Hasta La Gadget!

It was only yesterday that we heard of this WinMo 6.5.3 beastie, and already Taiwanese ladies and gents can sign up to own one, pending a February 6 delivery. The new pre-order page confirms our earlier indications of a 3.5-inch WVGA display and 5 megapixel camera, while adding the knowledge of 512MB of both RAM and ROM, plus MicroSD storage expandability. A relatively low end Qualcomm MSM 7227 600MHz CPU drives the show here, and we’re told a spare battery (1,500mAh by default) or a car holder for navigation also come as part of the 13,900 TWD ($435) package. So, are you excited or what?

Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 emerges on Taiwanese pre-order page originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia’s own headline sums this story up pretty well: “Navigation on your Nokia. For free. Forever.”

That’s right. If anyone thought that Garmin, TomTom and any other standalone GPS makers were already in trouble after Apple allowed turn-by-turn navigation on the iPhone, now the world’s No. 1 phone maker is giving away a full suite for any compatible Nokia handset, anywhere in the world. And not only is the application itself free: so are those usually lucrative maps and updates.

Free is fantastic and all, but what’s really important here is the fact that the maps are stored on the phone, not trickled to your device from a network. See, when you download Google maps on an iPhone or Android device, you’re at the mercy of of your cell signal. No bars, no map. But Nokia’s model is the same as a dedicated GPS unit: The maps are pre-loaded onto the phone and reside there permanently. In a place where the network doesn’t reach? No problem, maps are available. Don’t want to squander your data plan? No problem, maps don’t suck up kilobytes.

If you have Nokia smartphone, you can grab the download today from the Ovi store (not every handset is supported — the N900 is not on the list, for instance). Along with AGPS support, you get driving and walking directions, Lonely Planet and Michelin guides, weather updates and companion desktop (browser-based) software to manage and search routes form the comfort of a big keyboard. Best of all, the maps are available offline, unlike Google Maps on the iPhone.

Seriously, who would want to be in the satnav-selling game right now? If I had TomTom or Garmin shares (and I don’t), I would be selling them right now.

Ovi Maps [Nokia]

Man, you thought Garmin and TomTom were in trouble when Google announced its free Navigation service… wait until investors hear Nokia’s news. Reuters is reporting that Nokia will offer free navigation on its smartphones. However, instead of just the US (the current Google limitation sans hacking), Nokia will be demonstrating its reach by offering free turn-by-turn directions in 74 countries and 46 languages — a move that should cover 20 million smartphones globally with Ovi Maps available in over 180 countries. Damn.

Update: The original San Francisco Chronicle report has been pulled but Google cache caught a bit more saying that Nokia’s navigation service is “capable of operating completely offline” unlike Google Navigation which requires data connectivity.

Update 2: Nokia just made the download link live. Hey, where’s the N97 and N900 love?

Update 3: And it’s official. Starting today, Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation is free across the globe. Drivers receive turn-by-turn voice guidance including lane assistance, traffic information (in 10 countries including the US), and safety camera and speed warnings while pedestrians will be guided on shortcuts through parks and pedestrian-only zones in over 100 cities across the globe. It all works offline too, which should extend battery life and keep that navigation humming even while puttering about in data dead zones without racking up international roaming charges (take that, Google). From March 2010, all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will come installed with the new Ovi Maps application and pre-loaded with local country map data and walk and drive navigation with access to location-aware Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra cost. Additional premium guides like a weather service and events / movies are also included. Just 10 devices from Nokia’s massive catalog are available today — a list that includes the N97 Mini, 5800 XpressMusic, 5800 navigation edition, E52, E55, E72, 5230, 6710 navigator, 6730 classic and X6.

So what’s missing? The N97 and N900 of course. Find out why after the break.

[Thanks, Jussi]

Continue reading Nokia offering free turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones globally (updated)

Nokia offering free turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones globally (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spare a thought for the noble LORAN network. It helped bombers and ships across the Atlantic in WWII and, since then, has served as a reliable system for helping sailors, domestic and otherwise, to find their position. Of course, now that everybody and their kid cousin has a GPS receiver in their back pocket the need for limited, complex, radio-based geolocation is somewhat reduced. So, the US government is killing it off, shutting down most of the towers on February 8, with those that stay online over the summer going decidedly offline this fall. The savings? $190 million over five years. The cost? No backup for our GPS system, meaning we’ll be totally blind when the first wave of EMPs hit — and don’t try to act like they’re not comin’, man.

Government killing off LORAN-C navigation system, deems GPS good enough originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some of you Rogers subscribers have probably already taken your carrier up on its offer to upgrade your Dream to a Magic, but if not, pay very close attention here: calling 911 doesn’t work right now without making some changes. Basically, there’s an issue that prevents emergency calls from being completed if location-based services are enabled, which means you’ve got to head into Settings and disable GPS — not an optimal solution by any stretch of the imagination. Rogers and HTC are said to be working on a patch as we speak, but in the meantime, don’t expect to waltz into a Rogers store and pick up one of these bad boys.

Rogers yanks HTC Dream from shelves for urgent emergency call fix originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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