Nokia GPS aims to show us the way

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Tuesday, 31 October 2006

Page 1 of 2 ! Nokia sells tens of millions of mobile phones every year, more than Apple sells iPods. If you think that most phones have a digital camera, they sell millions of digital cameras and mp3 players (as part of their phones) every year. Now Nokia wants to do GPS, too. If you’ve got a Series 60 Nokia phone, a range of Bluetooth GPS devices can turn your existing Nokia into a turn-by-turn GPS mapping system today, displaying the 2D and 3D maps we’re used to seeing on everyday GPS devices. But the smaller screen on most smartphones isn’t the best way to deliver GPS maps while you’re driving around. Nokia are trying to rectify this in two ways – one, by including GPS as standard within their next generation N95 mobile phone which will come out in Q1, 2007. The other way is by directly entering the GPS market with their own dedicated device. And that’s exactly what they’ve done with the Nokia 330 Auto Navigation. At first glance, it looks pretty similar to many of the GPS devices on the market. Unlike the latest Navman GPS units, there is no inbuilt camera to take photos of your destination to easily navigate back there by image alone. There’s also no word on whether on not Bluetooth’s built-in so you can use it as a speakerphone with your Bluetooth phone when driving around. We do know that it has launched in Europe, with Europe-wide maps stored on a 2Gb memory card, able to offer turn-by-turn navigation across countries coupled with clear spoken and on-screen directions as you’d expect from any competent GPS device today. The LCD screen is a 3.5-inch touchscreen, along with a range of controls on the right hand side of the screen. It suction caps to your windscreen as expect. 2D and 3D maps are built-in, along with day and night modes to make navigation easier at any time of the day that you’re driving. The Nokia 330 can also play videos, music and display photos on its screen, giving it ‘iPod’ like capabilities, although this is also available on many competitors. The Nokia 330 Auto Navigator close up Expected to be on sale in Europe at around €360, or just under US $500, there’s no word yet on when it will appear in Australia, or if it will on sale in phone stores available on some kind of plan. Given that there is no phone contract to tie it to, this seems unlikely, so it’s probably destined for the mass retailer market. << First page <   1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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