Nokia N96 App Review – Waze

Name: Waze

Description: GPS Navigation Software

Summary: Theres plenty of Navigation software avaible on the market but they can take up a lot of space or you can go with an online based one like google maps, but that dosen’t take into account traffic,roadworks ect.. so what can you use. Waze is a navigation software for all kinds of devices but only a few symbian devices but luckily the Nokia N96 is one of the symbian phones that it works on. Waze is like no other navigation software because what it will do is find your location and then you input your destination and it will direct you, but if another Waze user is stuck in traffic or there’s road works or a policeman along your route then waze will automatically redirect you.

Overview: Theres one fatal flaw with Waze and that is that it need more users to make it more accurate, but if they are lucky then it will be a really handy application. First Waze is so far only active in the US but theres no reason it can’t be used everywhere else. Waze is a free application be dose want you to register and you have to download the application on your phone. Waze works perfectly and it would be great if everyone dose there part. Read more

Nokia N96 App Review – EasyMap

Name: EasyMap

Description: GPS Map

Summary: Since google came out with its free maps there have been a good few competitors but they never seem to be able to beat Google Maps.EasyMap is another application based on openstreetmap map style and is know for its uasablity and speed. EasyMap uses your gps to find your location and displays the street maps of the local environment and show you the local services you mite need like trains and buses. EasyMap is built for quality and speed but the speed seems to be missing, but the quality of the application more than enough to get you to forget that.

Overview: Well EasyMap is a nice looking application but really lacks function, EasyMap only has the abiltiy to look a the map, no navigation and no search. With the lack of functions you would wonder why the creators want 13$ for it, but if you want to try out the demo then it will last 14 days and will let you see a few of the good points. Truthfully this application has no noticeable value, better to stick with google maps. Read more

Nokia N96 App Review – Phoneguard

Name: Phoneguard,

Description: Security Manager,

Summary: With the increase of identity theft and other types of theft that’s going on it is becoming more and more important to have some sort of security in place. Another thing that is of concern is with nokia wanting your credit card info so you can download apps directly to your phone but I think that’s just adding to the chances of someone wanting to steal your phone. Phoneguard is an a very powerful application that adds a single password to any sensitive information. Also it has the ability to track your phone via GPS and if it is unreachable you can send an sms to complete wipe the information. Phoneguard has many customisable options so you can get the best use out of it, and if any tries to change the Sim it will lock the phone automatically.

Overview: There are loads of applications that prey on peoples desire for security so they can charge loads for a simple application, so normally I wouldn’t post it but I found a public beta that does all the same. You can see the level of designing is very high but its no way near the cost of the full thing. I have done a bit of checks to find out if it really is a public beta and all my sourses say it is but I still had problems finding a download link so I hope the one I provide is ok. Read more

Nokia N96 App Review – GPS Utilities

Name: GPS Utilities

Description: GPS software

Summary: The GPS receiver is one of the many features that made me interested in the Nokia N96, but it isn’t used as much as it could be. Remember GPS is free data stream so with t he rght tools you can use your GPS to find where you are and where your gong and even how fast your going. GPS Utilities gives you the abilities to give you loads of information about where you are and where your going and it is able to apply that information on to a map so you’ll never be lost. GPS Utilities is one of the most popular GPS software and is very useful if you ever go travelling or just need to know where to go.

Overall: There are many applications that do the exactly the same but this is the most popular and form what I could tell it works the best too. GPS Utilities  really optimises the GPS receiver and it makes it much more stable which makes it more enjoyable to use. There are a few bad points which are the cost (£20) and the lack of features. The price is very high for an application but if you check out the trial you will see the quality that comes with it Read more

Nokia N96 App Review – RaceChrono

Name: RaceChrono

Description: Gps Track Location Log

Summary: First lets clear up what it is, RaceChrono is an application that uses your gps to find and track your location on race tracks. Just to be clear this is app is only for people who use local race tracks on these open days or even if your big into go-karts. RaceChrono has about 180 race tracks all around the world and you can even add a new one if you local is on the server. The many point of RaceChrono is to record you lap times and overall performance and will help you find the best possible time and how much Gforse is in each turn. RaceChrono isn’t only limited to cars and race tracks you can also use it for motorboat racing. With all the information you gather you should be able to work out the fastest way.

Overview: I don’t know what it is about this application that makes it so disireable (RaceChrono has been download 100,000 times) some places are saying its because its free but I’m not sure about that I think it has to do with the increase of open track days. As I said this application is free but if you think what it enables you to do and how much it would cost to do this in other ways, so if you use this application enough then you should probably donate a few quid. Read more

How to be like Stavros!

Mark Guim posted an in-depth guide on how to play around with your Nokia Sports Tracker and Google Maps in order to achieve what Stavros does: Position Art.

Of course most of us aren’t as talented as Stavros, but now we can atleast give it a try.

Instructions

Step 1. Use Sports Tracker on your phone to record your location data. You can choose to run, walk, or whatever and it will record your path.

Step 2. When You are done, select ‘Upload to Service’ on the workout summary screen on your phone. The data will be uploaded to Sports Tracker online.

Step 3. On the Sports Tracker website, the route will be displayed on a map. To get this map on our blogs, we need to download the data as KML file by pressing the KML button above the map.

Read more

Nokia Maps direct downloads

Martin Letis has posted a great way to download the Nokia Maps directly. Personally I don’t like the Nokia MapLoader, as the downloads are extremely slow, the application is strict on the Map downloads, and there is low functionality.

It seems that Martin agrees with me, so he went for a search on an alternate way to download the maps. He analyzed the HTTP traffic and found out what the GET requests were. He then parsed the HEX strings and got the Maps’ numbers. With this, you can just download them with a HTTP browser that supports downloads.

Inspired by this, Diabo, also know as 666, posted all the links on his website as well as few simple steps:

Run Nokia Maps on your phone once before you add any maps. This will create the required folder structure on your memory card.

Download, unzip, and drop into the appropriate folders on your memory card. On my Nokia the folder structure is cities with a subfolder called diskcache filled with subfolders called 0 to 9 and a to f, i.e. /cities/diskcache/0 to /cities/diskcache/f.

You can download maps for entire continents, individual countries, or individual regions within some countries. Download sizes range from one megabyte (Gibraltar) to over a gigabyte (europe or america). You’ll need a 4 GB card to fit the entire planet.

All links look like http://static.s2g.gate5.de/maploaderzip/0.0.9h/*.zip, where * is a number of two to seven digits. If a map doesn’t work properly on your phone (e.g. street names appearing at the wrong place), copy the URL into the address bar of your browser, change the URL to http://static.s2g.gate5.de/maploaderzip/0.0.8h/*.zip or http://static.s2g.gate5.de/maploaderzip/0.0.7h/*.zip, and try again.

Source: Martin Letis, Diabo

Comment and Discuss

Edit: Thanks to Diabo for the clear up on the links