Nokia has been offering free turn-by-turn voice guided navigation for Symbian devices, but what’s missing is support for the N900. The N900 does have GPS and the OVI maps software, but only missing is the turn-by-turn navigation part.
If you absolutely must have voice guided navigation there are options like Sygic’s recently released Mobile Maps 10. But if you want to match the global support that the full OVI Maps experience offers, it can get very expensive at 69.99 EUR (Europe, Russia, Middle East & Africa)+49.99 EUR (North, Central & South America) and 39.99 EUR (Canada).
So will Nokia add OVI Maps navigation to the N900? Nokia’s last answer on the subject according to Engadget is that: “N900 owners shouldn’t hold their breath, though, as Nokia is focusing on bringing its free navigation service to the next generation of Maemo devices. That’s not to say that the N900 won’t get it eventually, only that it’s not currently on the roadmap.”
Technically there’s no reason why the N900 would not support voice-guide navigation, in fact it could offer an even better support than the N97 or N97 mini, because:
- Maemo is build from the ground up to be a touch interface, perfect for in-car navigation
- The N900 has more memory and faster CPU allowing for smoother performance and faster calculation
- It has dedicated 3D graphics to offload graphics-intensive tasks from the CPU, while allowing for more eye-candy.
- It has a fast and accurate GPS, with quicker lock to satellites and more accurate than what we’ve seen on flagship Symbian hardware.
- Better multi-tasking and more, allowing for other simultaneous task at the same time, without affecting GPS navigation.
The main reason why Nokia has not added GPS navigation to the N900, is simply because they didn’t see this as a high priority, especially for the fact that the N900 is not a mass market device like the Symbian devices and because it’s a transitory OS, leading to MeeGo. For this reason we expect to see navigation by the end of 2010 as R&D for MeeGo will trickle down to Maemo on the N900. We expect Nokia to release an updated OVI Maps with turn-by-turn voice guided navigation shortly before or after the end of the year to coincide with the release of the flagship MeeGo devices. Perhaps a bit too late, as many N900 users will want to upgrade to the MeeGo platform.
What’s your opinion on GPS with the Nokia N900?
My opinion? Nokia should release at least release in the devs catalogue a beta code of Ovi Maps with navigation, if only for bug reporting. It will ensure the next iteration for the Meego devives will great right from its release
[...] N900. Sports Tracker isn’t the only service to leave N900 owners in the dark, Nokia’s own OVI Maps and OVI Contacts, just to name a few, have yet to give the N900 their [...]
Screenshots of Ovi Maps for N8 look identical to Ovi Maps for N900 1.2, but vastly different from Ovi Maps for S60, so I suspect N900 will get turn-by-turn navigation shortly after N8 release (as they are probably the same code-base, but a different code base to Maps for S60).
Nokia…need to give the N900 users something for our great N900′s…we have waited patiently and now, with todays announcement re sports tracker (which I have been waiting for) we are once again feeling very left out.
How can we hold our heads high with our device amongst our friends and colleagues anymore?