Out of the blue today, Nokia Beta Labs has launched a new service + app, called Nokia Friend View. This is in conjunction with the Nokia Research Center, and is a social-GPS location-based service that allows you to broadcast your location to your friends, as well as get status updates, similar to Jaiku. The service uses your Nokia Account (thankfully) so you can just log right in if you’re already using Files on Ovi or Sync on Ovi.

I installed Nokia Friend View on my E71, but any S60v3 phone should be able to use the service just fine. The application consists mainly of a map view, with your location pin-pointed directly on the map. In the settings, you can choose whether to allow this location to be shown to others, and you can also choose between GPS-based or network-based, or a combination of the two.

Once you have your location shown, you can post a status update, or simply say ‘I’m here’. Your friends can see this, to know where you are and what you’re doing. You can also add a custom avatar, either on your desktop browser, or using your phone’s camera, which is a neat feature.

Maps are downloaded over the air, so keep in mind this is a very data-intensive service. Hopefully, in the future, we’ll be able to use the same maps for Nokia Maps, Sportstracker/NokiaviNe, and now Nokia Friend View, but at this time, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.

You can get more information here, and watch the video below for an introduction from my friend Stefan Constantinescu. We’ll be using the app ourselves, and will report back with a more in-depth review soon. Initially, we’re huge fans.

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Categories: Applications
Tags: beta labs, features, gps, location, nokia friend view