Nokia Drive’s offline maps going places with Engadget

Published by Boc Ly on August 6, 2012

Nokia Drive on the Lumia 800

One of the many great features about Nokia Drive is the ability to have a complete offline experience – so you can get to where you want, even without a data connection.

Offline functionality has always been very important for Nokia Drive on several of our platforms and it is something we love.

In our opinion, it is superior to others because it offers a great experience such as search and route planning all completely offline. And, it seems, we are not the only ones who love it.

A comprehensive review and hands on test in Engadget has concluded that:

Nokia Drive is the best purely offline navigational tool on the market, on any mobile platform. 

Driving cross country

Engadget’s Darren Murph used Nokia Drive, on a Lumia 900, in its offline mode for a trip of 1,800 miles across the United States and says he was ‘downright shocked at just how fast everything operated.’

“Nokia Drive is a beautiful app to look at. The icons are big, bold and polished, with fonts that are pleasing and easy to view from afar. You aren’t inundated with useless information, and in my humble opinion, Nokia provides the perfect amount of data – it’s just enough to take advantage of at a glance.”

Nokia Drive

In an effusive review, Darren praised Nokia Drive’s simplicity, comprehensive mapping and even the nice voice of the navigational assistant.

He also shared a useful tip about the ability to set up a speed alert (go to Settings), so that you know you are always driving on the right side of the law.

As someone with an ‘unnatural adoration of travel’ it seems that Darren has used his fair share of navigational devices, so it makes his enthusiasm for Nokia Drive all the sweeter.

“If you’re an avid traveller, and you haven’t given Windows Phone a chance, you should. Nokia Drive is honestly reason enough to consider switching if you use your phone for navigating as much as you do texting or calling, and I’ve reason to believe that it’ll only get better with age.”

Offline Maps on Nokia Drive

Download your maps by going to Settings > Manage Maps > Add New Maps within Nokia Drive. As well guiding you to your destination, the offline experience will also let you search for known places of interest and even reroute during your journey.

Nokia Drive and the full offline experience is available for all Lumia devices, the Nokia N9 and Nokia Belle smartphones.

Have you had a chance to use Nokia Drive with an offline map yet? Let us know how you got on.

Comments

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/WV5CYBGRUR4DFPBJPPCPCPEIQQ Winsly

    Is nokia drive available for Nokia 500 Belle?

    • http://twitter.com/heendrik25 Hendrik

       Yes, it is part of the Nokia Maps Suite 2.0, which can be found in Nokia Store

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/WV5CYBGRUR4DFPBJPPCPCPEIQQ Winsly

        thanks, I’ll try to download later. =)

  • http://twitter.com/heendrik25 Hendrik

    Very great feature which i love since 2009 on my Nokia 5800 Xpress Music, later on my Nokia N8 Belle !
    Do you have a hint when the brand new rolled out feature for Lumias, the “My commute” feature, comes to Belle devices as well?

    greetings!

  • NeilPT2

    So why no real-time traffic updates on my Lumia 800 when it was available on my old N8?  Off line is OK until you join the back of a traffic jam.  No real-time is a huge backwards step.

  • zephyr king

    Just so I can move on with my life (because every time a new release of Nokia Maps come out I get excited for nothing), will Nokia ever allow Nokia Maps to work in Offline mode too? Ever? Like, before I pass into the afterlife ever?  It is so frustrating that even after some 4 or so updates to Nokia Maps since Lumia’s release there is STILL no offline mode for Nokia Maps. Especially since the maps are physically on my phone because of Nokia Drive. Nokia Drive is great and offline mode is such a marketable point of differentiation for Nokia (and let’s face it Nokia needs anything and everything for better marketability right now) – so I simply cannot fathom why this feature is absent from Nokia Maps…still.

  • http://www.facebook.com/mark.moreira Mark Moreira

    Nokia Drive is a good but is still lacking a few basic features.

    1 – Needs option for toll roads and non toll roads.
    2 – Allow for least use of freeways.
    3 – Ability to see full text directions for your trip.

  • dalydose

    I really like using Nokia Drive and it impresses my non-Windows Phone having friends.  I do have one friend who is in the car with me a lot and she always wants to know which way it is sending me.  She wants to see the route listed.  I *hate* having a limitation for her to zone in on.  Please for the ego of this user, add that feature! :)  Also, I’d love to have the street names spoken with an American accented female.  After those are done, I can wait patiently for any new features.

    • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

      We don’t want her to tease you, do we? :-)
      Actually, if you tap on the map, at any time, you see an overview of the route, that you can pan and zoom. Is this enough?

  • Jose Miguel Yan

    It would be really cool if my Lumia 900 secured on my car mount with Nokia Drive running, has a feature called “Back Up Mode” that would connect to a wireles Nokia rear view  camera (via bluetooth).  Nokia Drive will then receive the video sent by the camera and allow me to ensure my path is clear while backing up.  Once I’m done with backing up, simply touch “Return” and will return to Nokia Drive.  The rear view camera would be an accessory I would run to the store (or online) to buy.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=746875316 Jon ‘Jonny’ Preece

    whats it like for walking directions?

    • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

      Nokia Drive is an application designed for drivers. Walk directions are a feature of Nokia Maps.

      • LinkArt

        Will Nokia Maps walking directions work offline once downloaded to Lumia 710? thanks

        • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

          Hi @LinkArt:disqus on Nokia Lumia 710, Nokia Maps doesn’t offer an offline experience, only Nokia Drive does.

  • DRIVE MAPS

    HOW TO DOWNLOAD IT?

    • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

      It’s available in the “Nokia Collection” section of Windows Phone Marketplace.

  • http://www.facebook.com/LCM47 Larry C Mooney

    I was somewhat impressed with Nokia Drive at first. But the more I use it the more I find that it doesn’t find at least half of the destinations I want. What I don’t understand is that the places I am looking for are on Nokia Maps but not on Nokia drive.

    • http://twitter.com/haikus Pino

      If you are using Nokia Drive in offline mode, please consider that only a subset of our POI can be saved locally. To access the whole POI database, please allow Nokia Drive to go online.

  • Dariolym

    For the second year I just finish a trip trough the USA too…
    Last year it was around 9000km and this year like 4500km, 100% guided by my Nokia E6!
    100% flawless navigation, with all informations needed, like hotels, restaurants, bars, ATM, … Even walking in a city is a pleasure with a Nokia maps, cellphone in the poket, only listening at the instructions.

    Two drawbacks only:
    - French voice said horribly wrong the English street names (example: main Dr. Becomes Main Doctor…) I had to set it in English (not a big deal…)
    - Imperial system is not 100% adapted to US traveling, using yards instead of feet as a subdivision of mile.
    Apart of that 100% happy with the solution!

  • http://www.artover.com Janvier Bryan

    I want to use it, but seems that my country not available for offline. :/ MAURITIUS