Related Articles
Here is here! Nokia’s Here Maps app has reached its destination and arrived on the iPhone 5 and iPad, looking to tempt users left stranded by Apple’s Maps debacle.
Search iTunes for Nokia Here and you’ll find versions of the new app for both phone and tablet. Here is free and works on iOS devices running iOS 4.3 or higher.
Here looks like most maps apps, with the most obvious new feature being a neat bar across the bottom of the screen that shows you nearby points of interest, including restaurants, cinemas and museums.
My first impression using Here on a quick Wi-Fi connection is that it’s respectably fast to zoom and in and out and find search results. But how it performs while out and about is the crucial measurement for any map app, so we’ll take it for a spin — let us know how you get on too. Does Here get you where you’re going, or does it leave you lost?
Making a maps app is a shrewd move for Nokia, even if the name is terrible. With the pedigree of Nokia Maps on Windows Phone beyond question, Here should be streets ahead of Apple’s poor excuse for a Maps app, which replaced the excellent Google Maps with out-of-date data and poor performance.
Here maps are also online at Here.net for anyone to use on their computer, tablet or phone. If you own an Android phone you can find your way by heading to the Here website in your phone’s web browser for now, with an Android SDK — and presumably an app — set to appear next year.
What do you think of Here? Is Nokia heading in the right direction by sending its apps out to other devices? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
