Dotsisx

Dotsisx, aka Rita El Khoury, joined Symbian-Guru.com in September of 2007, and has been writing awesome content ever since. Rita often explores the normal user aspect of Symbian-powered devices, and offers in-depth thoughts on various topics. You can follow Dotsisx on Twitter at @Khouryrt

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  • Ahh Rita Glad to see you back here,Hope you are doing well in the French Soil,and delighted to hear your N82's role in your life.Now you will get the maximum productivity out of your phone.
  • Cheung Yuen Wong
    Without a doubt Nokia Maps is the one in use with devices with inbuilt GPS.

    Tried the Nokia Maps myself as I was sitting in a car to se if it could pinpoint the right directions to the destination.
    To my big surprise it was completely correct.

    A bit strange that you should miss by 5% but I guess that's because of the speed of the airplane making it a bit difficult for the handset to keep up.
    But to miss with just 5%, that in itself is outstanding.

    Great post pointing out all the aspects on how truly Nokia Maps kicks the *** of Google Maps especially when you are in a foreign country.

    Nokia Maps FTW for Nokia Phones.
  • Martin
    I agree. Nokia Maps is a very nice tool. However, you have been wise not to purchase navigation. Navigation still sucks a lot. I booked it for my trip to Silcily but it was not worth the money. Calculating a route needs an open Internet connection (I don't no why??), and the driving direction given are often wrong.
  • Oh I forgot to say that I also used it to find my research lab... heh, well I DID say that there are many things I used it for that I don't even remember now :)
  • I enjoyed reading that Rita.! Well done, its great to hear something positive about Nokia Maps for a change. I too swear by it, as you say, using Map Loader, download the maps you need onto your phone, (if you have the new 16GB MicroSD, then theres loads of space for all maps I think), then as you say, no connection needed, its great!
  • JJ5
    Wow! You actually survived BEING in France for two weeks without shooting yourself in the head or shoving ice picks in your ears? Well done! I could never manage that. The one day I spent in France in the 1980's was far more than I EVER want to see of that horrid country again.
  • Mino
    Getting lost is sometimes the best way to discover a city ;-).
    I actually like it when I settle in a new city, it adds to the feeling of discovery.
    But yes nokia maps is awesome and so detailed, it never fails to impress me.
    I hope you enjoy your stay in Paris! (Btw I love the international ambiance at the Cite U with all the different country houses, it's like a mini world)
  • boborrow
    Hi,

    Sometimes, my nokia map takes a lot of time to fix but when it is fixed, it's real a miracle !!!!
    Good stay in Paris, I have a friend who comes from lebanon like you. If you want to hang out with us to discover Paris, contact me....

    Bye
  • louis
    Hi, would you mind sharing what's the application that can track altitude, speed et cetera in a plane? Thanks in advance!
  • Jaclu
    Hi, I also skip gmaps when abroad, mostly due to extream roaming charges.
    This spring i was in London for 3 days, using gmaps. When getting home, I found a nice little surprise of a 400€ extra charge on my phonebill.
    After that I disabled all roaming mobile internet ;)

    What I mostly do when abroad in mtetropolitan areas is to use nokia maps (pre-loaded), and set Favourites on places Im heading to, then I use gps-data (since my phone is in swedish I dont know the exakt name in english). On the navigation screen, you can select pre-defined favourites. Then you have a compas that shows you distance and direction to where youre going.
    Normaly much more convinient than using maps, every now and then I take a quick glance at the compass and use that as a general guideline.
    Gets me to where I want to go and I dont have to waste time staring at a microcopic map - either you zome in so much that you can read the streetnames, or you zoom out so that you see where youre going, but loosing the individual streetnames.
    Also whilst using the compass, I can spend most of my time actually looking at the real surroundings, only checking the compass everynow and then to make sure I havent drifted off (happens easaly since streets have a tendency to not be straight :)

    Also impresses the hell out off my company, normaly they hardly notice that I take quick looks on my phone everynow and then, they think I have this inceredible sence of direction - last week I was in Athens and could walk swiftly through the older parts of town without getting lost even once ;)

    Just my 2c...
  • That is really fantastic app with itinerary and navigation and simulation and all that jazz. Though, taxi drivers may not like your suggested use of Nokia Maps
  • Stefan Constantinescu
    Here is an honest question: You're proud of the fact that you didn't pay for directions. I'm not saying that's wrong, I work for Nokia and even I use Google Maps!

    What I want to know: What would Nokia Maps have to have for you to pay? What price points, what features, etc.?

    That's what I'm working on right now here in Finland and while I can't tell you what we've concept-ed so far, sorry, I would LOVE to hear what you have to say.
  • Dave Mitchell
    Does anyone know of a good guide of using Nokia Maps inside and out? I basically use it to tell me where I am, but I find the navigation features to be a pain to figure out what I'm doing.

