I just installed Google Maps version 6.2.0 on my Sprint HTC Hero for fun. I noticed that it seems to have the features that only worked on much newer handsets up until now.
Now, I am not 100% sure if this was implemented in Google Maps version 6.2.0, as I had not updated it for a while on my Sprint HTC Hero. I noticed that if you press the compass button in the upper right corner, you can now use the free spinning compass mode. I also noticed that if you take two fingers and pull down on the screen, the map will tilt like it does on newer handsets. If you go to a city like New York City, it will show the buildings in a sort of 3D vector style, although I do not think it is the full 3D vectors that we get with newer handsets. The Google Labs feature that lets you pre-cache map sections for offline use also seems to work now. For reference, I tested this on CyanogenMod 7, CyanogenMod 6, and stock Android 2.1 with HTC Sense. On the former two ROMs, you could get a lot of these features working by editing the build.prop file to trick Google Maps into thinking your Sprint HTC Hero supports OpenGL ES 2.0, but like I said, this even worked in stock Android 2.1 with HTC Sense and no build.prop file editing at all. The Sprint HTC Hero supports OpenGL ES 1.1, so it is quite an achievement for Google to get 95% of the features working that were reserved for the newer handsets.
Now, I am not 100% sure if this was implemented in Google Maps version 6.2.0, as I had not updated it for a while on my Sprint HTC Hero. I noticed that if you press the compass button in the upper right corner, you can now use the free spinning compass mode. I also noticed that if you take two fingers and pull down on the screen, the map will tilt like it does on newer handsets. If you go to a city like New York City, it will show the buildings in a sort of 3D vector style, although I do not think it is the full 3D vectors that we get with newer handsets. The Google Labs feature that lets you pre-cache map sections for offline use also seems to work now. For reference, I tested this on CyanogenMod 7, CyanogenMod 6, and stock Android 2.1 with HTC Sense. On the former two ROMs, you could get a lot of these features working by editing the build.prop file to trick Google Maps into thinking your Sprint HTC Hero supports OpenGL ES 2.0, but like I said, this even worked in stock Android 2.1 with HTC Sense and no build.prop file editing at all. The Sprint HTC Hero supports OpenGL ES 1.1, so it is quite an achievement for Google to get 95% of the features working that were reserved for the newer handsets.
