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Nokia To Make GPS Navigation Free On Smartphones
mliu writes "In what is sure to be a blow to the already beleaguered stand-alone GPS market, Nokia, the global leader in smartphone market share, has released a fully offline-enabled free GPS navigation and mapping application for its Symbian smartphones. Furthermore, the application also includes Lonely Planet and Michelin guides. Unfortunately, the N900, which is beloved by geeks for its Maemo Linux-based operating system, has not seen any of the navigation love so far. With Google's release of Google Navigation for Android smartphones, and now Nokia doing one better and releasing an offline-enabled navigation application, hopefully this is the start of a trend where this becomes an expected component of any smartphone."
My experience has so far been rather positive. Even an old N82 is an adequate replacement for a dedicated GPS, IMHO.
The problem is, will Nokia keep on updating their free directions? Generally, when you have a large company that seems to be losing money and marketshare left and right they will release a lot of paid things for free in order to not have to update them or maintain them as much as a paid product.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
"Nokia, the global leader in smartphone market share"
Now you've done it. You've directely insulted and threated the self worth of every single iPhone owning hipster douchebag reading Slashdot...
Just download standalone Nokia Maps Updater and it will update to Maps 3.0 also phones not listed on linked Ovi webpage, like my E51.
"... hopefully this is the start of a trend where this becomes an expected component of any smartphone.""
GPS because of E911 already is a standard component.
I recently drove from Portland OR to SF BayArea and was re-routed around traffic backups while in transit. This was with the TomTom Live system. Will phone based GPS apps do that and let me talk on the phone? I don't get this rush to put everything in a phone.
It seems as though the application is available for the N900. See: http://europe.nokia.com/support/product-support/maps-support/compatibility-and-download#/nokia-n900/
How much memory is required to store the entire database for GPS navigation? Do most smart phones even have that much memory? Sure, Google maps is annoying when you drive out of range of a data service cell tower and it suddenly tells you "I have absolutely no fucking idea where you are now!" but I assumed there was enough data there that it actually _needed_ to be connected. I'd be more than happy to just have it update the data when connected and still work when not connected.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
When iPhone came out with free navigation, even if Garmin is a lot better, I concluded that I will never buy a standalone:
- GPS navigator
- compact camera.
- camcorder.
- watch
- document scanner
- portable game console
- mp3 player, video player
- a bunch of other things from last century like voice recorder, calculator, radio etc.
With 8Gb camera, 720p video, GPS navigator, I will be better off upgrading the phone every year than buying all these devices every 3 years. I am sure it will not take more than 2 years for a feature in my phone to beat the standalone device in features/functionality, and best of all, I will have it in my hand when I need it, not in a drawer somewhere.
don't cut it off www.mgmbill.org
While I'm all for this (because what guy doesn't want free GPS on his phone?) isn't there an aspect of it that paints Nokia as essentially undercutting the entire GPS market? The leader in smartphones is now offering a product for free - am I wrong in thinking that there's something not so nice in relation to the market going on there? I'm thinking of a cross between Microsoft and steel dumping.
I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
There are very few times when off-line maps are useful in a car. For those times, there are real GPS units (ones that have batteries that last for 16 hours instead of 2 hours and can survive a fall or water or the like). The thing that makes Google maps navigation so useful to me (on my Droid) are the live traffic updates. Plus, I don't have to worry about downloading maps onto my cell phone. Everything is updated all the time, and I can have my phone re-route me on alternate routes based on current traffic.
I own an openmoko and my wife owns an HTC Magic, running android. I know five or so people who own iPhones. I am yet to see a device which can replace my Garmin etrex.
I regularly attach the garmin to the deck of my sea kayak and dunk it in the ocean. I don't plan on doing that to a smart phone.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Drivers in Japan and Korea already use much higher spec standalone GPS's (10+ inch screens, built in TV etc) that phones cannot match. This is worryingly evident driving through Seoul in rush hour, where most of the drivers are watching the latest soap on their GPS screens. You can't even buy US size GPS's because phones match their capabilities.
