Nokia Ovi Maps gets free turn-by-turn navigation
Nokia has announced an update to Ovi Maps which will see free turn-by-turn navigation added to your phone, leaving the sat-nav manufacturers shaking i
The update, which is available now for Nokia S60 GPS-packing phones, is completely free, and will offer up turn-by-turn, voice-guided navigation for both drivers and pedestrians.
And not just that – you can expect all the added extras you’d get with a sat nav, such as 3D landmarks, lane assistance, traffic information and speed camera warnings for drivers, and pedestrian-only routes and shortcuts for walkers.
You’ll be able to get detailed maps for 180 countries, and voice guidance in 74 of them, so you can take it with you on holiday and not worry about getting lost.
Even better is that you are able to pre-load maps on to your phone and set Ovi Maps into offline mode, so you use no pricey roaming data, but just GPS.
Finally, Nokia’s Ovi Maps uses hybrid vector maps that are less bulky than bitmaps used by other sat nav apps, meaning they’ll load quicker and you can continue to navigate even if you lose signal.
The phones currently compatible include Nokia’s N97 Mini, 5800 (Xpressmusic and Navigation Edition), E72, X6, E55, E52, 6730 Classic, 6710 Navigator and the 5230, but more are hoping to be added in the coming weeks.
Head over to the Ovi Maps website for more details or to download, and be sure to check out what we thought to it when we got hands on with it this morning. Who needs Google Maps Navigation, eh?
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
