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As a Nokia device, the Lumia 928 is preloaded with the company's own HERE Maps, and it's actually a pretty good option. It's not as refined or expansive as Google Maps – which is only available via web on Windows Phone – but it's a solid substitute.
HERE Maps includes walking, driving, and public transportation directions, with the GPS used to pinpoint your location, though it lacks train and bus schedules. You can also view traffic indicators on the map and use a satellite photo overlay, but while the image quality is lacking, HERE Maps gets the job done.
Companion app HERE Drive+ is your ticket to voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation, and even features a great "My Commute" Live Tile that'll give you a quick look at the drive ahead from the Start menu. Verizon's VZ Navigator is also included as an alternate option for turn-by-turn navigation. Meanwhile, the HERE City Lens app lets you rotate the handset around you and see positional markers in the world for restaurants and shops, which you can follow to discover new places of interest nearby.
The typical set of Windows Phone apps is expectedly here, including Microsoft's mobile Office productivity suite, the OneNote note-taking app, and the Xbox hub, which lumps together all of your downloaded games with networking and profile features. You'll also find a fair number of apps bundled in by Nokia and/or Verizon beyond the HERE options, such as ESPN Hub, The Weather Channel, and CNN. All of those third-party picks can luckily be uninstalled.
Beyond that, the Store app is your destination for myriad free and premium apps and games of all sorts (as well as music and podcasts). The selection is regularly improving, thankfully, so the Store's contents aren't quite as grim as they were several months ago – but it's still rough going compared to the iOS App Store and Google Play on Android.
Notable apps like Instagram, Flipboard, Vine, and Path are still MIA (though some have been announced for eventual release), along with many other top apps. In place of many of the name brand apps from other platforms are tacky knock-offs, unfortunately, which clog the charts and make it hard to find apps of real value.
It's no better on the games side of things, where the listings are overflowing with obvious copyright violations that just sit there seemingly without any attention from Microsoft's minders. Worthwhile games from other platforms are starting to arrive on Windows Phone, with Temple Run and Real Racing 2 of particular note – but they come many months late, even as better iterations have appeared elsewhere. And as far as original games go, Halo: Spartan Assault and Skulls of the Shogun are the rare stellar anomalies in the bunch.
App selection remains one of the biggest downfalls of the Windows Phone experience, and though it is slowly improving, its competitors are continually getting even newer and better options that still aren't launching in tandem here. Casual users will find enough to fill their time and interest, but anyone already entrenched in the iOS and Android ecosystem may find it very difficult to move to a Windows Phone – Lumia 928 or otherwise.
