Notices

I'm thinking about buying the N900 and might do it as soon as this week...I'm currently on Android and using the T-Mobile G1 and I love it but I was thinking about getting the N900 because I need a new phone and it and Maemo look amazing and I can deal with losing some of Android's features that I love because the N900 has some amazing ones too like the multitasking and the lock button and TV out and a QWERTY keyboard with nice hardware and software. But I love Google Maps and need it, I love how it pinpoints my exact location on my G1 and I can check out the area around me easily and even use street view, and also the free navigation if I wanna find a quick route somewhere or something. I'm no n00b when it comes to technology or advanced devices like the N900 too btw, I'll get it easily. That's not what I'm worried about, I can deal with losing everything like integrated gmail sync and the easy google search from the desktop and all the apps and whatnot on Android but Google Maps and GPS is what I need to be good.

Can Ovi Maps pinpoint your location by the GPS receiver built into the phone and does it have like street/satellite view and can/does it also give you directions? If so that'd all be great. I don't really NEED navigation, but the rest prolly yea.

Thanks a lot, hope to get the N900 soon!

Yes

Yes

No, at least not yet.

OVI maps as of now isn't the greatest app on the N900. It takes ages to startup and is slow. But it works as a map; just not much more...

Other apps like maep can display Google and Microsoft maps and are faster, but may miss GPS pinpointing. And for streetview, you need to load google maps into the webbrowser currently.

Ovi Maps can give you your direction . You can use Google Maps for mobile + maemo-geolocation too

Hmm ok that's perfect, it can pinpoint my location and I can check out the area around me and it can give me directions...nice. And I can always go to Google Maps in the browser if I want to see the kind of directions GMaps gives me right? And the browser on the N900 is crazy I hear, full flash and ridiculously fast I hear.

One more question though, is it possible right now to get AIM on the N900? You know the instant messaging app, is it built into the N900 with like a Nokia Messenger or AIM app or does an app exist yet that I can log into AIM and chat with people on it? Thanks.

AIM: You dont' need a special app for this, just a protocol plugin. Everything is neatly integrated in the default conversations app.

(For maps, you can also check the recently appeared google latitude app, it has a nice map mode)

for google / yahoo maps and routing you can use maemo-mapper which is better for pointing on a map

Let me put this as straight as I can.

There is no Maps app for the N900 yet that doesn't blow chunks. PERIOD.

The Ovi mpas to me is unusable. Do a search here to get the B1tches about it. The Maep app is in accurate by hundreds of feet at time, but looks promising. The MaeMaps page is to me the best yet, but is still not real usable. If you "must" have GPS and decent mapping, don't get a N900 till you try it out in some detail in your own hands.

My conclusion: If you need GPS and have a N900 presently, you need to get a TomTom or Garmin to go with it.

GPS ON N900 BLOWS! IT IS A POS!

Now that I've said all that, I'm hoping it gets better, but if you use the OVI mpas, I don't see how you don't curse NOKIA, I do every time I see that Useless app on my device.

Agree with Les. The stock maps app is pretty useless at giving directions.
I am waiting for the sygic N900 app and/or (preferably) a google maps app option.

The other irritating thing is that to get it to follow your position you have to put it in routing mode and click track me??? WTF is up with that. Then it just gives just plain strange behaviour.

No EXCUSE whatsoever for this Bait and Switch that was pulled on us RE OVI Maps.. I've had great GPS in my car for 10 years now FFS!

Coming from the Droid, the 900 is nothing like it in regards to "search". However with the new Firefox browser, there is a plugin called Near Me, which uses a subject based search bar, utilizes the GPS, and finds places "near you", via a Google search. It only returns 4-5 results though...not sure if this is configurable, but it returns a list, the places' ph# and address, along with a map (per place) and options for directions.

Check here:

http://webtechstudios.com/products/nearme/