Nokia released their mapping application HERE Maps, for iOS. Available for free on iTunes for all the devices running iOS 4.3 or higher.
After the recent outbreak of Apple kicking out Google Maps from its default Maps position and replacing it with their own iOS 6 Maps App which was clearly shipped half-baked, everyone is waiting for either Apple to step up and make maps better ( which they claim they are working hard on ) or desperately waiting for another Mapping Application that would work flawlessly and has everything they need to use in their daily life.
Some strong sources are claiming Google is working hard on creating a native Maps App for iOS and we should expect it to soon arrive in the AppStore. Whether Apple approves that App or not is a completely different question but Google mostly would deliver it soon to us.
Until then, Nokia has released their own mapping application, HERE Maps which their own free app which all the features people have and missed in the iOS6 Maps App.But there is the bad news and the good news in this.
Lets look at the good news first, its an excellent App with very easy to use UI, fresh new look which reminds you more of a new-Symbian phone UI ( if you ever used ). Icons are logically placed, and the App is very responsive to all your touches. It also features, Satellite views, Live traffic view and for many locations it also has the transit view. For navigation nerds, it has step-by-step voice navigation, parks, local places to visit, and location based data of about 200 countries ( gathered from their Navteq acquisition). Traffic and other variable information is gathered by crowdsourcing in most nations. You can share locations, create ‘Collections’ which is your own location based interest bundle which you create and store. You can switch from kilometers to miles and it even allows you to download specific maps for offline viewing. Doesn’t all this sound wonderful?
Now the bad news, the app is blurry you cannot glance at the map like you do on any other map and gather all the info you need on the go. You need to zoom in and examine things neatly else you would definitely miss something important. The maps looks very bad on a retina display and even the icons look blurry and smudged. The data still being gathered and organised, the data is incomplete. Most places lack the ratings from people and there is no way we would or could know how a certain place is unless you check it on other maps app or rating based apps for places.The UI looks different but overall as I said it looks like the old Symbian based UI which Nokia had always been proud off which isn’t that charming. There are apps which do look much better with just the basic UI as this app.
However, the availability of this App in the AppStore is a big positive announcement for Google as this gives us hope that Apple might actually allow Google to release their own Maps app for iOS.
