As promised earlier, the Finnish giant Nokia has released Here Maps Beta for all Samsung Galaxy and Gear devices to offer “true” offline navigation and an alternative to Google’s pre-loaded Maps. The Maps will work on all Android devices running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and above.

The new HERE navigation app for Android beta can be downloaded from the company’s site. Notably, the app is not available on the Google Play store and it has to be side-loaded on compatible Android smartphones. The beta app works just fine on Android handset with ICS 4.0 or higher, though Nokia recommends 1GB of RAM and 4 to 6-inches screen size for best experience.

So what makes Nokia HERE stand out from other major GPS navigation solutions? While many of the features are the same, Nokia’s HERE has the advantage of offering up the ability to download maps for entire regions (countries, continents, etc) for offline mode viewing and doesn’t require any data connection, means users can explore the map and navigate around a city without spending a penny.

Nokia is still working on some fixes and bugs in the app and recommends HERE for Android beta users to not use cache cleaner apps if they want to use voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation. The company has also shared entire step by step tutorial to install the app, head over at the source link.
HERE features true offline navigation with interactive maps and turn-by-turn voice guidance; offers free offline maps in over 200 countries, public transport maps and directions for over 800 cities in over 40 countries with offline support; live traffic information for more than 40 countries; journey planning on beta.here.com; map personalisation with Collections of favourite places, and the Glympse location sharing feature.

Download the apk file from Here.