Also to note... Garmin has several models with built-in traffic from Clear Channel's Total Traffic Network (running in an RDS feed on most of their FM signals), and now provides lifetime service with add-on devices for other models at a much lower price. They also offer a lifetime map update download service, with refreshes every quarter. So, if you're in an area that has radio but not good cellular, the up-to-date info can be with you.
Droid gps sucks smegma compared to my garmin etrex hac.
Droid couldn't keep a signal in a relatively flat urban area with moderate overhead vegetation. Disappointing .....
Ovi Maps does real-time online map downloads just fine, along with real-time online traffic updates, weather, events, location sharing, etc. However, by allowing you to store maps on the memory card (a few gig can cover the US and most of Europe) you aren't *forced* to be online to use it. Handy for those treks into more rural areas (where 3G coverage, not to mention road signs, is a luxury and offline nav becomes really beneficial). Also nice when you're off-network and don't want to pay crazy data roaming charges.
I use an iPod touch, you insensitive clod!
Please note that the Palm Pre and Pixi (WebOS) already has "free" navigation. The base Sprint dataplan (unlike Verizon) for those phones includes turn-by-turn Sprint navigation at no extra cost (Verizon is $10/mo more, I believe for that feature and that is on top of the service plan already $20 beings per month than Sprint when you include unlimited text messaging. Sprint also has free mobile to ANY mobile communication, and better nights/weekends.) My point is, although it is not "stand alone" navigation, it is essentially already free with the above combination. And coverage is very good. Unless users are way out in nowhere, those users already have most all of the same features of a stand-alone GPS. So although the Nokia news is interesting, it is not quite as "fantastic" as some might think.
There are very few times when off-line maps are useful in a car.
Do they put crack in the water where you live, or do you have to go down and buy it off the street?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
As long as you are fine with having a single point of failure then go for it. I'll stick to my standalone GPS and my MP3 Player to augment my smartphone.
A toolbox > a multitool. The multitool is great for quick fixes, but nothing replaces using the right tool for the right job, not to mention my aforementioned single point of failure problem.
Yeah...I was really surprised when I got my wife a gps-enabled smartphone, then found out it doesn't work unless you pay...Shouldn't you not have to pay to use the hardware that you already purchased? Maybe their justification is you pay for the maps, but overall it really seems ridiculous.
Maybe now that they're planning to make it free, it won't be so deplorably poor?
I have an E71 and I'd abandoned Nokia's mapping solutions because a) it seems impossible to search for anything and b) street numbers seem to have no relation to your physical position.
Nokia makes very good hardware and the operating system seems solid, but the software is incredibly half-baked. It's like the developers give when they've met the bare-minimum specifications and move on. In the case of GPS, I've yet to see another phone lock my position so quickly and use so little battery, just as I've yet to see a phone give me such a crash-proof and battery-friendly mail experience. But the GPS software is just wretched (even up to Maps 3.0), just as the various mail applications (Mail, MfE, Messaging) can't give the kind of email experience RIM nailed nearly a decade ago.
It's the kind of behaviour that will see Apple and Google eat them alive.
--srj/mmv
Just checked and they do not offer it for the E75, one of their pricier, GPS enabled phones. Man, do I feel like an idiot for buying one now.
For me, a phone is impractical for navigating. A phone is a LONG way off from helping me as far as my GPS needs go (I drive A LOT) and using it to navigate and talk at the same time is just cumbersome.
Without a doubt the market for standalone GPS units will survive, but the question is in what form. It would be a huge loss for Garmin et al if they're reduced to making rugged specialty GPS devices while smartphones take over the lucrative in-car navigation that represents 99% of consumer usage.
The advantages of a GFS device with a data connection are numerous. Live traffic, live updates, live information (such as gas prices). Those are all download-oriented, but many of the promising usages are bidirectional communication-oriented. Live display of other cars on the road, live traffic tracking through precise vehicle placement. Plus all sorts of other Big Brotherish stuff that is less pleasant.
