Saved By Nokia Maps - For Free
Nokia gets alot of heat for the cost of their Maps upgrade services. I’ve bought it several times (for a month at a time, $11) and it’s incredibly useful for getting from one place to the other. However, most people don’t realize how useful and functional it is without even paying a dime!
Here’s 2 scenarios in which Nokia Maps, for free, saved me time and money when in an area I wasn’t at all familiar with.
The first instance happened as soon as I got to London. Donna from WOM World and I were trying to find a mobile shop nearby the hotel so that I could snag a pre-paid SIM card, and we got a bit turned around. Donna was using the N76, but luckily I had my N95 with the built-in GPS. I was able to quickly get a lock on where we were, and determine which direction we were walking.
We then searched for the hotel and were able to easily see that we were a few blocks off, and headed in the wrong direction! No telling how much farther we would have walked off track if we hadn’t had the GPS to help us figure out where to go! Since we were in such close proximity, we didn’t even need the paid voice navigation, either!
Later in the weekend, I was in Houston, TX with Christina and got a chance to really put Maps to use to save me some green!
Here’s the setup: we’re driving around Galveston Island, trying to
decide if we’re going to stay on the island or drive the hour back to
Houston to get a hotel. The problem is, there’s TONS of hotels on the
island, and it would take forever to stop into every one to see how
much they were. So I pulled up Nokia Maps and gave it a minute to get a
lock. I was able to press Options - Map Views - Categories and check
off the Hotels category. Back on the map, all of a sudden there were a
bunch of little hotel icons all over the map!
By scrolling around, I was able to select an icon and press the green
"Call" button. Wa-La! My phone is automatically calling the hotel, and
I was able to easily inquire about rates and availability, and when I
ended the call, Maps was still open for me to scroll to the next. Using
this, I was able to sit in a gas station parking lot and within 30
minutes call 8-10 hotels easily!
The best part is that I was able to discover that it would cost at
least $25-30 MORE for us to stay on the island vs. driving the short
trip back to Houston. Chalk one up to Nokia Maps for actually SAVING me
money!
What are YOU using to help you get around? Have you updated to the new version of Nokia Maps yet? You can do it here!
I use Mobile7 Route66. Okay, not so many points of interest as the nokia maps, but no need to pay for voice nav, and looks to handle the GPS better too.. dunno why, I get more sats. connections with route66.
Nokia maps usualy gets 4 or 5 sats, but route 66 gets 6, 7+.. The signal worked inside my room with my window closed, at about 3 feet from the window, while nokia maps didn’t seem to get the signal.
Regards,
DaN
I think the heat Nokia takes is undeserved. Although I don’t use Maps a lot (Brazilian maps leave a lot to be desired), I’ve used it on occasion, and for me, it is *way* better to pay a few bucks for light use than a full license.
Maybe if I used the navigation system everyday it would make sense. But even so, I don’t think so.
This way, you get up-to-date maps for free (yes, free!) and even routes for free (again!); Eventually you can get navigation, and pay a little charge for it.
I’m not sure, but if anyone is the weak end in that deal, that is Nokia.