For those of you that either live in London or have been fortunate to travel here you will know how much the city relies on its tube network. Tube Map for BlackBerry smartphones has been around of ages now but until recently the user interface wasn't great and my BlackBerry Bold 9900 wasn't supported. An update has fixed that now and in addition we have some nice new features which will make the app the perfect tool for getting around the city.
The Review
| Developer: mxData Ltd | Version (at time of review): 2.1.15 |
| File Size: 3145 KB |
OS Requirements: BlackBerry OS 4.5.0 and higher |
| Cost: Free | Website: |
Upon opening the application you are presented with a map of the underground network. You have the ability to more around the map either by using the optical track pad or by utilising the touch screen if your BlackBerry supports it. You will notice that there are also tabs on screen for zooming in and out. The whole map navigation is smooth and user friendly.
Pressing the BlackBerry button on your handset will jump you into the menu. Here you will find a list of options to help you achieve the task you are looking to carry out. First off we have Line Status. Simply laid out you will see a list of the different tube lines and the app will inform you if the lines are running with a good service or not. You can also press the 'later' or 'weekend' tabs if planning for a future trip and this will highlight any planned engineering work that may affect your journey.
Visitors to London will certainly be most grateful for the next feature - Route Planner. Traveling in a new city can be daunting so the app makes light work of helping you plan your route. Just type in your start point and finish point and your route will be laid out for you, showing you the journey time and the amount of stops the trip will take. You can't really go wrong.
Tap 'Show on map' and your planned route will be displayed on the map. Perfect if you fancy seeing what stations you will be passing and allowing for you to decide whether to get off early to view certain sites etc.
There is even a Twitter option from within the menu. This will enable you to view all the tweets from Transport for London which may well assist you on your journey plans - a nice little touch.
The coolest new feature within Tube Map is the Oyster integration. If you use an Oyster card for journey payments (and most people do) this can come in jolly handy. Once you register your card in the app you can at any point select the Oyster option from the menu and it will show your card balance. There is nothing worse than setting off on a journey and not knowing if you have enough funds for the trip. That problem is now eliminated thanks to Tube Map.
Tube Map
by mxData Ltd
Pros
-
With a simplistic user interface, productive features, combined with the live line status getting around London is made as painless as possible. A handy travel app to have.
Cons
- Clearly this is only app which will be useful if coming to London so it will have a limited use for Team BlackBerry. Apart from that all is good.
The Bottom Line
Overall the application is simply awesome. Clearly it will only be of use if you come to London but considering how many BlackBerry users we have here who live or work in the city, combined with the tourist trade I think that Tube Map is a 'must have app' on your BlackBerry. Download Tube Map for your BlackBerry smartphone Tube Map web link
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