BlackBerry Maps now live in India, still a long way from Google Maps though

The one crucial feature which we all take for granted has been missing in all BlackBerry 10 devices ever since BB launched it in India. All that changes today as BlackBerry has finally flipped the switch, making Maps on BB10 devices usable. No longer will you see a blue dot in the middle of an empty white patch. Maps went live a couple of days back and if you’re on the latest version of BB10, you should be able to access it.

We actually tested the app on the BlackBerry Z3 and the basic functionality of getting you from point A to B works well. Since the Z3 lacks GLONASS, we weren’t able to get pin-point accuracy and the blue dot on the map would keep jumping around as we drove. There’s still a long way to go in terms of functionality but the fact that it works means we can take advantage of all future updates.

You can also toggle between traffic data although we didn’t find any data during our usage. Perhaps this bit isn’t live yet. You can also share your location with select contacts, similar to Google Maps.

Turn-by-turn navigation is also present along with voice-guided assistance. Once again this wasn’t super accurate as many times we found the assistant telling us to take a left, minutes before actually reaching the turn. This could also be due to the lack of GLONASS in the Z3 though.

It’s good start and it’s nice to see BlackBerry’s native app being finally functional. Of course, you always have the option of getting the latest version of Google Maps on your BB10 device if you don’t like experimenting