These advantages are compelling enough that we've already seen movements towards getting a cellular radio in standalone GPS units. However, those haven't seen much traction because who wants to pay another monthly fee for their GPS. Once the smartphone based GPS applications become mature, the standalone manufacturers are in a world of trouble.
That's what's impressive about this Nokia solution. It's the first free solution that allows for downloading the map database to your phone for offline usage.
should read > Nokia will make easier to keep tabs on you. Long live NSA! #1 - I love NSA ! #2 - I love NSA even more !
Dont Judge The situation by the Misfortunate. Goga.
Nokia have had free navigation for years.
Sure, but their revenue has dropped. In the past year they have lost billions of Euros
Why, anyone would think there wasn't this great big recession. Is that really a reason to assume that they're going to stop updating, therefore this is worthless? Face it, you're just spreading FUD. One could make the same claim of any navigation system.
have only recently came out with a good competitor phone to Android, the iPhone and the Pre and really, "dumb" phones are on the way out.
But now you're conflating market success, with your own personal opinion. Which are we debating? If the latter, here's mine - my old Motorola V980 from 2005 did things the Iphone took years to catch up on, and now Nokia have the 5800 which works just as well as any Iphone, at half the price. (Android isn't a phone, it's an OS, btw.)
really, "dumb" phones are on the way out. Think about it, 5 years ago, unless you were a corporate user, you didn't get a smartphone. Today, almost everyone wants a smartphone, and prices for the phones are sharply declining. Eventually, non-smartphones will fade away.
So what's your definition of smartphone?
If you're defining smartphone as "not a dumbphone" then non-smartphones died years ago. Any feature phone can run apps, access the Internet, they run operating systems and it's been this way for at least 5 years. Any phone today (except the absolute bottom of the market) is a smartphone, in the sense of what we once understood by the term. If we define smartphone in terms of features, then either all feature phones are smartphones, or the Iphone doesn't deserve to be a smartphone.
In this market, Nokia are still solid.
But when you see news articles talking about the smartphone market, they don't mean this, they simply mean some ill-defined category that covers the most expensive phones. Therefore, "smartphone" is simply the high end of whatever phones are available at the time, therefore it will never go away (unless all phones become dirt cheap). And it will also never be the case that everyone will have "smartphones" by this definition, because there'll still be people who buy the lower end phones.
Your $500 iPhone would never replace my $30 refurbed Sansa e260 with rockbox installed. It plays more formats, is smaller, runs longer, and I don't have to take out an insurance policy for it if I want to take it biking.
After reading this I went to Nokia's website in order to download and install the latest Nokia Maps.
Since my cellphone isn't mentioned as supported, I clicked on the "visit Maps support" link, which takes me to a flash riddled page that doesn't work in firefox or ie (with flash installed).
From there I started clicking on different links, and they are either redirecting me to the same referrer or taking me to another flash page that doesn't work.
I have to say, this is the most useless website I've seen in a while. Looks nice, but useless.
Just wondering if this is provider dependent. Can the provider ask or change the GPS feature on the phone to simply turn it off unless you pay them x per month? And if you turn off the phone and use GPS, I assume there won't be any roaming charges since your phone is talking to the GPS satellite? I plan on travelling more often to the US (from Canada) and was hoping a GPS plus local maps on a smartphone would be handy.
I'd like to get a GPS since I've seen some software you can add to some smart phones to log mileage and from running and biking. I run marathons and usually have my cell phone with me when not competing (all for fun). The Heart Rate Monitor + GPS (together) are over $400 CAD whereas I have a $150 HRM and I need a new phone anyways.
Predictions of the death of the stand-alone automotive GPS market are premature. Screens on cell phones are not really large enough for anything but simple rudimentary navigation, and because cell phones will always remain small, this will never change.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
The problem is, will Nokia keep on updating their free directions? Generally, when you have a large company that seems to be losing money and marketshare left and right they will release a lot of paid things for free in order to not have to update them or maintain them as much as a paid product.
