Nokia offering maps and navigation for free

TOR · 25th January 2010, 11:27

Have tried the OVI maps with my 5800-one word-exceptional!

The maps are very detailed and the voice navigation is spot on, it even advices on small 'fork turns' on the road.Places of interest are also well documented and the turn by turn navigation is a real treat.
The 'voice' can be downloaded in different versions(Hindi being one), there is even an 'US-surfer dude' voice pack available.
With the 5230 supporting the same the whole package at less than 8K is a real threat to the established map services like Garmin and mapmyindia.

Thumbs up for Nokia!

KRRaj · 25th January 2010, 11:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOR

Have tried the OVI maps with my 5800-one word-exceptional!

Good News. I am going to try with my 5800 this evening and see how it goes.

mac187 · 25th January 2010, 13:13

Update: Nokia has released an Ad on the same in all major publications.

I wonder why they are giving it for free!!! Its not like i am complaining but why did they have it as a paid feature in the first place....

Also one question, does this move mean that the stand alone GPS market will see an untimely death?

Thad E Ginathom · 25th January 2010, 13:32

As I've mentioned on another thread, the maps are very good for the city, but soon run out of steam (ie detail) as one reaches the outskirts. I would not rely on these maps for outside-city driving, but I use my N82 to get me un-lost when I've taken a couple of wrong turnings, and to find unfamiliar places in the city.

I have Maps 2.0. I've also already talked about my bad experience trying to upgrade to Maps 3.0. The new free-navigation is not available for N82 yet --- so I'll leave it a while and maybe go to a service centre. I'm tired of 6Mb downloads (yes, every retry means a fresh download) followed by stupid error messages.

ElantraGT · 25th January 2010, 14:01

Guys, here is the update. Nokia maps 3.03 is not available for all versions of smartphones. Een if you upgrade your maps software the version that is getting updated is V 3.01 (for E71). When I checked with one of the priority showroom here, they mentioned that only V 3.03 has free license for Maps. Its rumoured that Nokia is planning to upgrade all smart phones to V 3.03 by end of march 2010 ( its not aunthentic info just a rumour so please dont blame me if that does not happen).

AFAIK Nokia maps 3.0 with the latest India maps has more details than Garmins and map my Indias 2009 maps. I use Garmin mobile XT 5.00.2 and the latest maps provided are good to a certain exent only. Its always hard to do a search by address in garmin as they sticke with US standard of address entry (Door number, one street name, City).

Some of the advantages of Nokia maps 3.01 as experienced by me are as follows:

* GPS fix and the time to start Nokai maps takes a matter of 5-10 seconds only.
* the application is really fast when it comes to rerouting and planning a route.
* Battery life is really good (read awesome) compared to the other GPS softwares (read Garmin Mobile XT)
* Maps are more detailed. Just a few glitches that I noticed int he last 2 days are Kathipara Junction is still shown as a Roundabout and The bridge after kasi theater towards guindy is not shown in the map.
* Voice guidance is really good. Its crystal clear and you have options to change the voice guidance language. We have options like English US & UK (Male & Female), Hindi (Female only) & Tamil (Male only

).

Guys for those who have smartphones that are not listed in the first page of naokia maps website, there is no point in updating the maps software to the latest one now. You will get only 7 day trial version licence. If you want to try out maps option in India I would recommend nokia maps to other softwares. Hope this review helps.

watashi75 · 25th January 2010, 14:11

Free navigation is not available on all Nokia 5800 devices. It depends on the product code of the particular device.

This is the list of latest firmware versions for different product codes -

Nokia 5800 Product Codes

Free navigation in 5800 requires firmware version v31 or above. However this version is not available for some devices in India and they are still at firmware version 30. In such a case you will get a message "No Updates Available" when you try to update the firmware OTA.

blue_pulsar · 26th January 2010, 04:50

I have a N82 which has GPS. But, its not free. Can I do something so that I can use it for free?

Gopan · 26th January 2010, 08:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElantraGT

Guys, here is the update. Nokia maps 3.03 is not available for all versions of smartphones....... Hope this review helps.

Good and very informative review. Now let me wait till Mar 2010 to get my free license for my E71.

GTO · 26th January 2010, 20:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by mac187

I wonder why they are giving it for free!!! Its not like i am complaining but why did they have it as a paid feature in the first place

Simply because they'll make a lot more money from the % cut on GPRS charges. I'm pretty sure Nokia has a deal in place whereby it gets a certain $$$ from the GPRS income of your service company.

Similar to HP : A little time back, 3/4 of their profits were from printer cartridges. They might as well have given the printers away free and still made a tidy sum.

vvrchandra · 26th January 2010, 21:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by gomzi

..I guess this can also be done directly from the phone.

I've Nokia E71 phone. Can i know how this can be done directly from the phone. Thanks.

extreme_torque · 26th January 2010, 21:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO

Simply because they'll make a lot more money from the % cut on GPRS charges. I'm pretty sure Nokia has a deal in place whereby it gets a certain $$$ from the GPRS income of your service company.

No because you can download the maps on your device directly off the air ie they dont need to be downloaded on the air unlike google maps.

gupta_chd · 26th January 2010, 21:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO

Simply because they'll make a lot more money from the % cut on GPRS charges. I'm pretty sure Nokia has a deal in place whereby it gets a certain $$$ from the GPRS income of your service company.

Similar to HP : A little time back, 3/4 of their profits were from printer cartridges. They might as well have given the printers away free and still made a tidy sum.

I think this would be practically impossible to make profit this way. There would be thousands of service providers in all the countries and lakhs of service plans, inculding the ones offering unlimited downloads. It is not possible to strike an accord with all of this unless they charge specifically for the maps download like wallpapers, ringtones etc. which is not the case here.

black12rr · 26th January 2010, 21:59

They dont make money from service providers , but from selling phones . Now every one starts to shift from other brands to NOKIA , me thinking to switch from SE to NOKIA for this

.

