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Nokia’s Maps Solutions For Mac Are Painfully Catastrophic

By Dotsisx on November 30, 2009

A couple of days ago, I reset my Nokia E71 then went on to change all my settings, then got back all my data and installed my must-have applications using only a bluetooth connection with my Macbook. Being used to the process, it only took me an hour to get my E71 back to an almost brand-new state. But I hit a stop at Ovi Maps.

I launched the Nokia MapLoader for Mac on my computer to get the latest maps that are available for Lebanon. Upon connection, I was prompted to update Maps on my E71 to the newest Ovi Maps release. Sure, I thought, it’s just a download away. So I searched and eventually found out that I need to have the Nokia Maps Updater in order to update my version of Maps. Thinking that since there is a MapLoader for Mac, there must be a Maps Updater too since it’s a prerequisite to use the former, I looked, and what do you know? It’s Windows-only.

Nokia Maps Updater

I gulped and decided to download Maps Updater for Windows. I have Parallels installed on my Mac, but it’s against my principles to use Windows on a Mac computer, I don’t mind using it on any Windows machine, but on a Mac, well, I just hate it. Ignoring my principles, I launched the download which is a whopping 19MB file for a software that allows you to download other software, real smart, where in comparison the full MapLoader is a 2MB file. After the download was done, I installed the Nokia Maps Updater on the Windows partition in Parallels (which by the way also required and installed Nokia PC Connectivity Solution), then restarted Parallels, launched Maps Updater only to hit another halt.

Nokia Maps Updater requires me to have Nokia PC Suite installed on Windows in order for it to recognize my phone. Seriously?! No really, SERIOUSLY?!

So let me get this straight: I have to get an 80MB PC Suite installation file, install it on a virtual Windows partition on my Mac, connect my E71 to it after installing a small PC Suite support app on the phone, download another Nokia Maps Updater 19MB file, install it on the virtual machine in addition to another PC Connectivity solution requisite, (slow everything down, hog all the RAM available), connect it to my phone, in order for it to download the latest Ovi Maps version on my E71 which is a mere 4-5MB, install that, then go back to Nokia MapLoader on the Mac so that I finally get the latest maps on my phone?

Are you kidding me?!

Dear Nokia, easy 2-word solution: Ovi Store. It’s yours, it’s free for you. Just put the darned latest Ovi Maps installation file there, and let us all have a happy life. Kthxbai.

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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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  • Andelson Marcelino
    Rita, I always read and always like and agree with your thoughts, but this time, i don't. Don´t get me wrong, but you aren´t the rule now, you are the exception, the most part of the world use Windows plataform and the way to do things on MAC is only for to be useful, not to be perfect or pratical.
  • froschy
    I think you might have missed the point of this article, my read of it is that Rita is advocating an OS agnostic method for updating the Maps application via the Ovi Store. The power of services like this for a mobile device is the ability to remove the dependancy on any computer, PC or Mac.

    @ Rita - I suspect there maybe something more to the installation of Maps that requires the updater rather than just an install from a sis file, possibly something to do with the map data already on the device. Just a theory/speculation on my part.
  • Yes Maps Data needs to be updated, but it could be done in another way. Say I download Ovi Maps from the Ovi Store, and before and after installation it warns me abt my Maps Data. After the install is done, it could tell me that my maps data won't work until I connect my phone to a computer to update them via the Map Loader.
    The point of this whole post is that usually you can get by without any need for Windows on the Mac when you have a Symbian phone, then comes Maps and u have to start from scratch for a silly little 5MB file. It's not even funny. And the fact that MapLoader is available for the Mac while Maps Updater isn't is just like stabbing someone in the back and turning the knife in the wound to enlarge it.
  • froschy
    I wasn't disagreeing with you, rather playing devil's advocate in relation to the technical requirements for doing this.

    As a fellow Mac user I can sympathise as I have felt the frustration of Nokia's poor software implementation and fractured services. IMHO Nokia still think that the software experience comes a very distant second to the hardware experience. Apple, although not perfect, realise that a good software/ui experience in a device is key to widespread adoption unlike Nokia devices which require a lot of effort to get working to a satisfactory level. As an example of this I would definitely recommend and setup an iPhone for my non-tech literate relatives & friends but I would never recommend a Nokia as they would have a poor experience and I would be lumped with a huge overhead to maintain these phones.
  • It's not about practicality here, it's about ruining the experience for a first time user. There is not one software to install to get everything with nokia (like apple has with iTunes), no, you install something and then discover you need another thing to make the first one work, and a third thing to make the second one work. This is ridiculous.
    As I stated, the 4-5MB file could have been easily provided through Ovi Store. At least, that's what other companies who are careful about the user experience would've done.
    Besides, Andison, Symbian-Guru doesn't only point out the errors that need to be fixed only if they target the general consumer, we also like to make a written emphasis on errors that target a small user base too. After all, it's our job, and I'd like to believe that we have played a very important role in the past 3 years in fixing very minor and very important glitches.
  • krisq
    What about software updater on the phone? Doesn't E71 have it?
  • No the E71 doesn't have a software updater, neither does it have a firmware OTA... it's FP1 days :(
  • apurvgupta
    You are right absolutely, so much of downloading is required to get to install the 4mb file which is ovi maps . And that can easily be avoided.
  • Jeff
    Hell yeah, totally agree!
  • You can download the nokia maps file and bluetooth it to yourself. that is what I do.
  • Yeah, but were do you download it from? It's not available from Nokia officially, and it's really hard to find it on the internet. The point is that it shouldn't be this way.
  • Smaragd
  • Smaragd
    There are even direct links from the Nokia server, but someone made it easier to access them.

    http://blog.martinletis.com/2008/02/nokia-maps-...
  • Abhi
    So I should be searching the web and following links from blogs to download an official nokia map application?
  • Those are the links for the maps data, and Lebanon maps (which are the ones that got me started through it all) aren't in any of those pages. The point that I'm making isn't for the maps data itself, there is a MapLoader app for both PC and Mac and it works well, the point is for the Maps Updater app that is only available for PC and that has you jumping through hoops (even on PC) for a 4-5MB .sis file.
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