SatNav(s)

[Anonymous]

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I wonder what people with N Series Nokias are using for their SatNav functionality?

I got my N95 2 years ago, and it came with Nokia Maps, of course. To turn it into a "proper" SatNav you had to pay a licence fee to add Navigation. I paid for a 3 year licence for Western Europe for about £75 - a direct purchase from Tele Atlas. I thought it was a little expensive at the time, but now, when I see the PC Suite Software Update Licence prices, it doesn't look so bad.

I upgraded my N95 to a N97 a couple of weeks ago, so I move my sim from the N95 to the N97. In playing with the Nokia Maps in the N97, it went off to the web to check for licences, and took my Navigation from the N95 to the N97. Obviously, then, the licence follows the sim (or the number).

This was slightly irritating as the new N97 comes with a free 90 day licence, which is now redundant, while my N95 has no licence.

However, I intend to keep my old N95 (great phone), so it looked a bit naked with a non-working SatNav, and no sim. Now, stricly speaking, the GPS doesn't need a sim, but it's much quicker to lock on to a signal with Assistance from a sim (AGPS).

After a fair amount of research, I decided to splash out on a £50 Garmin micro SD card. One off charge (not annual), and all installed on its own card. I bought one from Halfords.

I also bought myself a Tesco PAYG sim to get some data (AGPS) when it needs it, (these Tesco contracts / PAYG cards are worth a look - they're very flexible).

Anyway, I'm very impressed with the Garmin software. It's much cruder to look at than the Nokia Maps, which looks very refined in comparison. However, this "crudeness" translates to great user-friendliness. Also, its "crudeness" hides the powerfulness of the software. I'm very impressed, and I wonder why I would pay for an annual licence from Nokia. It makes the Nokia Maps look "fiddly" by comparison.

I tried it on a journey, with no sim card in the phone, and therefor no AGPS, and it was absolutely fine. I've yet to try it with AGPS, now that I've got the sim in the phone, but it did pick up my location quite easily indoors. Since I don't plan on doing much driving indoors, so far it doesn't look as if it needs AGPS.

I've reset all the counters on my phone, so I'll monitor the data usage of the AGPS, and decide whether ot not it's worth it.

Yay Garmin.

What are others using in their N Series phones?

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[Anonymous]

My n78 came with 18 months free nokia maps licence as a special o2 offer. When i needed a new one on insurance the balance of my 18 months carried onto to new handset. The new one had 90 days free licence which was added on to whatever was carried over.

[Anonymous]

But to actually answer your question, i find nokia maps 2 great. Maps 1 was ok, 2 is much better. Shall be stopping soon as upgrading to a diff handset, prob samsung galaxy, and have got full garmin sat nav now too.

[Anonymous]

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Meh.

I agree about Nokia Maps 2. It took a couple of updates for Nokia to get this right. In the beginning it was flaky and slow. You were lucky to get free Navigation, I'm jealous.

I was one of life's PAYG people until the N95 came on the market. I didn't need a contract, being a light user. I got the N95 free on an 18 month O2 contract from Dial a Phone, because it was so many high quality devices in one unit. I hate carrying loads of gadgets around. I probably wouldn't have bought a SatNav, having driven lorries all over the country using Road Atlases.

It just bugs me having to pay for an annual licence. When my Nokia Maps licence eventually runs out, I think I'll just buy Garmin software again, for my N97, if it's still alive in 2 years!

I notice that you cannot buy the TeleAtlas 3 year licence which I bought from their website. One year max now! Which makes it more than double the price I paid. They do offer the McGuider software though - like Garmin, it's just a one-off payment. Anyone have any experience of McGuider software?

Good luck with your Garmin unit. I think it's the same software as I have. It's really intuitive to use.

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[Anonymous]

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Well ...

I've had my new N97 SatNat and my new Garmin software on my old N95 for a week now.

Along with the N97 firmware update, I updated Nokia Maps 2.0 to Ovi Maps 3.1, and treated myself to the safety camera add-on. I also managed to get "Anne" back on the N97 (sorry "Martin").