AbhiJ · 26th January 2010, 22:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO

Simply because they'll make a lot more money from the % cut on GPRS charges. I'm pretty sure Nokia has a deal in place whereby it gets a certain $$$ from the GPRS income of your service company.

Dont think so. If the maps are loaded on to the phone, then there are no gprs charges at all.

Fornax · 26th January 2010, 23:51

Nokia Maps is Free because so is Google Maps.

That's healthy competition at work. No way, that anyone would pay for a service when a competitor gives away the same for free.

As regards the business model - think classifieds! There's a huge (gigantic) opportunity to charge businesses tiny amount for placement on maps, think about it, a cent from even 1% of all shops & establishments in India per year would be like a billion dollar enterprise.

25th January 2010, 11:27	#46
TOR BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Trivandrum Posts: 263 Thanked: 21 Times	Have tried the OVI maps with my 5800-one word-exceptional! The maps are very detailed and the voice navigation is spot on, it even advices on small 'fork turns' on the road.Places of interest are also well documented and the turn by turn navigation is a real treat. The 'voice' can be downloaded in different versions(Hindi being one), there is even an 'US-surfer dude' voice pack available. With the 5230 supporting the same the whole package at less than 8K is a real threat to the established map services like Garmin and mapmyindia. Thumbs up for Nokia!
	() Thanks

25th January 2010, 13:13	#48
mac187 BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Plano, Texas Posts: 687 Thanked: 751 Times	Update: Nokia has released an Ad on the same in all major publications. I wonder why they are giving it for free!!! Its not like i am complaining but why did they have it as a paid feature in the first place.... Also one question, does this move mean that the stand alone GPS market will see an untimely death?
	() Thanks

25th January 2010, 13:32	#49
Thad E Ginathom Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Chennai Posts: 11,002 Thanked: 26,425 Times	As I've mentioned on another thread, the maps are very good for the city, but soon run out of steam (ie detail) as one reaches the outskirts. I would not rely on these maps for outside-city driving, but I use my N82 to get me un-lost when I've taken a couple of wrong turnings, and to find unfamiliar places in the city. I have Maps 2.0. I've also already talked about my bad experience trying to upgrade to Maps 3.0. The new free-navigation is not available for N82 yet --- so I'll leave it a while and maybe go to a service centre. I'm tired of 6Mb downloads (yes, every retry means a fresh download) followed by stupid error messages.
	() Thanks

25th January 2010, 14:01	#50
ElantraGT BHPian Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 441 Thanked: 12 Times	Guys, here is the update. Nokia maps 3.03 is not available for all versions of smartphones. Een if you upgrade your maps software the version that is getting updated is V 3.01 (for E71). When I checked with one of the priority showroom here, they mentioned that only V 3.03 has free license for Maps. Its rumoured that Nokia is planning to upgrade all smart phones to V 3.03 by end of march 2010 ( its not aunthentic info just a rumour so please dont blame me if that does not happen). AFAIK Nokia maps 3.0 with the latest India maps has more details than Garmins and map my Indias 2009 maps. I use Garmin mobile XT 5.00.2 and the latest maps provided are good to a certain exent only. Its always hard to do a search by address in garmin as they sticke with US standard of address entry (Door number, one street name, City). Some of the advantages of Nokia maps 3.01 as experienced by me are as follows: * GPS fix and the time to start Nokai maps takes a matter of 5-10 seconds only. * the application is really fast when it comes to rerouting and planning a route. * Battery life is really good (read awesome) compared to the other GPS softwares (read Garmin Mobile XT) * Maps are more detailed. Just a few glitches that I noticed int he last 2 days are Kathipara Junction is still shown as a Roundabout and The bridge after kasi theater towards guindy is not shown in the map. * Voice guidance is really good. Its crystal clear and you have options to change the voice guidance language. We have options like English US & UK (Male & Female), Hindi (Female only) & Tamil (Male only ). Guys for those who have smartphones that are not listed in the first page of naokia maps website, there is no point in updating the maps software to the latest one now. You will get only 7 day trial version licence. If you want to try out maps option in India I would recommend nokia maps to other softwares. Hope this review helps.
	() Thanks

25th January 2010, 14:11	#51
watashi75 BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 518 Thanked: 12 Times	Free navigation is not available on all Nokia 5800 devices. It depends on the product code of the particular device. This is the list of latest firmware versions for different product codes - Nokia 5800 Product Codes Free navigation in 5800 requires firmware version v31 or above. However this version is not available for some devices in India and they are still at firmware version 30. In such a case you will get a message "No Updates Available" when you try to update the firmware OTA.
	() Thanks

26th January 2010, 04:50	#52
blue_pulsar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,112 Thanked: 403 Times	I have a N82 which has GPS. But, its not free. Can I do something so that I can use it for free?
	() Thanks

26th January 2010, 21:59	#58
black12rr Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Ridin earth now Posts: 1,278 Thanked: 339 Times	They dont make money from service providers , but from selling phones . Now every one starts to shift from other brands to NOKIA , me thinking to switch from SE to NOKIA for this .
	() Thanks

26th January 2010, 23:51	#60
Fornax BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Bombay Posts: 293 Thanked: 91 Times View My Garage	Nokia Maps is Free because so is Google Maps. That's healthy competition at work. No way, that anyone would pay for a service when a competitor gives away the same for free. As regards the business model - think classifieds! There's a huge (gigantic) opportunity to charge businesses tiny amount for placement on maps, think about it, a cent from even 1% of all shops & establishments in India per year would be like a billion dollar enterprise.
	() Thanks