xMaps

xMaps Review

by on November 4, 2010

It’s rarely mentioned but beyond the big-boy services from the likes of Google Maps and Bing Maps, there’s an open-source inspired alternative at openstreetmaps.org, which opens up all sorts of possibilities that the closed systems don’t allow. When we say ‘all sorts’ we actually mean downloading maps for your own personal use, also known as ‘offline’ maps. Any map app that provides OpenStreet maps effectively becomes the Google Maps frontend for that system, so you’d expect it to try and mimic as many of its features.

This is where xMaps falls down badly, xMaps isn’t a good mapping app. There’s no multi-touch features at all, so it feels like a last-generation mobile app. This isn’t helped by its use of the standard Windows Mobile sliders and menu that really require a stylus. Besides this there’s no location-aware features, no looking up nearby facilities or even simply searching for place names and so definitely no navigation either. There’s not even any way to manage the downloaded maps by area, so even here it’s somewhat a failure.

Buy this app: xMaps for Windows Mobile

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