Re: Nokia to offer free navigation??
 

Just for giving note, getting thanks for.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

I guess a re-allocation of programmer resources.

I can imagine Nokia management saying:

"Great the n900 was a success, users are spending their hard-earned cash. We have solid revenue over the next couple of months as it keeps selling. We are also going to re-coup development costs too.

Now what?

F*** it! Let's prematurely start on maemo 6 and f*** the n900 users the've already spent thier money. Let's develop a new phone with a new updated maemo os. Better still don't release the new os for the n900 either. Users will have to spend more of their hard-earned money buying the new phone. But we need an incentive. I know we'll only release the free ovi maps for the new version of the maemo and users will have to buy a new phone to get it.
Great that's a great idea Mr V.P. of Nokia. I'll tell you what. I'll tell the existing maemo 5 developers to start work on maemo 6 straight away.
But n900 user's are waiting for the firmware update - it needs a couple of months more work - it's not finished yet. What shall we do? I know! We'll get the developer newbie to continue work on the maemo 5 updates when he's not busy!"

Re: Nokia to offer free navigation??
 

Many users discuss about N900 being a phone or tablet, and uses that as an excuse for why Nokia ignored Maemo in their recent Ovi Maps announcement.

I just can't understand then why every single Reviews on the web classified it as phone, and in most cases as an Android/iPhone competitor. Nokia is not complaining that it should be compared to other tablets... The fact is this situation is comfortable for them:
- When some mobile feature is missing, it is a tablet and thus was designed with that in mind
- In other cases, it is a mobile with a new O.S. that will eventually catch up

Re: Nokia to offer free navigation??
 

... oh yes, and when some functionality is not working, it is beta, for geeks, ...

... or you should buy you the next beta demo version of Maemo 6 :-(

... and yes, forgotten: It is the most expensive, but not Flagship device.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

About turn-by-turn navigation needing text to speech converter, I don't think this is correct. As far as I know the voices are recorded and associated with specific phrases like "turn left", "take an U-Turn" and so on... Even Tom-Tom GPS devices allowed users to record their own voices to customize their voice guided navigation (that resulted in a lot of funny sets of voices... :D)

Based on the assumption that Maps for Maemo doesn't require text-to-speech capabilities and also that Nokia already have recorded voices available in various languages, my guess is that it would take very little effort to at least implement the voice guidance. Additional features from Ovi Maps 3.0 like traffic info or guides would be harder to implement, but voice guidance would be a start, even considering that Nokia Maps 1.0 on my N95 already did that a few year ago...

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

Sure, but i Nokia VP states that further development for N900/Maemo5 is not on the roadmap ... simply forget it. We can now
1) return n900 if we are in the 2-week period after buying
2) wait for applicable google navigation (that will not happen)
3) wait for navigation on OpenStreetMap ... that's what would be most preferrable
4) hope there is an update path to Maemo6. Guss this is also unlikely, given the fact that we have a big number of SW repositories ... and will get a new one in winter 2010 ...

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

Or keep the E71 that is being replaced by the N900 for another few months, and use it for a while as the maps offering on Symbian is better.

Interesting thought, that. Thanks Jaco2k.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

It's a small world after all.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

Or 5) Wait for the sygic release.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

Symbian is no alternative, like WinMo. Just a bad joke, compared with Iphone, Android 2.X or Maemo. At the moment, I would only buy an Android as alternative: Also Linux kernel, lots more of support, and update to recent version even for oldest phone.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

Just received a post from mafiatounes on Nokia Discussion with some good news, let's hope it is true indeed:

Nokia N900 to Get Ovi Maps 3.03:
http://noknok.tv/2010/01/22/free-ovi...nd-nokia-n900/

Extracted from the article:
"Ovi Maps will initially only be supported by 10 smartphones. If you’re a Nokia N900 user, which runs Maemo 5 rather than Symbian, thankfully support is on its way. Read on to find out more…"

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

nobody as ever said n900 wont get free ovi maps voice navigation, there as been more evidence from yesterdays event saying its coming soon but lot of people on here ignored it then decided to make up fantasies in there head and report it as fact then cry like *****es.
welcome to Arkum Asylum

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

The thread "Nokia to offer free navigation??" with ninety-four posts has been merged into this thread.

Re: Nokia to offer free navigation??
 

