Ovi Maps for Mobile graduates from beta school
I was browsing my RSS feeds this morning and saw the news that Ovi Maps for Mobile moved on from beta to full release. Instead of testing out the beta version from the Nokia Beta Labs site you can now download and install Ovi Maps onto your device from the Ovi Maps site. While I have Ovi Maps on my Nokia devices, I tend to use Google Maps for quick simple navigational needs or if I am on my E71x I use AT&T Navigator. If you have an E71x, make sure to enter our AT&T Navigator contest for a free year subscription to the service.
Ovi Maps for Mobile also has different subscription levels and most devices today come with something like one to three months of free navigation service. You can also use Ovi Maps for Mobile for free for basic mapping and navigation, but functions like pedestrian navigation, turn-by-turn visual and voice guidance, and real-time traffic and rerouting will cost you some money.
Unfortunately, you need a Windows PC to install the latest Ovi Maps for Mobile project so Mac users are out of luck. This is one reason I keep a MSI Wind netbook around 
4 Comments to Ovi Maps for Mobile graduates from beta school
Bah! There really is no excuse why the core application cannot be downloaded via OTA. It goes against their own stated philosophy to continue to have this PC teather to downloading/installing updates and applications.
A nice feature of the beta was the integration with the Contact list. Unfortunately, I could never get it to work! First, it wouldn’t work because I don’t have a country listed for most people. Another example of being a bit Eurocentric imo.
But even when I updated that. It still failed to find any of my contacts. Google Maps always finds what I’m looking for and will even let me share my location or call a store I just searched for (maybe Ovi does this too?)
Let’s hope this is fixed in the full release. If not, at least Google Maps uses the phone’s Landmarks, so I’m assuming that you can enter Landmarks with the Ovi Maps web interface and use Google Maps to access them?
I have a broader question here…
My phone crashed while installing the update… Was in the process of installing when this occurred. Then, after the phone rebooted, I tried again. This time, it said I didn’t have enough phone memory. I’m guessing the partial install ate up some room.
Is there a way to clear temporary installation files like on a PC? Is there a S60 “Disk Cleanup” utility?
Bobby ShaftoJuly 2, 2009
It crashed for me too. I had to do a hard reset on the N97 to get my free space back. Think the code you enter is *#7370# with unlock code 12345. Then I had to reinstall it using the sisx file. Basically you have to run the map updater application on your pc as normal and then when it sends the application to the phone, go to your temporary folder on the pc and copy the sisx file somewhere else. Then cancel the install on the mobile (just don’t start the install) and then run the sisx file you just copied. This avoids all the silly crashing problems and doesn’t leave you with 60kb free space.
Because of all this I didn’t bother installing it on my N95. I don’t have time to reinstall all my apps!
July 2, 2009