This week at Nokia World here in Barcelona, Nokia announced its new Maps on Ovi service, which allows anyone using Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari to synchronize landmarks and routes that you create on your desktop to your phone, wirelessly, using your Nokia/Ovi account. The service will work on Windows, Mac, or Linux, thanks to Firefox, so no one is left in the cold.
As you might imagine, there is also a new version of Nokia Maps for your device, though it’s currently only available for S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 devices. They’re demo’ing it on a Nokia N95 8GB, which is only Feature Pack 1, and I’ve confirmed that a version for Feature Pack 1 devices such as the N95, N82, and E71 will be available within weeks, not months.
Other updates to Nokia Maps include all-new terrain maps, which look quite nice, and also the ability to get ‘as the crow flies’ navigation routes, in pedestrian mode. There have been supposed improvements in other aspects, such as stability and speed and whatnot. There are other things, however, that are coming later, such as the ability for Nokia Maps to automatically change between day/night mode, and other cool extras.
Unfortunately, while this is all cool, and I like that there are multiple web browsers (and thus operating systems) supported, what’s completely stupid is that Nokia hasn’t provided the phone update via .sis file – you have to download somehow through your computer, and the plugin required for that is only available for Windows – thus, only PC users can actually get the new client on their phone. How completely silly. Nokia – fix this, quickly.
The web feature will always be free, as well. We’ll have a video walkthrough of this new feature soon, so stay tuned. You can also check it out for yourself here, you can also check out the introductory video from Phillip Schwarzmann:
