Originally Posted by frethop

[*]Paying for service. I believe the price of the N810 was higher than that for other tablets at introduction in part because of the nav software. Well, we only got half of the software. The routing and directional navigation is a purchased item and not even available yet.

Originally Posted by frethop

Got my N810 yesterday. Since I had already put OS2008 on my N800, I was anxious to try the new stuff on the N810. So I eagerly tried out the navigation software. I have really put Maemo Mapper to good use on my N800 with a Holux GPS Slim 236 and loved it.

Maemo Mapper is an excellent piece of navigation for Linux/Debian machines.

What a bust! The software isn't just bad -- it stinks! Among the many problems:

• Slow update. The software is always 50-100 feet behind.
  
  There is a bug in Google/Yahoo/Microsoft maps , published on-line.
  Maps/roads are shifted 30-40 m against satellite image layer
  and don't match sat images.
  In my opinion, introduced to eliminate free navigation applications making use of Internet published maps.
  
  This means it misses streets by half-a-block.
  see above
  shift intended exactly to make you use commercial products only.
  
  The frequency of sampling the GPS info is really slow. This happened with both the internal GPS and with my external Holux unit.
  
  There is a delay loop incorporated into navigation program,
  as maemo is crashing if gps fix is not valid.
  
  
• Crappy maps. While they were (mostly) accurate, the maps had a very coarse level of detail -- at all levels of zoom. I am used to Google maps from Maemo Mapper, which were much better.
  
  Google maps come from the source TeleAtlas, already bought by Garmin and Navteq , already acquired by Nokia.
  
  I'm describing the way the maps are drawn -- the streets were too wide, for instance, way out of perspective.
  
  The same is known for maemo mapper.
  If there is no map tile for a specific zoom level, zooming one-level in
  you see streets much wider than intended for that zoom level (try this feature in off-line mode).
  
  
• Annoying annotation. Street names are only available at low levels of zoom.
  
  The same with Google maps. Sometimes street names are already visible but still no city name.
  
  When they are available, they are generated dynamically and move around as the crosshairs that track postion move. Trying to read the moving type can be difficult.
  
  Apparently bug not sticking map tile layer with virtual street names layer.
  
• Dizzying rotation. If you don't fix north and let the map rotate, it stops at crazy angles and moves in choppy jumps.
  
  John solved maps jumping problem in Maemo Mapper introducing
  gps sensivity and lead amount values in settings.
  
• Paying for service. I believe the price of the N810 was higher than that for other tablets at introduction in part because of the nav software. Well, we only got half of the software. The routing and directional navigation is a purchased item and not even available yet. Sigh.

You are right.
We are participating in competition between Nokia tablet and iPhone by Apple.
At Consumer Electronics Show 2008 in Las Vegas, Apple is introducing
3G iPhone with inbuilt gps and 16/32 GB memory.

I suppose Nokia is going to introduce Nokia tablet + GPS + camera + GSM at the same time.

Unfortunately what Nokia offers on US market valued in $ has the same price tag in Europe but in GBP.
Low-end navigation with voice commands is available already at $100.


So...for me, the nav software is a bust. Give me Maemo Mapper any day. When Maemo Mapper can use the internal GPS (maybe it can now...I haven't checked), Nokia should throw out the Wayfinder stuff and pay Gnuite the big bucks for licensing his expertise.

Exactly. Nokia should nominate John general manager at gps applications development department.
John started his mapper navigation project stating any such system should be worth $2000.
He was not aware in 2 years time price for basic navigation with voice commands (software + maps + hardware) sinks to $100.

What do the rest of you think?

-- Mike

Originally Posted by Texrat

I didn't experience anything near that severe. The timing was rarely off by much when I used it. Detail looked crisp and clear for me at all levels. And I don't sweat the lack of visible arterial street names at wide zoom-- the map would be a cluttered mess otherwise. ANY map for this purpose.

The issues I had were already reported but I'll briefly repeat here:

-app crashed twice
-satellites slow to lock
-voice gave wrong instructions at one point

I also don't really have an issue with the fees. I think they're very reasonable, and it's unrealistic to expect EVERYTHING to be free. There are significant costs involved with obtaining and maintaining the required data.