Finding destinations using Ovi Maps is very easy now, with the search more precise than ever. There is one slight weakness however, when trying to access a location using coordinates, as the option isn’t so apparent. Now although navigating with coordinates is hardly an everyday scenario, there may be times when you’d like to find or navigate to a location using just the coordinates. So heres a quick guide on how to go about this on your Nokia smartphone. Read the rest of this entry »

The Nokia Beta Labs have today released Ovi Maps Beta for Mobile (3.04), which is supposed to make exploring new places and getting to your destination easier and faster than before. This new Beta release is mainly to improve the performance of the service. With Ovi Maps for Mobile you can also share your location with friends on Facebook and let them know what you are up to. Your status update, photo and location appear on your Facebook page and your location can be viewed on the map within the Ovi Maps Facebook Application. Read the rest of this entry »

With a great user experience, an aggressive global rollout plan and a focus on local relevance, Nokia felt that it was time to commend some of the landmark the Nokia services have achieved. Taking a look at the Ovi umbrella of services, Nokia particularly highlighted the success of its Location, Music, Store, Messaging, Money and Life Tools services. Full press release after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the river and through the woods, Nokia knows the way. As millions of travelers get ready to hit the road for the holiday travel season, Nokia announces the U.S. availability of the Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, an upgraded version of the popular touchscreen device that comes with device lifetime voice-guided navigation for North America and a car kit so it can be easily mounted on a dash or windshield. Read the rest of this entry »

As you all know I was in London last week courtesy of WomWorld, attending Nokia’s ‘Secret Event’ of the new Ovi Maps and Good Things. It was an incredible experience and there were nine other bloggers invited from all around the world. It was great to meet them all in person and get to know them a little better. If you’ve been following me over at The Nokia Review you would have seen my recent coverage about the event. I’ve put together my thoughts on the event which was based around the N97 mini and the new version of Ovi Maps. This new version will also feature on the Nokia N97 2.0 Firmware which is due to hit NSU anytime now. So head over and leave some comments on your thoughts. More updates will be up within the next few days so stay tuned.

Primordial Ground Guidance is a fascinating new application developed using the new Ovi SDK with full Maps and guidance support. The app gives you routes and walking directions across terrain where there are no roads or marked footpaths, and it manages to suggest the best route to get from A to B taking into consideration possible shortfalls. Clay Babcock gives us a walk-through of Primordial Ground Guidance app from the Nokia booth show floor at CTIA09. Check out the video after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

The Nokia Beta Labs has released three brand new touch friendly applications which were announced at Nokia World 2009. Nokia Messaging is now expanding with the Social Messaging beta. This new client is the start of what will become the multi-community social networking client. Lifecast with Ovi has been designed to allow users to share memorable moments with friends on Facebook in a whole new way, and Ovi Maps for Mobile has seen a face lift along with some user friendly adjustments. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the last year many so-called “augmented reality” applications have been popping up, specially on the Android platform. While the concept is not new (research on the proper field of Augmented Reality dates back to the ’90s), it has generated some media attention lately. Unfortunately there is no mention so far of any similar application on Symbian smartphones, so Sequence Point Software S.L decided to bring this function on S60 devices. The result is ARound. This project aims to fill the gap by providing a prototype application featuring the use of sensors (GPS and compass), camera and location based services. Read the rest of this entry »

Nokia have just announced a new variant of the ever-loved 5800 XpressMusic, this one being the 5800 Navigation Edition. The 5800 also came in a Comes With Music Edition and now the 5800 comes with a free lifetime subscription to Ovi Maps. The licence is fully voice-guided for both Drive and Walk and comes pre-installed onto the device and ready to use. Additional bundled accessories in the box include a car charger and easily mountable Nokia car kit. Read the rest of this entry »

In Part One of the Nokia N86 8MP Review I focused on the hardware and build quality of the handset. Today I intend to delve deep inside the N86 exploring the software aspect of the device. Just to quickly recap, the Nokia N86 8MP is Nokia’s new flagship camera-phone. The device sports 8GB of built in storage as well as a microSD card slot, and has all the now ’standard’ features including Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS and a Digital Compass. The N86 has a built in FM transmitter too, along with the extraordinary 8 megapixel, Carl Zeiss wide-angle lens, setting itself way above it’s competition. Read the rest of this entry »