I think this is being done for two reasons:
1)Everyone else is doing it. 2)It makes it more difficult to legislate using phone while driving illegal. Customers (voters) will be pissed if they're used to using their phone to navigate, and suddenly they can't use their phone while driving.
Please help metamoderate.
I have been resisting the tying of GPS with cell tech (like OnStar) because I didn't like the idea of my car/cell/insurance/anyone else knowing where I was/how fast I was going/where I'd recently been at any time. The traditional stand-alone GPS was like radio; it only received info about satellite positions. It never gave info away.
But I think my resistance was futile since even new stand-alone GPS units are coming with built-in 'network access' for traffic, weather, and who only know what else. I long for days of information with anonymity and autonomy. But I am afraid they are long past.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
Seriously, you don't know what you guys are missing with Nokia/Symbian phones.
-Media players play DRM free files.
-Easy 802.11 access/use
-Decent 'office' application. Opens my text files, that's all I care about.
-SMTP support. I know they HAD crackberry support on my old communicator. I assume it's still available.
-Apps for a sysadmin.
-Solid mobile java support
-GPS, directions, and all that. However, you need windows as an intermediary between the phone and nokia's maps.
-Symbian is years ahead of Apple or Google's OS. Multiple apps open at the same time, global cut + paste.
I assume later model phones will do all of this too. It's just that Nokia appears to have a very hard time in the U.S.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
I have an unlocked e71 on AT&T's network. Nokia provides everything. You do need Windows as an intermediary between nokia's map website and the phone.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
That's doubtful because my e71 has maps/gps. Do you have Windows and have you installed their middleware? From there, you should be able to get GPS maps installed.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Spewing coffee out of my nose and onto my laptop is not fun!
I bought an unlocked e71 and use it on AT&T's network with no issues. GPS, maps and everything.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Lets hope this will push google to offer turn-by-turn GPS navigation in Europe. I'm sure the Nexus One will be more expensive after tax in EU, so it doesn't make much sense. Hum.. what if I buy a Droid and drive by car to Europe, will turn-by-turn stop working at some point and multi-touch kiks in? anyways I always have my multi-touch steering wheel :P
Nokia lost my trust when they released an ""update" for the N95 oh so long ago that got rid of the free turn-by-turn navigation it originally came with in order to try to make users pay. I bought the phone for that feature then they got rid of it. Of course, I then just used a cracked version of the app to get it back, but anyway, we'll see how long this free version lasts for. Nokia don't seem to care about users that much, look at the N97, worst flagship phone I've ever seen.
It's not a real offline gps mode. Only the maps. For the navigation you still need to buy de licenses.
Problem is that I see Nokia playing Catchup with Google and the Android OS. Then again, Nokia still doesn't instill the greatest of confidence in me when it comes to innovation.
My E71 can use Ovi Maps, but the only problem is that as of now you have to use a subscription, over the air system to get navigation (just like Google maps, sans subscription). What this new update does is allow offline navigation, but that new option hasn't been released (yet?) for the E71.
Replying to myself, while I can update to v3.0 from the v2.0 the E75 came with, I do not think it is the free nav version. The OVI store is not well laid out. However the new map data required is claiming a 127 minute download over wireless. Hope work doesn't call with a crashed DB. Sigh. US gets screwed in phones and cars due to stupid regulations.
Is it really that hard to bring Ovi maps to N900's Maemo? -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctam
Your GPS doesn't get traffic data.
Google Maps on the iPhone can enable traffic overlays.
The free app "Waze" (also made for other mobile platforms) displays crowdsourced traffic, police, and accident indicators.
Of course I did actually spring for the TomTom app, which also gets traffic...
Your camera has a horribly small lens and is good only for taking 4x6 photos.
I would argue that's true of most small cameras. The iPhone is OK for what it is, I have a real compact camera (Sigma DP2) for real images. So on this point I agree with you more than him, except I think you could go a bit larger than 4x6.
Your watch can't be kept with you while doing anything active.
I'm not sure why you think that considering I take mine to the gym or while running or... pretty much anything. I don't even use a special case, but there are quite a lot of sports cases for the iPhone, even totally waterproof ones...
