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"Nokia Here for iOS: Hands On\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNokia Here vs. Apple Maps\nNokia Here (left) is the Finnish company's official maps app for iOS. While it has many useful features, you can see from this side-by-side comparison that the graphics are not as polished as Apple's\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWelcome Screen\nHere's the screen you see when you first launch Nokia Here.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLayers\nHere offers a few different views of your maps: a basic map, satellite, public transport and live traffic.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGreat Transit Maps\nThe maps of public transportation in Nokia Here stand out by including properly colored lines.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDriving Directions\nDriving directions are competent, although they don't include turn-by-turn guidance.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWalking Directions\nHere's an example of walking directions in Nokia Here.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVoice Guidance\nAlthough turn-by-turn directions for driving aren't included, you can get voice guidance for walking directions.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTransit Directions\nEven with simple directions, subway lines are shown in the proper color.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOptions Menu\nWhen browsing search results of points of interest, you have the option to save them to a Collection, although you must create a Nokia account to do that. But once you do, your Collections are available on the Here website as well.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOffline Maps\nYou have option to save just one map for offline viewing, but Nokia gives you a preview of the level of detail you can expect, which can be changed.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nToronto Transit\nAnother example of the colored transit maps in Nokia Here.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNokia recently unveiled its new take on mapping services, called Here. Today, the first version of Here arrives in the Apple App Store. We've been checking it out this morning, and we're so far impressed with its many features, although the overall experience needs polish.\nLet's start with the good news: Here is responsive and intuitive. Icons are in logical locations, and the do generally what you expect. Slide your thumb across the screen, and the map fluidly moves with it. Sometimes it takes a second or two for map data to fill in as you move, but this is an issue with every mapping app, and I found Here to be much more nimble over a cellphone network than Google Maps or Bing.\nThe app is also loaded with features. Satellite view and live traffic are there, although the latter is just for major roadways. You can switch easily from kilometers to miles (Nokia's a Finnish company, after all), and there's even an option to download specific maps for offline viewing.\nNokia has already honed its mapping approach on its Windows Phone handsets. On Windows Phone, Nokia has separate apps for maps, transit and driving directions that all work together in tandem. Here lacks the OS-level integration, but it carries over many of the best features of Nokia's winning maps suite for Windows Phone.\nNovel Features\nThose features are typically found in many other mapping apps, of course, so let's get to a couple that aren't. First is voice guidance for walking directions. I'm not sure why Nokia chose to prioritize this feature over turn-by-turn driving directions, but it's a nice perk nonetheless. The voice is male and British, which makes for a pleasant change from the Siri-like female \"assistants\" out there, but there doesn't seem to be a way to change the default.\nThe hands-down best aspect of Here, though, is its beautiful mapping of public transit. Once you select the \"Public transport view,\" subway and commuter lines appear as lines, thank you very much \u2014 and in the proper colors. The actual subway directions, however, leave a little to be desired, telling me to take a train on my regular commute that I never would (or should). There's still no better app for directions than a native of the city you're in.\n\nSEE ALSO: Nokia Pokes Apple Over Map Flap [INFOGRAPHIC]\nAnd now the bad news: This app is blurry. It's clearly not using the vector graphics common in other map apps (like Apple's own) \u2014 text and icons on the maps themselves (as opposed to the ones in the menus and UI) look fuzzy on the iPhone's retina display. It's a distracting problem that makes you want to stop using the app as soon as you possibly can.\nIrritating Defaults\nA couple of other annoyances: When you search for a term (say, \"sushi\"), and you then move the center of your map, the map doesn't automatically refresh to show you a new set of \"pins.\" The app also has an annoying habit of often taking you back to your present location if you haven't touched the screen in a while. There doesn't even seem to be a way to turn that off \u2014 it's a horrible \"feature\" that shouldn't even be the default.\nData on places isn't as thorough as, say, Google's, with no star ratings for restaurants or reviews \u2014 just a single \"official\" description from Nokia publication partners like Lonely Planet and Time Out. But you do have the option to instantly call, share or plot a route to any place of interest that comes up in a search.\nIf you sign in with a Nokia account, you can do things like save maps and routes in your \"Collections\" in the cloud like you can with Google Maps. You can save specific places (say, that Indian place that came up in search) as well. But even if you don't sign in you can still use most of the app's features, and even save a single map for offline viewing.\nEven though Nokia needs to re-think some of the defaults and add better graphics, Here is an excellent map companion that iOS users should add to their location quivers immediately. It needs vector graphics and turn-by-turn directions to really excel, however, so hopefully those are in the works... and Apple gives them the green light.\nThumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, labsas"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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