Beta of Nokia Maps 3.08 with Weather is out, brings cleaned up UI and pretty weather forecasts

Nokia Maps for Symbian is one of the best SatNav apps around and Nokia’s dev team is intent on making it better. Beta Labs just released a test version of Nokia Maps 3.08 with Weather, which brings a number of improvements, especially in the UI department.

The new version offers more information before you start and while you’re driving, with an emphasis on live traffic info. It also comes with an attractive-looking dedicated weather app, which shows forecasts by the hour.

Nokia Maps 3.08 with Weather offers several easy access options to start navigating – there are buttons right on the home screen, you can navigate to a contact (the bug that crashed Maps when doing that has be squashed), a long tap gives you “Drive to” and “Walk to” options and finally, you have the Just drive options, which shows info on speed, speeding warnings and traffic info.

Nokia Maps 3.08 offers convenient buttons so you can start navigating right away

Live traffic routing (available in Germany, France, US, UK and Russia) will automatically reroute you away from traffic jams (you just have to toggle the setting). Live traffic routing info is also included in the Drive start screen, so you know what conditions to expect from the get-go.

Nokia Maps 3.08′s refreshed UI

Nokia Maps 3.08 also lets you change settings even during navigation and the changes take effect immediately.

The installation interface has been reworked and now give more detailed info of what’s going on. The new procedure requires an Internet connection the whole time it’s working and takes longer than the old one – the Beta Labs teasingly say it’s necessary for some cool new things that are coming.

Finally, the Weather app gives you local conditions info by the hour and you can also look at the forecast for the next five days. Quite a bit of effort has gone into trying to make it look pretty – it almost feels like Nokia is trying to outdo HTC in the weather department.

The beautiful Weather app that comes with Nokia Maps 3.08

You can download Nokia Maps 3.08 with Weather right now – the app supports only Nokia N8, E7, E6, C7, C6-01 and X7. If you have one of those, head over to Nokia Beta Labs and grab a copy of Maps 3.08 (note that you’ll need a free registration). You can find the complete changelog here.

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