This safety camera thing is quite something. It goes bananas on my local motorway, which has variable speed control. It knows where all the cameras are, but doesn't know what the speed's supposed to be - lol. In addition to warning you in advance, it bleeps softly as you pass the camera.

I discovered one important thing about Ovi Maps 3.1. Unlike Nokia Maps 2.0 it allows for the use of full 7 digit (maybe 8?) post codes, not just the 4 digits of 2.0. Very useful.

Having discovered this fact, I then tried out the Garmin software on my N95, and it too allows 7 digit post codes. Bing! (Sorry, I'm watching "Groundhog Day").

The Garmin has an interesting feature. Like on an aeroplane, when the stewardess is about to make an announcement, there a soft "ding" sound to alert you. It's quite nice.

N97 SatNav criticisms, so far.

When I drove off today, the GPS dropped out several times in the first 2 miles. I also kept getting the "Cannot connect to Wlan" message for the first couple of miles. I fiddled with the Wlan priority 1 thing, automatically connect etc, as I thought that the Wlan trying to connect was interfering with the AGPS. In the end it was ok. Now I've decided not to change my Wlan settings, but just to shut off the Wlan Auto Scan function when I leave the house, and turn it back on when at home, or when I want a hotspot.

I need to do more testing. The N97 seems a bit laaggy. My N95 is spot on for location while in motion, but the N97 is a couple of hundred yards behind where it should be. It seems to be a little slow in processing the data. I wonder if it's due to it's checking stuff in the background. Like, does it need to check for emails etc. We'll see.

The Garmin software on the N95 is spot on, I recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to pay for an annual Nokia Maps lioence. Unfortunately it doesn't run on the N97, only the N95 😞

I also recommend the Ovi Maps 3.1 update.

More later when I've done more testing.

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[Anonymous]

A mate of mine had the n95 and he had a problem where he was always a hundred yards or so behind. We did a side by side test (it was a dull trip) and it was weird. He didn't have a-gps enable at first which i didn't think made a difference apart from initial lock time but when he turned it on and restarted it was all in time. As an aside, i had a se c702 briefly last year. I used wayfinder on it (had to install it myself as o2 had kindly removed it). Worked great so long as you had a signal as it downloaded maps ota. Lucky me lost his signal in the lakes which made for an interesting hour or so! It then sent me into bradford on the way home before losing signal again. Lucklily i spotted a sign for the motorway and aimed for that. Swapped the c702 after that for a 6220c, then my trusty n78! I've also used google maps but that's more like just an electronic map that keeps track of where you are. Can be useful though in areas where there are a lot of new roads. My full on garmin is working a treat. Took me and the gf to liverpool and durham without a hitch. Safety camera info is useful, plus it gives the speed they are set too and warns you if you are going over it. Need to update locats off the computer though as some temp cameras in my hometown haven't been there for a few months now.

[Anonymous]

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Thanks meh. Interesting" I do have AGPS enabled, and it locks on quickly. I just get the feeling that the SatNav application doesn't have all the phone's attention, all the time. I never had this with my N95, but then I didn't have such a complicated normal use setup, with email checking, etc. Auto retrieve is set to work in home network only, therefore with no Wlan it shouldn't be checking for new mail (no "polling"). However, I'm still not convinced that the phone isn't thinking of something else while it's navigating. It has to remember appointments, etc, so it must be doing some minimal things in the background.

Maybe I'm overly sensitive to the limited memory of the N97. I just wonder if the available memory is really too small for this multi tasking gadget?

We all know from PCs that the biggest limiter in performance is lack of ram memory.

Hmm ...

Keep the feedback coming. I hope we can learn from each other. Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

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[Anonymous]

I've got a N95 but I have TomTom running on it! The version I have is not campatable with the Nokia inbuilt GPS receiver so I had to buy one (£10). It now sits nicely in the corner of my dashboard and bluetooths to my phone. It work a thousand times better than Nokia maps and is very easy to use! Only problem is.... I cannot connect it to the TomTom website. Spoke to TomTom and they said their software doesn't work on a N95. Erm.....It does on mine!