Your document scanner is horrible quality.
Now actually that is not at all true. The 3G camera, could not really close focus and was marginal for scanning. The 3Gs camera is perfectly fine for scanning, you could easily capture a readable page of any paperback book.
Your portable game console is limited by having touchscreen only and no physical controls.
You have forgotten that movement is a physical control and that a touchscreen is an infinite number of buttons.
Using your mp3 player/video player (and any of the above) will deplete your phone battery so you can't receive calls.
So you either get a battery case or you just recharge it in the evening - if you listen to music all day long you will not run down an iPhone, although video will after several hours. But again, external battery (which is just as small as a replaceable battery for other phones so the whole user-accessed battery point is totally moot).
I get that it may work for you, but there's a good market for standalone devices for a reason.
Right, because there are a few people still left who don't get the benefits yet.
Stand alone GPS is deader than doornails, standalone audio-only close behind. The other categories have reasons why we'll continue to see dedicated devices that are better, though personally I'm not sure if dedicated portable game players will not see huge dropoffs in market share over the next few years.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
My NEW phone is a basic phone without features, and I chose it deliberately. I don't need or want a camera - I already have a camera for taking photos when I want one. What's more, my company's security policies mean I can't take a camera in the front door anyway. I don't want a music player. I don't want a GPS unit. I don't want a file manager. I don't want groovy ringtones. I don't even want a colour screen, I got the lowest option Nokia because it's very light, it has awesome battery performance, and it cost me less than a CD. I have copies of my phone book off line. If I lose the thing, or it gets stolen (bugger all reason for anyone to steal it, by the way), then nothing of value was lost. For anything computer related, I have a laptop, with a decent sized screen. It's also backed up, so if it goes astray, nothing is lost that an insurance claim won't fix. You kids with your "merged" appliances can get off my fucking lawn. By the way, us "oldies" are going to vastly outnumber you young'uns soon, and we've got more disposable money to spend.
If you are talking about cars, why would you run the phone, or a dedicated gps unit for that matter, on batteries?
I tried the free map software yesterday with my Nokia 6220c. First I needed a Windows PC to install the "Ovi Suite" bloatware complete with a mountain of DRM music links and who knows what. Then download the actual maps application. I was not really surprised when it failed to install to the phone; checked the forums to find many others with similar problems. As everyone knows you can post all the bug reports you like but don't hold your breath hoping for Nokia to fix anything. OK I didn't pay anything but sure did waste a lot of time and bandwidth.
"Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace." V.Stone, Microsoft Corporation
I've been using Nokia's Maps application which does both A-GPS (online) and GPS (offline) for a couple of years now. It has always been free and is a standard feature in many Nokias here in Finland. Same for their PC-based map loading application used to download map packs. This Maps/GPS feature was in my previous E90 communicator from 2007 and a better and improved version is included in my new E75. Navigation (route guidance) was a subscription-based service with the E90 but my E75 includes it in the cost of the device.
Or is this another case of US-model Nokia phones with disabled features mandated by the carriers (tethering, carrier portability anyone?)? I still don't understand why you put up with this.
Here in Nokia's backyard, this is NOT news and we have had it for some time.
With that said, using a smartphone as a GPS while driving is NOT a full replacement for a standalone GPS. It can be useful and helpful if you don't have a standalone GPS, but the smaller display sizes and limited GPS feature set of a smartphone compared to a standalone GPS device just doesn't cut it. For pedestrian and bike navigation, smartphones make sense. For car use I'd much rather have a large 4.3" display on my GPS and I'm not likely to want to carry around a smartphone with a 4.3" display. Use the right tool for the job.
I suppose you never heard of TMC.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Great! Now all they need to do is release one that works.
I have the current version of ovi maps on my E71, it's so flaky you could pour milk on it and eat it for breakfast.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Actually Nokia already provided a free Maps application supporting GPS and with free offline Maps for their phones for quite a while now.
