Hello Guys,
it seems like Magic Lane (company behind default app Magic Earth) is making or already made a new interface with modern design. They also implemented a payment function so it shouldnt be free anymore.
Link:
On android or /e/os there doesnt seem to be an interface change yet (just a few things like alarms are already violet and look different.
I also didnt have to pay anything to use it.
Do you know when there are some changes on /e/os and wether e users have to pay for it or maybe murena made a contract/deal with magic lane because of default system app?
It might happen. But at the moment there is no traffic cata (congestion, etc.) so for me the change would be a big downgrade.
Even installing Magic Earth is not an option since they don’t have payment options outside of Google Play that is about to change according to Magic Earth.
That’s what I got from other post here on there forum couple weeks ago
Correct me if I am wrong: Co Maps hasn’t speed cams warnings - or maybe I cannot configure it? apart of that it’s a great app.
I’ve just looked at Magic Earth page - they charge 0.99$/ year - I understand it cannot be the issue but just the fact it’s not free.
UPDT: I install Magic Earth again (currently I had it uninstalled) and inside the app I see no trace of any paid option, there is no way to log in to some account which may have or not any kind of subscription.
yea thats what i mean. for us its still free and they dont charge us with 1€ and there is no update like they publish on their website. Thought someone would know more than i do
If you search for Magic Earth in app lounge and open it, it offers you an update.
Earlier it have used this possibility, but at the moment I’m afraid that it updates to the paid version which I’m not able to use due to missing Google account.
I’ve updated Magic Earth through App Lounge twice recently and am now on the latest version shown there (Version 7.1.25.34.36A60BB6.67629954). It still looks the same as before and is working OK for me with no reference to payment anywhere. (Anyone reading this do the same at your own risk though.)
I’ve not updated /e/os since though so am not sure what will happen then as it’s bundled with the update as far as I understand.
@manoj I appreciate that there’s a lot on at the moment but please could you give an official update on what the situation is with /e/os and Magic Earth?
It’s a core app and important for many people. I took the risk of updating as there had been no map updates for a few months and I could see that App Lounge was showing a much more recent version. Following the update new maps became available.
Update : The development team has been notified. We will be contacting the Magic Earth folks to check If it impacts us and if it does does decide on the next steps.
Reg the interaction with Magic Earth, we have attempted in the past to get in touch with them but the response was not very positive.
We are looking at alternate apps to replace Magic Earth. There are some which are not exactly open source and not what we would like to add to /e/OS.
Open for suggestions on this. CoMaps is one of the options we are looking at. Any user who has tried it and any other alternatives you can suggest.
CoMaps is a great app. The only thing it lacks is live traffic information. This is the reason I keep preferring Magic Earth when navigating by car in traffic hour.
I also really like CoMaps and think it would be a good fit with its commitment to privacy and remaining truly open source.
There seems to be a lot of ongoing work there to implement traffic data, both as online (live) and offline options, although I’m not sure how long that will take.
There’s also ongoing discussions about improving the navigation interface which at the moment is not quite as user friendly as something like Magic Earth.
It might be worth talking to them about their plans.
why comaps should be better than organic maps? i heard that its a fork of it and there are some doubts about the data privacy?
its sad that there is no foss solution with live traffic yet, because for me its a must have while traveling and i dont wanna use gmaps. i would also pay 1€ for magic earth, but its sad that we dont get any information from magic lane on android yet.
i heard that there are some attempts to implement live traffic in foss apps but yet there doesnt seem to be a sucess or clear roadmap when they are going to achieve it.
