Navitel launches navigation app, but leaves out Windows Phone 8 support

Navitel has announced that its Windows Phone 7.5 app is now available on the store. As one would imagine, this restricts use to those who are running older software on previous generation hardware. So what's Navitel all about?

Navitel Navigator 7.5.0.603 (given that it only runs on Windows Phone 7.5 hardware) is -- as the name suggests -- an interactive navigation service. It sports a few features that are unique to Navitel, including the ability to see the location of friends on the map in real time, contact them and create a route to meet them. Sounds pretty neat, right?

Here's a list of features (noted in the press release):

• Traffic information and alerts in supported regions, as well as optimised routes to avoid queues and save journey time.
• An interactive events service, enabling users to mark / view various types of road-side events.
• Points of Interest (POI) are supported with detailed information, including gas prices at various petrol stations and showtimes at cinemas.
• Weather forecast for the next three calendar days is available.

Licenses can be purchased within the app and both maps and the app itself can be managed from the main menu (much like other available navigation solutions). Should you have moved across from iOS, Android or even Symbian, you may have utilised Navitel in the past and can now do so again on Windows Phone.

While it's good to see the navigation solution on the Windows Phone Store, we'd much prefer that Windows Phone 8 be supported too. We're not entirely sure as to why Navitel has chosen to support Windows Phone 7 before the latest release, especially with new hardware leaping in popularity, but we expect the company to release updates in the future to cover all consumers.

You can download Navitel from the Windows Phone Store (Windows Phone 7 only, folks). A 30-day trial is available for new users, so be sure to download and check the service out if interested.