The ultimate showdown: Google Maps vs. Flashlight – Which one will reign supreme?
Welcome to the final round of Gizmodo’s March Madness challenge to name the best app of all time! After surviving apps with billions of dollars and billions of users throughout the month, Calculator was finally eliminated by Flashlight. The winner will officially wear the crown, and it all comes down to two apps that help us navigate the unknown.
Google Maps vs. Flashlight: The Showdown
In the first round, we had this to say about Google Maps:
Launched in 2005, Google Maps is one of the oldest contenders in the competition, but it has not shown any signs of slowing down with age. If there is a mobile app that can be said to have made the world a better place, it’s hard to argue with this one. The days of printing MapQuest directions officially ended when this bad boy hit the scene. And even Apple hasn’t been able to catch up.
And this is what we wrote about Flashlight last time:
For many, the flashlight app is not just any app. It’s a utility built into most smartphones today. But that wasn’t always the case. In 2010, two years after the launch of the App Store, Apple finally allowed apps to use the camera flash on the iPhone 4 as a continuous flashlight. Many, many developers jumped on the immediate gold rush.
By 2013, there were over a thousand flashlight apps in the App Store, and then the good times came crashing down when Apple added its native flashlight feature. Whoever was still making money in the crowded field was out of business, and more than a few physical flashlight manufacturers probably felt the pain.
The flashlight app does one thing, and what it does is useful. That’s something countless apps can’t claim.
So, reader, what will it be? Should Google Maps live in glory, or is it the humble Flashlight that will be crowned the best app of all time?
Here are the nominees. Choose your fighter.
[Images embedded in the original article]
