Last month, Nokia had launched the HERE Maps Beta for Samsung smartphones and now, they have finally released it for other Android devices. HERE Maps is one of the most comprehensive location and navigation service with an excellent integration with the public transit system and a more intuitive approach as compared to the Google Maps. It was also released for the iOS a year ago but was pulled down from the store saying that the iOS 7 was harming the UX of the application. Please note that the HERE Maps is not available on the Google Play Store and needs to be side loaded from here.

Features of the Nokia HERE Maps Beta for Android

1. Offline Navigation: This is something which is missing from the Google Maps. HERE Maps offer turn-by-turn voice guidance while navigation, without the need for an Internet connection. Mapping data for almost 100 countries can be downloaded and used offline.
2. Public Transit: Maps and directions for cities in excess of 800 covering over 40 countries. It also lets you plan the journey on beta.here.com, which will then be then be synced to HERE Maps on the device.
3. Live Traffic: I have been personally using this feature in the Windows Phone and it is indeed a pretty neat feature to help you beat the traffic.
4. Location Sharing: HERE Maps Beta allows you to share your (or any other) location with your friends and family.

A spokesperson  from Nokia quoted, “Since launching HERE Maps for Android, we’ve had some brilliant feedback from smartphone owners, critics and websites. We’re also grateful for constructive criticism, helping us to make HERE Maps for Android even better. We’re taking your comments seriously, and are already working on changes, fixes and additions. Thanks to you, we’ve discovered that some ‘cache cleaner’ apps accidentally delete the navigation voices in the HERE Maps BETA for Android app. We’re very close to a fix, which will be released in the next weeks, but in the meantime, we would ask you not to use such apps if you want to use voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation in offline mode.”