If the N900 had gotten the publicity that accompanied the N810, I could accept Nokia's lame excuses (and the carping of the fanbois here). But it no longer works for most of us. Fixed in Fremantle has become Handled in Harmattan. Consumers are told to live with it.

If you go to www.nokiausa.com you will see their flagship device, the N900, right at the top in a banner ad (with a second ad down the page).

As far as voice nav, just below the N900 banner is a banner ad for free voice nav. If you click through the N900 banner you get to the page where you can buy it. On this page the voice nav ad is again displayed at the bottom (it doesn't show on the N97 page). The implication is that this phone you are buying supports voice nav. It's only if you click through the voice nav ad and read the fine print at the bottom that you will notice the N900 is missing from the list.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

Extract from the source of this article (yesterday's announcement):

"This is backed by what the Executive Vice President of Nokia, Anssi Vanjoki, had to say at yesterday’s launch event. Vanjoki pointed out that “in later dates we will also be increasing the number of support for this [sic] and certainly moving forward it will also support Maemo”

Maemo ... not N900, not Maemo 5. moving forward.
Leaves much for interpretation, knowing recent (lack of) commitment to the Maemo platforms 1-4.

And in the other interviews posted recently he seemed to p*** dirtly in the face of M5 owners by stating that all ressources are allocated to development for M6 now. Thanks. Hope, I misinterpreted that - pleas correct someone if so, would make me less angry.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

I agree that there is a lot of different statements on the subject... But if Nokia is planning free ovi maps, would it hurt to publish an official note about it?? An estimated release date would be even better!!

On second toughts, it should hurt Sygic sales... but would be a relief for N900 owners

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

if a device sells well Nokia will support it for a few years FACT.
heres another quote via FoneArena made by OVI maps Product manager

Arshia Varlet (Nokia): The N900 will be added to list of compatible devices soon
I'm almost certain she knows what her team are working on more than anssi vanjoki, whos job is to put on a brave face in public speaking and sit and count money behind the scenes, nokia is so big there is no way he knows what's going on every where, most things i bet he as no idea about until he as to read it off a piece of paper

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

hopefully SOON means soon and not anytime. ^^

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

That's all they had to say!

If Nokia has said this from the beginning then this thread woudl be a lot shorter!!!! :rolleyes:

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

Could you provide a link? Searching FoneArena for either Arshia or Varlet or recent news on N900 and Ovi maps turns up nothing.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

thats just it nobody purchased a n900 with the promise of free sat nav, up until 48hours ago everyone was happy to pay £70 to sygic
all of sudden nokia drop a bomb shell and n900 owners start acting like they are being short changed when in reality nothing as changed for maemo only attitudes of users are now jealous of inferior devices.
how can ppl expect there to already be a n900 free Ovi maps sat nav version when we never even had a Paid one.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

i followed fonearena twitter stream live from the event, that was from Q&A

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

http://experts.thelink.co.uk/2010/01...-ovi-maps-303/
http://noknok.tv/2010/01/22/free-ovi...nd-nokia-n900/

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

None of this sounds official. Vague specilative "in the future" statements are hardly commitment.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRbCoh66yuU

watch this guys.. this about the free ovi maps... really funny..

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

"Support Maemo" does not mean support Maemo 5 or support the N900. You will note that there was a definite time frame given for N97 support. No such time frame was given for the N900 or Maemo 5.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

a blog writing that just appeared says that "Nokias product engineers say they are already working on navigation for N900's maps" but they don't say who gave this information.
the page is in finnish http://blogit.tietokone.fi/tietojako...la-parannusta/

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

What is Nokia's deal with not giving the community information on things like this? or with maemo 6 working on n900? They could at least say that work is in progress.

They seem to enjoy taking quite a bit from the community, but not feeding it. Like a sh***y dog owner. And I love dogs.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

NOKIA = Not O K Is Acceptable!:confused:

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

6) Get maemomapper usable.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

Realistically:
Look at the enhancements being confirmed by Nokia / done for the firmware upgrades and upgrades in the official Nokia Applications. The updates are very minor and anything which is not directly aligned with Maemo 6 or have been promised before is being done for N900.

