The mobile Places experience now lets users query nearby places by voice or text, or dive into default categories -- think restaurants, coffee, bars, hotels and gas stations -- or custom-saved categories to search for places.
Returned results are based on its expanding database of Place Pages. When pulling up a Place Page for a venue, users can glimpse the open hours for the business, easily see the distance and compass direction, and check out prices, parking and restaurant menu links.
The enhanced mobile Places offering will also be rolled out to BlackBerry users when Google updates m.google.com/maps.
The Google Places product as a whole continues to evolve as the company makes an aggressive attempt to usurp Yelp, and all other other competitors, in the minds of web and mobile users who are searching for local business information.
