The new Nokia N9's hardware credentials are without question, and Nokia is making sure its MeeGo operating system is equally well catered for with the introduction of two new apps – Maps and Drive – that introduce a whole new mapping and navigation experience to go with the Nokia N9's stunning hardware.
Nokia Maps for MeeGo features a slick new appearance, and brings with it instant nearby places discovery, public transport routing and full gesture support. Nokia Drive, meanwhile, promises Nokia N9 users the best driving experience to be found outside of a traditional sat nav.
Together, you can make a serious case for saying they offer more. Let's take a closer look::
Nokia Maps
For checking out your current location and what it offers – and discovering more about the world around you, Nokia Maps is the Nokia N9's passport to fully featured mapping goodness.
It's the perfect blend of convenient simplicity and versatile power, auto-updating to your current location when you first open it and featuring a fully searchable database of information on places of interest and local importance.
Like Nokia Maps on your favourite Symbian devices, the Nokia N9 will come pre-loaded with maps of your home continent, and new maps can easily be added via Wi-Fi if you're setting off for distant shores. On the Nokia N9 you can look forward to two-finger rotate touch gestures, pinch-to-zoom exploration and easy tilting between 2D and 3D. In addition, 3D landmarks of famous sites and clearly marked public transport lines will help you land on your feet in any city around the world.
Contextual search helps you quickly find what you're looking for in your immediate area, and search results come with descriptions, pictures and reviews, and map locations are supplemented with info on convenient public transport options for getting there.
Nokia Drive
If you're travelling by car, meanwhile, Nokia Drive is the perfect navigator on the Nokia N9. This intuitive app takes full advantage of the Nokia N9's superbly flexible interface to deliver a navigation experience that's both easy to use and as accurate and safe as possible.
The built-in Drive assistance feature accurately monitors your speed and total distance driven, and as you'd expect from Nokia, voice guidance is available in multiple languages.
In recognition of the fact that driving navigation is a feature you're likely to use particularly heavily when travelling abroad, Nokia Drive can be used offline so you can preload maps for new destinations in advance and avoid heavy data roaming costs.
Together, Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive are the perfect window on the world for the Nokia N9. We've dished up a selection of screenshots of these powerful new apps below. For more screenshots, and a more detailed description of what they have to offer, head over to the Ovi Blog.