The Samsung Galaxy Gear gets HERE Maps support... in a way

Nokia announced a partnership withSymphony Teleca that will see their new cross-device (Samsung Galaxyseries and Samsung Galaxy Gear) navigation app, TurnByTurn, rely onHERE Maps for nav data. Nokia says that the smart-watch provides acomfortable solution for the majority of users. According to itsresearch, users tend to alternate between opening the navigation appto check their position and closing it to save the device's batterylife. Putting the navigation app on their wrists means having aneasier time following directions.

Thus, the TurnByTurn app lets usersplan their route ahead of the trip on their Galaxy smartphones, andsync it to the Galaxy Gear smart-watch. The wearable transmitsnavigation instructions and alerts (visual and audible) from thephone. It's like putting a supercharged compass on your wrist, butyou'll have to carry a paired smartphone as well.

We aren't quite sure whether the newGear smart-watches that run Tizen OS will support the app, becauseit's based on Nokia's Android SDK. Meanwhile, the TurnByTurn app isn't yetavailable for download, but it should appear in the Google Play storesoon.

The upcoming TurnByTurn app

source: HEREMaps via GSMArena