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Preethi J

Nokia's new phone, set to hit the markets soon, helps you navigate with ease.

Nokia will unveil its first GPS-enabled mobile, the N95, next month. A GPS receiver built into the device determines the owner's current location using satellites. You could use the mobile to search for restaurants, pubs, etc, in a new city. Owners of the N95 will be able to browse countries near and far and even zoom into individual streets. Maps are available for more than 100 countries and are downloaded to the device from a server on demand.

The mapping, routing and navigation software and services are from Nokia's recent acquisition of gate5. 15 million points of interest or POIs (restaurants, accommodation and cultural sights) as well as in the address listings available worldwide have been included in the software. This makes it possible, for instance, for users in Bangalore to search for businesses, people and restaurants in Mumbai or Kolkata. Customers can select their favourite locations and send them to friends by MMS, Bluetooth, infrared or e-mail. They can also send map excerpts and routes or save them to the device.

Users can expand the range of basic contents by acquiring the upgrades and travel guides to cities and countries they wish through credit card payment or Premium SMS. This service is already available in countries such as Germany, Belgium and Nokia eventually plans to extend this innovative service to other countries as well, including India, says Jose-Luis Martinez, Vice-President, Sales & Channel Management, Multimedia, APAC, Nokia.

On further probing about the gadget, we learn that additional features such as voice-guided navigation instructions can be bought. This application builds on the routing functionality. It will read out directions and, if a user makes a wrong turn, it automatically calculates a new route. Very interesting application, we think!

Users can purchase navigation for one week, one month, one year or three years and can select the area where they have purchased navigation. The Nokia maps will be available on a dedicated server and are downloadable. The maps will be updated 2-4 times per year. Though the maps in themselves are free, the cost of access would depend on the telecom operator. The prices start from approximately $3.99 and go up to $99.99. For example, a licence for one month covering Germany + Austria + Switzerland costs approximately $9.99 and for one year the same area costs $29.99. Nokia will be offering this service in several markets, including India, in conjunction with gate5. To be priced at Rs 30,000, this gadget seems like it would be a stiff match for the iPhone.

preethij@thehindu.co.in

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