I've been using this on my E51 (using an external bluetooth GPS device) for almost a year now including for things like summer vacations in North America and ski-vacations in Europe.
What's new here is that the "Navigation" bit of it (i.e. the route planning and direction instructions) are now free - before these features where paid for and only the maps and position finding features came free.
You're absolutely right, but there's one nit: the best camera you get in a mobile phone isn't as good as the camera you get in a camera.
If you're the type to take lots of photos, get a phone camera AND a camera.
If you're the type not to take photos except as a tourist, take a camera and save the cost of a camera phone and buy just a phone.
If you're the type not to take photos except at a party, get a cheap camera phone if you'll always have it with you. If you're worried about losing it, get a small compact cheap digicam: there's no personal information on a camera and you can't have a phone bill from someone using your camera to take shots in Cameroon...
On the cheap digicam, I would love it if the cheap cams they had also allowed memory cards: the cheap ones usually have only enough memory to take a dozen hi quality shots and you need a PC to download the images to get rid of them.
It's easy to ignore the passenger, it's much more difficult to ignore the telephone. Psychology.
And your passenger has a vested interest in you NOT crashing into something and bursting into flames.
Your telephone cannot see the same road you do and doesn't give a shit.
Slashdot is constantly updated... do you pay for it?
OK, call me old-skool, but I'd love to get a GPS navigation system for my Palm TX.
Right now I'm using old versions of GoogleMaps 1.x and a copy of Mapopolis I bought back when they both were still produced. But neither of them will talk to my bluetooth GPS.
I really love Garmin products and interfaces (still use my monochrome eTrex Legend for hiking / boating), and I'd love to be able to buy their Palm interface that they put on their iQue PalmOS product... hopefully that way I could use the same maps for both the eTrex and my Palm. But unfortunately, I'm afraid this is a missed boat... someday I'll finally give up my aging devices and join the smartphone age with an Android phone or maybe even an N900 if they could get decent map/nav software for it.
Version 3.0 is available for quite a lot of Series 60 phones, but does not have the free navigation licence. Version 3.03 is only for about half a dozen phones. I wonder if and when Nokia will release an upgrade for the remaining Series 60 devices?
Nokia certainly had some plans for the GPS market. It was in 2007 that they scrambled to buy one of the two big turn-by-turn mapping companies. First they made an offer to Tele-Atlas, which scared Tom-Tom into buying them instead. Then they bough up Navteq. Oddly enough, this was the shift that got Google scared about their future plans in the maps and navigation business (they did, at one point, buy the mapping data from both companies).
You do have to wonder, though... this could help kill their external Navteq business, but it would take the actual destruction of the stand-alone GPS market. Presumably, they need this in the phones to complete with Google/Android, or at least think they do.
Anyway, there's little to fear about the updates... this is the same data Garmin and many of the others are using, and charging you $50-$100 every year or so in "new maps" charges. There are some advantages, still, to stand-alone units... the 5" screen on my Pioneer AVIC GPS is a bit more readable than the 3.7" on my DROID. The Pioneer also is integrated into my car stereo system, so for GPS advice and phone calls, no need to mess with volume knob. And Google Navigator (beta) has occasionally led me on "adventures", while the Pioneer, not so much. But there's nothing cooler than GPSing with satellite images, and certainly, if I already had the DROID, I probably would have thought twice about buying a stand-alone.
-Dave Haynie
Navigating to "Pricing and Coverage" redirects to the page "Free navigation on your Nokia. For free. Forever." They obviously intend to give navigation for free to any Nokia phones capable of running the software.
And, going through Nokia's announcement they state that more devices will get free navigation in the coming weeks. Presumably they are testing & validating the software on the older phones.
I've deferred getting a new top of the line garmin, thinking that just maybe a smartphone (preferably a non-walled-garden variety) would support the same functionality?
Can anyone enlighten me?
> I am sure it will not take more than 2 years for a feature in my phone to beat the standalone device in features/functionality
Obviously not true for:
- compact camera.
- camcorder.
- document scanner
- portable game console