Published on August 2nd, 2012 | by Ramon Trotman

Nokia Drive offline navigation review

I’ve been using Nokia Drive as my main Navigation device since the launch for the Lumia 900. This is saying a good bit about the software because Google Navigator was my number one before. It seems Engadget feels the same way.

If you’re an avid traveler, 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. After all, the company now shares hallways with a few folks from Bing Maps — folks who have designed some pretty impressive travel tools themselves. The only legitimate gripe I had with Drive after 1,900 miles was this: when you’re searching for something generic — ‘Starbucks in Bend, Oregon’ for example — it’ll often find four or five like-named destinations. But at a glance, there’s no street address listed in the results, so you have no idea which Starbucks you’re about to head to. A minor niggle that we hope is corrected in future updates.

All in all, however, I can confidently say that Nokia Drive is the best purely offline navigational tool on the market, on any mobile platform. If you count yourself a Lumia owner already, there’s no reason to not take advantage of the power within — it’s a free download, after all. For those considering a switch, the timing couldn’t be weirder. A Lumia 900 is still a bargain, even at $99 on a 2-year AT&T contract, but Microsoft has already confirmed that it’ll never (ever!) get Windows Phone 8. If you’re about to embark on a rural road trip this summer, having a Lumia with Nokia Drive would surely be of assistance, but the pragmatist in me says it’s wiser to hold out for the impending rush of Windows Phone 8 devices this holiday season. After all, who wouldn’t want to make that Christmas trip to grandma’s house using a WP8-powered offline navigational tool?

Read the enter article for more info.