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News from Finland - if you have a GPS enabled phone but have never known what the devil to do with it, Nokia have the solution.
After the modest success of Nokia Maps (it was basically just maps and you needed an additional GPS device initially, but hey, it was free!) and the advent of GPS phones, the handset manufacturer has unleashed a wave of features to make your mobile more like a TomTom than ever before.
The software, which can be downloaded from Nokia’s website, features improved car and walking navigation, as well as city guides with audio and video streams.
For instance, when using your phone’s GPS in your car, it now has faster re-routing on the go, and for the walkers out there it also give public transport information such as station entrances (though then you wouldn’t be walking).
Tell me something new
The list of partial features (why only partial we don’t know…no news on what’s being kept secret) includes the ability to identify where you are by giving information on buildings and nearby attractions.
Apparently 240,000 have downloaded the Nokia Maps application so far, but after personal experience there are some who must have downloaded it over 1,000 times individually after it wouldn’t install and kept asking for a new file.
The upshot of the new software is it helps make balance the GPS / privacy argument. Yes, people might be able to know where you are at any given moment, and the targeted advertising could get annoying.
But if the reward is little bits of information on the surroundings you might not usually find, especially abroad, then that certainly might help soften the blow.
More...
After the modest success of Nokia Maps (it was basically just maps and you needed an additional GPS device initially, but hey, it was free!) and the advent of GPS phones, the handset manufacturer has unleashed a wave of features to make your mobile more like a TomTom than ever before.
The software, which can be downloaded from Nokia’s website, features improved car and walking navigation, as well as city guides with audio and video streams.
For instance, when using your phone’s GPS in your car, it now has faster re-routing on the go, and for the walkers out there it also give public transport information such as station entrances (though then you wouldn’t be walking).
Tell me something new
The list of partial features (why only partial we don’t know…no news on what’s being kept secret) includes the ability to identify where you are by giving information on buildings and nearby attractions.
Apparently 240,000 have downloaded the Nokia Maps application so far, but after personal experience there are some who must have downloaded it over 1,000 times individually after it wouldn’t install and kept asking for a new file.
The upshot of the new software is it helps make balance the GPS / privacy argument. Yes, people might be able to know where you are at any given moment, and the targeted advertising could get annoying.
But if the reward is little bits of information on the surroundings you might not usually find, especially abroad, then that certainly might help soften the blow.
More...