Want free GPS? Nokia has some news for you.
Unless you want to pay $10 a month for service like GPS Nav, many smartphone owners know free services like Google Maps have its limitations, such as no voice-based turn-by-turn instructions. Nokia, however, is bucking the trend with its feature-rich Ovi Maps.
Put your wallet away, Nokia smartphone fans.
Today, the Helskini-based company announced beginning this spring, all compatible GPS-enabled Nokia smartphones that run Ovi Maps will now have full access to its features – for free — for the entire lifetime of the device.
This includes global maps (navigation in 75 countries and 46 languages), voice-guided turn-by-turn instructions, car and pedestrian navigation (the latter will tell you to cut across a park or walk in any direction down a one-way street) and other premium content (including millions of points of interest, local weather, real-time traffic in 10 countries, and more).
In other words, you don’t need to use a separate GPS device (unless you think segregating smartphones and GPS navigation is a good idea), nor would you have to pay for a A-GPS service for your phone, like GPS Nav (“assisted” GPS, which works with cellular connectivity as well as satellites).
By comparison, the free Google Maps for Mobile doesn’t give voice-based turn-by-directions (rendering it useless while behind the wheel) and doesn’t give pedestrian navigation. What’s more, Ovi Maps comes preloaded in the device, therefore an online connection is not required for navigation. (Nokia says Ovi Maps uses 55 percent less data than Google Maps and is 10 times more efficient.)
Does this announcement appeal to you? I guess it would if you’re already a Nokia smartphone owner. But would it make you pick a Nokia smartphone over another brand because of the free Ovi maps feature?
Let us know what you think by “navigating” to our comments section below.
A few thoughts on this:
Good for Nokia for trying to lift the veil on GPS services on mobile phones – I’ve never understood why people would pay $10/month for a service that is free when you buy a stand-alone device.
But – on that same note – will carriers respond by simply not offering Nokia handsets – or disabling the feature?
Seems like a potentially dangerous move (threatening a revenue stream of the company that you rely on for your primary sales channel) for a company that appears to be doing as much as it can to keep people buying their devices instead of the competition.
Hi Simon,
The key advantage to using GPS in your smartphone, of course, is that it’s convenient (even on foot) since you never leave home without it. Also, you can pull up a contact name in your address book and the GPS on the smartphone can help you navigate there. Thirdly, maps on services like GPS Nav offer frequent (and automatic) updates along with real-time traffic info — something you rarely see too often on standalone maps.
Marc
It’s about time that technology is serving mankind.
Since the tech is available free of charge using a GPS, why not make it available on your cell phone.
It’s logical – RIGHT?!
Ike