messaging you. If you would have been right, then the Nokia India's website should have removed the Coming Soon on the WP8 Devices & also post something about the Launch on its Social networking Website & as I see it, nothing has changed or provided any light of the launch. So Please... enough with the rumours from different Dealers & Nokia Customer Care executives & all. Let Nokia India officially Announce the device & trust me, you will be the 1st to know about it from here...
Anyways.. back to the topic of Google Blocking Google Maps on IE & WP8 Devices, here is the what I found :
It seems several Windows Phone 8 users trying to use the web version of the Google Maps service through the browser on their phones are being denied access, with the browser now redirecting to Google’s homepage. This move can be seen as the result of the growing rivalry between Google and Microsoft. Recently, Google disabled the Exchange ActiveSync support for personal, non-enterprise users, which was a big blow to Windows Phone 8 users who relied on Google’s services. This recent move cuts another one of Google’s services from being accessed from Microsoft’s devices. Also, if you’re waiting for a native Google Maps app, then you should remember that Google also recently said that they have no interest in developing for either Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8.
Google has responded to this issue with the same reason as stated above, saying that the mobile site is optimized for WebKit engine, whereas the IE browser on WP8 uses the Trident engine. However, there is no explanation on why it used to work partially before and why it does not work at all now.
WMPowerUser has a video with Google Maps mobile version working great with Lumia 920 if only Google would allow it. They simply changed the User Agent String from Lumia to something else.
Video proves that the Google Maps Mobile web app is perfectly usable on Windows Phone | WMPoweruser
And why Google is blocking the desktop version of maps? IE10 has a desktop mode selection that basically tells sites to load the regular version instead of mobile. Google is now blocking that also for WP. That still works for many through maps.google.co.uk but not through maps.google.com.
And before someone says they simply want to guarantee good experience etc: If you change the user agent to something random that certainly isn't supported then Google still gives you the basic desktop site.
So now we know Google is not only disingenuous, but also liars.
Note that it does not really make much difference – with excellent maps courtesy of Nokia we do not really care about Google Maps, unlike those stuck on the iPhone. It should however warn people that Google is in fact NOT your friend, and the company is actively hostile to Windows Phone users. If you have a choice about using their services make your plans now to move to another, before Google sabotages your access there too.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram