Living with Nokia Nearby

With an affordable Nokia Asha phone like theNokia Asha 205, you may not have a GPS chip on board. You’re aren’t lost, though, by any means! I’ve been getting to grips with Nokia Nearby for the past week, taking my Nokia Asha to an unfamiliar city to find out what it’s actually like to live with on a daily basis.

That means trying to find parking, money, food, entertainment and even somewhere to stay at the end of the night. Nokia Nearby is capable of all of this and more.

Parking

On arrival in a town you’re not accustomed to, the chances are the first thing you’ll want to do is somewhere safe and convenient to park your car. Typing in ‘Parking’ on Nearby brings up a host of public carparks, along with the name of the road, a map and reviews. The biggest problem I had when using Nearby was the map itself, and although I’ve previously found it useful in smaller towns, in a city like Leicester the map proved too small to be much use.

It does still give you a general idea of the location of places though, so as long as you know where you are, it’s easy to head in the right direction. Furnished with the name of the road for nearby parking, I found myself asking a local for directions.

Banks

Once I’d parked in Leicester, it seemed sensible to look for bank machines so I could prepare for the day ahead. Nokia Nearby has an ATM tab especially for this, providing details for all the bank machines in the surrounding area. This time the tiny map didn’t prove an issue, as I could look up street names provided by the app on a huge map in the city centre to find out where I needed to go.

Food

Cash in hand, it was time to head for something to eat, and this is another area that Nearby excels. You can flick through hundreds of different results, starting with the nearest restaurants and bars. Although not all of them have been reviewed, it’s easy to see which ones have, with stars showing up next to the names. With a four-star review I headed along to the Orange Tree for lunch, expecting it to be full of students. It was, but thanks to Nokia Nearby at least I knew what to expect.

Shopping

The shopping centre is usually easy enough to find in any town or city. What about if you want something a little more specialised though? Searching through ‘Shops’ gives you a great list of places to go, their locations and websites, so it’s possible to track down pretty much anything you need. You can’t search for specific items, but there’s seemingly no end to the results, so you can keep going through until you find a shop with a description that meets your needs.

Nightlife

When it comes to night-life, Nokia Nearby has a lot to offer. The ‘Going-out’ section provides a huge list of pubs, clubs, the nearest cinema, along with more cultured offerings such as museums and galleries. Restaurants are also on offer, although in this case I’d already arranged to meet up with friends to watch a film. Nearby came to the rescue, providing me with all the details I needed to track down the nearest Showcase Cinema. And once again, I knew what to expect from the reviews, and they proved concise and accurate.

Hotel

When it gets to the end of the evening, and somewhere to stay is required, it’s easy to turn to Nearby. There’s a ‘Hotels’ tab especially for it, throwing up a huge choice of places you can stay. Some are rated only one-star, making it easy to know where to avoid, with others getting top billing. In the end I went for the safe route, staying in a nearby Holiday Inn. It’s not just location details that Nokia Nearby has to offer either, also providing contact details so you can book or inform the hotel if you’re running late.