Notices

Maemo Ovi Maps nothing to do with Symbian Ovi Maps except same branding and using (Nokia owned) Navteq mapping data. Using version numbers is useless. Nokia Maps 1.0, as Symbian version was known at the time, was ahead of Maemo Ovi Maps 1.0 in features.

At some point Nokia is going to make Ovi Maps Qt based, and that is likely going to be the time when Maemo, or more likely MeeGo, version will be at feature parity with Symbian version. I wouldn't hold my breath while waiting.

Yeah, the free text search is just handy on Ovi. Saves a few minutes looking it up.

The price is a little high given that you can get a dedicated satnav for that now but, and this was the main thing for me, Sygic have made some money now and so others will follow. I was rather hoping that when Rovio saw that Sygic had released the app from their own site with their own payment service, they might follow for the extra packs on Angry Birds but no such luck.

Yeah I think the price for the Sygic service will go down once it meets a little competition, which isn't likely to come soon. They have a great advantage over what's available now and seeing that the market for N900 navigation isn't a huge one to begin with, I think we're going to see Sygic be the omnipotent navigation software holder for a long time.

EDIT: Almost forgot to ask: Is this Sygic any good for navigating by foot? I never use the navigator in a vehicle.

Ovi Maps search wins, it's the most useful search I've seen so far from map software..

And we're likely to have Ovi Maps 2.0 before 3.0 don't you think? ;-)

Even though I was happy using MaemoMapper on my N810 in the car, I went ahead and splurged and spent the 49 EUR, $64 USD on Sygic just so I can have something to play with on my N900.

After all I haven't spent a dang thing on it in the 3 months or so that I have owned it so the cost wasn't to great. I mean, if I had an iPhone, even at a buck an app in three months time I would have pro'ly spent as much as Sygic costs or more...

I know when I first got an iPAQ with WinMo 2003, I spent an easy extra $200 @ Handango during its first 3 months and that's just for programs like the ones that either came free, or were made available for free in the N900's repositories.

I got to tell you I'm having a blast, playing, tweaking, and finally seeing what multi-tasking is all about on the N900. I plan to post up a detailed review this week-end, now that I have more time available to me.

It will include screen shots that I have been collecting all week to show folks why, from just a hobbyist' point of view, I think this was money well spent.

In the end I believe Nokia will add a more functional "Navigation" program to the N900. However, just as a more functional browser didn't come for the N800 until just before the N810 dropped, I think it will be a while before we see anything from OVI offering what Sygic does now.

I also believe when we do see a better OVI, if you have both programs, they will compliment each other nicely. Sygic for going to town traveling through possible spotty signal areas on the way; then OVI showing 3D landmarks and satellite views when walking and traveling by cab, once you get to that more well connected town.

I just bought sygic last week and it seems good, the only think I'm not a fan of right now is how long it takes to get a lock - the GPS does not get a coarse lock similar to Ovi maps 1.0 on maemo, it searches until it gets a fixed lock. It seems like a great application though and the turn by turn is great.

When I had a 5800 I had Ovi Maps 3 installed on it and while I did not have turn by turn on it, it was a great application. It has a lot of additional features that sygic does not have - the integration of Michelin, lonely planet and weather built in. The beta version 3 (.02 I think) I was running was fast and accurate. It was also easy to download maps for multiple countries on it, this is something sygic lacks which is unfortunate. The 3D maps in Ovi 3 is also great as you can see how actual landmarks look in the map letting you get a visual indicator when you get lost. Very cool feature. Now with free turn by turn on Ovi Maps 3.0, I would say it is the superior product....

Both are great apps but I think Ovi Maps 3 brings more to the table just based on free map availability alone - I did not mind paying a $80-$90 for Sygic maps but the downside is that I only have access to the maps for the country I bought!

Sygic is the superior product IMHO. It has far more features, is significantly lighter and can be used without a network connection.

Yes, it has pedestrian and bicycle routing modes as well.

Yes, that was my point. And people are still waiting 3.x

Has to be sygic for me pureley for been able to customize it to your needs. You cannot even change the speed camera alert tone to a custom one in Ovi Maps 3 S60. Or if you can its very well hidden. Been using Sygic for a week now and have been well impressed.
Gets a lock in under 10 secs with network assistance and under a minute without.
I dont think Ovimaps ever got a lock without network assistance for me.