Nokia HERE Maps App Finally Listed On Google Play Store

Nokia HERE Maps App Finally Listed On Google Play Store

Android fans have been excited ever since Nokia announced that it was bringing its popular HERE maps app to the Android platform. Initially the app was available exclusively on Samsung Galaxy smartphones, but now finally the app is listed on the Google Play Store and can be downloaded and installed by anyone who owns an Android smartphone or tablet. The main highlight of the app and the reason why you should install the app is free offline turn by turn navigation.

Nokia HERE maps comes with interactive maps of more than 100 countries worldwide with offline turn-by-turn voice directions and also information on local transport, integrated public transport maps, directions and information for more than 800 cities across 40 countries. And you can access all of these features even when you do not have access to internet on your device. And when you do have access to the internet, you can get real-time traffic and road closure information in more than 40 countries. More countries are being added with every revision, so this feature will be extended to newer countries by next year. You can also use the Glympse feature that lets you share your location with your friends and see their location on the map too, provided they have enabled location sharing on their device.

Google Maps on Android offers similar functionality online but doesn’t offer offline navigation like HERE maps. With the Google Maps app, you can save only a small area on the map for offline use and not entire continents. What’s more, there is no voice guided navigation support when it offline mode. But with the HERE Maps app, you can download maps of any number of countries and have them saved on your device’s memory. As the maps are available locally, they will also load up much quicker than when using Google Maps, without any kind of lag that is common with navigation apps on Android as the maps get loaded.

HERE Maps made its debut on Android earlier this year when Samsung signed an exclusive licensing agreement with HERE earlier this year and has been available on the Samsung Galaxy App Store for the latest Galaxy smartphones and also on the Galaxy Gear S smartwatch. HERE Maps were announced to be launching on the iOS platform as well, and may be listed on the Apple App Store soon, now that the Android version has been released for everyone.

Since the HERE Maps app has just been listed on the Google Play Store, you may not see it on your device right away. It might take a few days for the app to show up on the Google Play Store for you. You can also follow this link to get to the app listing on the Google Play Store and download the app on to your device.