    Stefan, this might not be a pay feature, but some kind of PC applet that would let you build lists on your PC would be great. Lets face it, when I'm near a PC I'm going to use Google Maps but when I'm mobile I don't have a dataplan so I'm using Nokia Maps. If places I wanted to go were importable somehow that would be great. I even tried SMSing myself addresses and co-ordinates but the cut and paste failed me.
  • Nokia map is great. It rocks! LOL
  • JJ5,
    Well my Jaiku friends would testify to the fact that I was very close at numerous times to shoot myself in the head :)

    Mino
    That's totally right, I love it here too :D

    boborrow,
    Oh how I wish I had the luxury of time to go wander around the city. I only have some weekends off now, but I bet these would disappear very soon. Anyway, maybe we could meet for a cup of coffee someday :D
    email: khoury.rt[at]gmail[dot]com

    Louis,
    You can use the simple GPS Data application that comes preinstalled on your handset (I think you might find it in the Connectivity or Tools folder on Nseries and in the GPS folder on the new E71/E66). You can also use Nokia Sports Tracker (the link to download it is usually in the Download! application on your phone).

    Jaclu,
    That's a nice idea, I would've given it a try if I had the compass on my handset but I don't. And as I said to boborrow, I don't have the luxury of time to get lost ;)

    Stefan,
    There's an email coming your way.

    Dave Mitchell,
    I definitely agree with you, I use Google Maps on the PC and Nokia Maps on the handset. I think Mark Guim from The Nokia Blog write a guide about getting the positions from the internet to the handset using kml files or something, but I don't use it. I usually use the traditional, look-where-it-is-on-the-pc-and-try-to-find-it-on-the-handset.
  • Jaclu
    Regarding the compass I was talking about, its not a magnetic-compas such as I have seen in some earlier sportsmodels from nokia, this is rather a gps-compass, should be available in all nokias with gps hardware.
    In the swedish menues its called GPS-data, then the first tab is called Navigation.

    This should give you a gps-compass, it can only show wich way you are heading when you have gps-coverage and during motion.
  • Oh yeah Jaclu, I remember this one. Thanks for reminding me about it.
  • N93i worshiper
    Glad to see how a Nseries fone can help u to survive in a foreign country.My N93i(s) (coz i only buy N93i, i broke one, bought a second one and now waiting for the shippment of two other black edition N93i) were my best friends in France, they were my world (MP3 player via A2DP, digi cam wiz 3x optical zoom, web browser via WLAN using SU-8W, portable DVD player using a DivX software to watch movies in metro, and of course GPS navigator). N93i = Life in its essence
    As for the GPS use on ur N82.... if u find Nokia Maps miraculous... what will u say about Tomtom? Divine???
    Girl u definitely need to download Tomtom navigator, i used many softwares in Europe on my beloved N93i.... nothing dethrones Tomtom. Here in Lebanon, we r stuck with the Sygic software..... God how i miss Tomtom.
    Nokia maps are slightly below average, with a non-friendly interface.....and using GPS internal module?? mmmm.... i wouldnt say it's a pleasant journey or the ideal solutions to carry with. u should bring a dedicated GPS Sirf StarIII module like the mighty Nokia LD-3W, download or purchase Tomtom software.... and i guarantee u a full throttle experience!!!
    Well it's ur first usage of GPS in ur life, for that reason u r extremely happy with a low-end software such as Nokia Maps (u remind me the leb people here when i'm using the silly Sygic GPS software, they r soo amazed and they think dat Sygic is a wonder....and that's coz they never have the opportunity to know what GPS is). I think dat once ur first-time-extasy-GPS-experience would vanish.... u will surely know what u have missed for not using Tomtom yet.
    Anyway nice article, wishing all the best for ur N82.
  • Hehe, Mr "N93i is the god of all handsets",
    I realize that there are many other software/solutions that might provide a higher experience than Nokia Maps or the built-in GPS. But what I always like to emphasize on, is that I always like to focus on the out-of-the-box experience of S60 handsets. Out of the box, and as a first GPS experience for many users, Nokia Maps, is really amazing, and nothing to be underestimated.
    As for external GPS and whatnot, well, I'm more of a one-device-do-it-all girl, ie if my handset does something 70% well enough, I won't bother about carrying another gadget that brings the experience to a 100%. Portability does matter in my world.
  • Barney Tan
    I'm using nokia maps v2.0 on my Nokia E71 in Paris and I have to say that my experience was largely disappointing. It usually takes more than 5 minutes to even get a GPS signal and I got lost more than a few times.
  • Martin
    I agree. Nokia Maps is a very nice tool. However, you have been wise not to purchase navigation. Navigation still sucks a lot. I booked it for my trip to Silcily but it was not worth the money. Calculating a route needs an open Internet connection (I don't no why??), and the driving direction given are often wrong.
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