stephen_az
Banned
I was a long time Android user and was always very happy with their maps/navigation system. I absolutely LOVED the voice turn by turn with Google. I recently (five months ago) got the iPhone 5 and it's Maps with voice turn by turn is equally as brilliant....albeit Apple had a rough start when their Maps first came out....it's now tip-top.
The point of this post is that I'm about a week away from selling my iPhone 5....driving to the Orlando Microsoft Store, and buying the Nokia Lumia 1520. I was wondering if HERE Maps had a good voice turn by turn navigation system like Google and Apple does....if not HERE Maps, perhaps another Maps app? I am moving to the DC metro area in just over a month and I would very much like my 1520 to be equally a life saver as my iPhone 5 and Galaxy Nexus once were.
I have been doing a LOT of research on this OS switch.....and I am both excited and nervous. I'm pretty set up app-wise....99% of my must have apps are in the Windows app store....but Maps and a GOOD "voice" turn by turn navigation worries me. Plus I do hope this "Cortana" comes to pass......not that Siri is the end all be all of my iPhone, I hardly use her/it....but it would be sweet to have.
In the Phoenix metros areaI have found Here Drive to be appallingly bad. In fact, it is almost Apple Maps level of embarrassing. It consistently gives directions that are slower and longer than any other app I have used. I have also posted previously on an occasion that it gave me directions that looped me a mile away from my destination if I followed them, when the location was literally on the opposite side of the road. I posted a screen capture in that thread to demonstrate how stupid the directions were in that case. I have also had multiple instances of it either picking the wrong exit off a highway or directing me onto a road in Phoenix blocked by a canal (as if the road was continuous).
Just yesterday I also had another comparable experience so I know the problems have not been addressed. I was going to Pinnacle Peak Park in North Scottsdale and just wanted to remind myself of the last turn so I got directions using Here Drive. Since the phone was connected to the Bluetooth in my car though and I hadn't turned of the program it also then started giving turn by turn directions. Starting just east of Indian Bend and Scottsdale Roads in Scottsdale, it first gave directions to go the opposite direction of my destination. That means instead of directing me north and east, it wanted me to make a u turn and back track to Scottsdale Road (to the west) and head up north on the most congested surface road in the area. Upon ignoring that direction, it then wanted me to turn on to Hayden Road and Pima Road (again surface roads) when the fastest and shortest route was to just go 0.5 miles further east and get on the AZ Loop 101 freeway. The bad mapping logic was pretty obvious and has been a fatal flaw in its directions in Phoenix since the day it was released. The destination was off Pima Road in the far north valley but instead of recognizing you could get off a highway onto Pima Road in the north valley, it assumed the fastest route was to essentially just take the surface road all the way from Central Scottsdale instead of the highway that the road parallels.
BTW, one other nuisance which has also been present since release (at least with the 928 on VZW) is it always initially remembers the location when it was last turned on and will take up to a minute to recognize that I am not in Tucson or Sierra Vista (hours away) but in Phoenix. It does correct itself but it is still an annoying quirk that I have to wait for a phone that already knows where it is if I start from Here Maps. Here Maps will instantly have my correct location but if I switch to Here Drive I am initially still in Sierra Vista. Quite frankly, if Here Drive was to come pre-installed In a car I was planning to buy and I could not disable it, I would hesitate at purchasing the vehicle. I know people say it is a good app elsewhere but here it is an embarrassing bad joke only outdone by Apple Maps.