Nokia has developed its free mapping application and made a debut in the Apple Store on November 20th. The Nokia’s ‘Here’ mapping app enables users to download different portions of maps even for offline viewing. The app has been made available for iOS users as well.
Most of the iPhone enthusiast were furious at the launch of iOS 6, which has been unveiled in this year Septemter, as it did not support the most preferred and liked app – Google Maps. As an alternative, a new mapping app was integrated which was from Apple, and was being rated as an extremely poor and inadequate app. The app provided users with buggy landmarks, lacked transit directions, and offered turns that led to nowhere, this made the Apple’s mapping app at the punchline, and made Tim Cook, the CEO to apologize to the iPhone users, stating that the corporation is extremely sorry for the frustration the app has caused among the users. As an alternative, the company has offered a third party mapping app to its users.
Presently, Nokia has introduced itself as a third party alternative. It has offered a ‘Here’ free mapping client and especially to the iOS users, being an alternative to the Apple Maps app. The question is, has it been able to live up to the hype it actually has created?
Vital Features!
- You can save a map of your preferred area for offline availability with ease. However, you can only save one map at a time, as saving a new one is going to overwrite the prior one.
- You must tap and then hold anywhere to a particular location, tap once again on the specific label and you will be able to get a list of nearby locations. The data provided is useful and up-to-date.
- Users will get to have a decent and acceptable satellite imagery. All the maps that are non-satellite provide complete and amazing details, with building outlines at most of the locations.
- The app also offers a public transport view, which seems to focus on the rail routes.
- The maps work really well over 3G and Wi-Fi connections.
Nokia’s Here Vs Apple Maps
Nokia’s ‘Here’ offer some features which are not available with Apple Maps. First and foremost, users were not able to download the portions of the maps especially when they needed to access the maps offline. On the other hand, Nokia’s app allows users to download the maps for not only offline availability but also provide a voice – guide and turn-by-turn directions even if they are walking.
Contrasting the Apple Maps app, the Nokia’s Here even offer users with an in-app public transportation and directions. Nevertheless, the UI of ‘Here’ is certainly not even close to or as clean or crisp as on the Apple Maps. The information offered to users by Here, such as the real-time traffic updates, are exceedingly rich when compared to the Apple Maps app. The experience with Apple Maps has been marked as quite disappointing, as the Public transit directions provided have been normally ‘nonsensical,’ with transfer to certain trains and busses missing altogether, at least in the UK. The app also had bugs, the cancel button has been often completely ineffective. In several different features, ‘Here’ has been rated as more functional and User-friendly than the Apple’s native mapping client.
Conclusion
Last but not the least, I would consider the ‘Here’ app a success, as well as a useful addition to the Apple Store. Ultimately, users always prefer clear and simple maps, and this is what they were looking for in the Apple’s mapping app soon after the iOS 6 was launched. However, the good news for most of the users is that Google is nearly done working on its own native app for the iOS, which will be submitted to the Apple developers for review. Still there is no word on the official release of the app to the App Store, but it is expected soon.