I wish I could be optimistic, but I am not at the moment. I think Nokia realized that the N900 launch has been screwed by unfinished SW and the phone labeled as geek's device and they will focus on the next device. If N900 ever gets an update including the maps, it will be a backported version from Maemo 6.

I like N900 very much, I see no other "phone" as good as this one is, but having no OVI contacts & calendar synchronization, no OVI services integrated, no new OVI maps & navigation etc. is what N900 status is will probably be because N900 despite the huge success overall didn't break the Symbian hegemony in Nokia. I guess it is expected to happen with Maemo 6 and we can just hope N900 will be able to run Maemo 6. If so, we'll get the phone at its full potential.

Too bad my iPhone equipped friends I have teased pointing out the small resolution of their dispay have an easy shot back with "oh this is the Nokia which didn't get the maps right?" (I have heard that from one of them today actually) :D

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

I have to say that I was pretty disappointed with maps on the N900 after coming from android. That said, I was with android for nearly a year before a turn by turn navigation arrived via third party paid application... and it looks like i'm not going to have to wait that long this time. Well done Sygic for filling the void, but i feel sorry for my bank balance.

I appreciate that maemo 5 is under development, and that the situation is likely to improve given time, I just wasnt anticipating a wait for basic functionality from the manufacturer. Hell, back in 2007 maps on my old N95 was better than that on the N900. Maybe it was stupid of me, but I was expecting some tangible forward progression over Symbian with the release of Maemo 5.

The announcement of free turn by turn navigation on a range of older handsets which already have better maps software than the supposed flagship device does therefore feel a bit like a slap in the face. Its like Nokia are icing a turd and ignoring that nice cake they just baked.

Users are left asking - why? From Nokia sources, it looks like one reason they chose to do this was to focus development on Maemo 6. This raises a whole different issue.

It suggests that Nokia are focusing prematurely on the Maemo 6 platform at the risk of alienating a whole bunch of N900 early adopters. This kinda makes me feel that we might be being used as guinea pigs for development and paying a premium for the experience. I hope this isn't the case.

From all this I think its fair enough to ask Nokia if the N900 is likely to run M6, and / or, if M5 mapping is going to be cleaned up enough to bring it in line with the functionality of existing Symbian devices at least. I don't care about free stuff - i want functioning stuff.

Hopefully this has just been a case of bad PR, but it could put people off joining the community at a time when it should be gathering support.

Rant over. Thanks for letting me vent.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

I think alot of people are just overreacting on here, honestly guys, just chill out a bit, they'll get it working. Don't you think they need to test OVI Maps for Maemo on something, you think they are just going to have it for Maemo 6 later on in the year.

They need the community to test a working version. So once Maemo 6 comes, it will come right out of the box, perfect.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

actually it's not maps I'm that bothered about, it's more the vitality of the platform and community more generally.

The N900 is the first "phone" device, and is entering a very competitive and fast-paced marketplace (iphone, android especially)

Nokia must keep hold of that community for future of the platform. I can see sw constraints make evolving M5 a problem -- so if that's the case come out and support M6 on the N900.

Not only support it, but make it an early tech preview. Gain all the additional feedback from the early adopter community so that when new hardware is launched using M6 it is very very good (many issues will be hw independent).

So Nokia need to convert their concerned community into a wonderful highly skilled asset that can help drive maemo forward.

This isn't the same as just backporting to M5 or waiting for maps on M5 -- that's more a BAU case, it's more a case of saying "ok you early adopters. come with us. Help us build the future"

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

and just to add it's also all about feeling "valued" not just another "subscriber"/user.

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

Oh the humanity!

...that is all

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/21/n...tphones-globa/

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

Do you never get tired whining ?

We dont get this...We dont get that...cry cry cry.

Its hard beeing a early adopter :D

Dont like it ? wait for maemo 6 or hit the road :cool:

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

I hear Nokia is looking for PR reps, maybe you should apply?

You also seem to know the standard Nokia PR response for customer retention with the N900 series. :rolleyes:

Re: Ovi Maps goes free for premium content (no N900 *yet*)
 

HAHA, my dream job!

Honestly though, if you really think about it, if/when the free Premium MAPS comes to Nokia N900, this device will become the most ultimate tablet/phone ever created.

I know I know, no MMS etc etc, but let's be realistic guys, the major stuff camera, flash, web, video, phone, GPS all in one device...WOW!