Nokia Maps on N97, 1600 miles journey (long)

Review for Ovi Maps Beta for mobile (v3.03)

08-09-2009 04:37

1600 mile road trip from Florida to North Carolina and back, I hope I never have to rely on Nokia alone.

Although I had the latest non-beta version I thought I would write the review here and hope Nokia would do something to fix old bugs before bringing in new.

We started our trip on the third of September, from my house, which it took about 5 minutes for my N97 to locate after I turned the maps on, to find our destination adress I actually had to run back into the house and get the coordinates since Nokia could not find it online or whatever it uses for adresses.

As soon as we were in the car I noticed that our location on the map was about two blocks away (appr. 500'), the compass would not show direction but the map would just turn around and around on the display, the sat. signal meter was reading green half way, whatever that means, so I ran back inside to get my old TomTom just in case.

On the highway Nokia maps finally caught up with us and started telling me to "observe the speed limit" after awhileI tried to turn it off but I still needed the voice guidance to work so I let the warning on. Everything went fine for about 10-15 minutes until we hit the first major intersections and bridges, my phone was all over the place thinking I had taken an exit, the annoying voice told me it was recalculating the route and I would have to make a U-turn (on exit ramp?), make right, make left, recalculating, U-turn.... I think you get the picture, at least I still knew my way around and didn't create a chaos on I-95 but I was dreading getting up north where I didn't know where I was going,

Anyway, after 300 miles we got used to all the "little" annoyances and glitches my brand new (updated) phone was producing and we were actually having good times laughing about it (I had turned my old un-updated TomTom on about 100 miles earlier),

By the way, before the trip I called Nokia customer service and talked about the GPS to one of the (non) Indian reps, who pretty much didn't even know what GPS is, after which I called the Nokia Store (number at Nokia web-site) which I purchased my phone and asked to talk to the manager, he still hasn't returned my call so I'll be calling American Express pretty soon, atleast they won't be asking dump questions when I cancel my purchase (consumer protection, the card has its advantages).

I was supposed to write a review but writing about it just makes me madder so I'll cut it short, I found only one good thing about this program during our trip; the program uses up the battery in 3-4 hours and it's a good thing.

Sincerely,

ollifl a.k.a. GrumpyFinn

Comments

Submitted by iivo on 13-09-2009 01:58.

it would be intresting to know what version of phone firmware and what map version the reivewer used. Also this is to review the new map so maybe you should have posted it somewhere else.

A few more things did you download the maps to your phone before going. And did you use any kind of mounting device to fix your phone in one position in the car cause it will greatly improve aucracy.

Furthermore i found boyh the old maps on my n95 and the new beta maps on my n97 to be highly accurant even at some very remote locations.
--- N95 31.0.0.17 | N97 12.0.0.24 ---

Submitted by ollifl on 15-09-2009 00:30.

Ok, I have calmed down a bit.

Phone is Nokia N97
FW V.12.2.024
date 05-08-09
type RM-507

The Nokia Maps I used was 3.1 just updated through pc before the trip.

Submitted by mbrett on 15-09-2009 07:52.

It may fail in similar ways but it looks prettier.

mbrett
N97 RM-505 (Product Code: 0585262 (Vodafone UK)) FW 11.0.021
N95 8Gb (Product Code: 0558787 (UK)) FW 31.0.015

Submitted by Flying2U on 20-09-2009 16:12.

I have to agree that the reviewer's experience is just the same as mine. If you need to rely on GPS to get you somewhere, rely on anything other than Ovi Maps (Mobile or Web) any version of 3.x. Version 2.x on N95 8GB was good stable product, the update still has a very long way to go. It would appear that the developers are as lost as Ovi Maps is!

In brief, the only thinks that I can depend on are the following:
- Navigation will only start 10-15 minutes into the journey, when the GPS has finally got a GPS lock.
- The voice navigation may not give the same directions as the map indicates. It has a problem with left and right and the correct way around roundabouts!
- The voice navigation cannot be replied upon to prompt every intersection
- Sometimes the map just hangs and does not catch up until the next intersection
- Sometimes at junctions the map spins around, or zooms out to the whole route, so completely useless.
- The route is not going to be the shortest or most logical, so need to follow the direction signs anyway.
- When driving through built up areas, expect to hear recalculating route at every junction, so have an idea of the direction for when Ovi Maps gives up.
- The compass indication gives up after a few minutes! Maybe it works, maybe not.
- Monitor the map to check your destination. I have been on a rounadbout oposite my destination (big name hotel), whilst Ovi Maps wanted to take me on a 4.6km detour!
- No matter how far or how short your route, the battery never lasts until the destination. This is even with the Nokia car power lead.

All in all the N97 and Ovi Maps 3.x is a huge disappointment. I upgraded from the N95 9GB, which was a great phone. It was the reliability of Nokia Maps which was one of the deciding factors for changing to the N97. Nokia please go back to basics and get the navigation working, before messing with the user interface, a facet of 3.x which I believe is significantly flawed and scores very low in useability.

Submitted by ollifl on 25-09-2009 17:15.

Well my trial period is over so I don't have to worry about this anymore, I installed Garmin back on my N97 and it seems to work good.

Submitted by tuxStyle on 28-09-2009 19:38.

Since yesterday i have a nokia 5800 xp.

I installed the map for Canada and ... is a mess :)
I can't find any address by postal code or street.
The map is a nightmare (i should take some pictures with my camera :P and show them here)

It locates me like 500m (or more) away from my position.

Anyway, i wanted to make at lest today.
i couldn't find the destination address ... was impossible but i checked for POI and asked for a route to one metro station. The distance is less than 10km but it calculated a route of 156km to go there :)

By the way, i live in Montreal ...

Now, i'm looking for another software...
This one is useless.

Not even on the web i can't locate the address where i live using the postal code.

Submitted by ramok on 29-09-2009 07:57.

> It locates me like 500m (or more) away from my position.

With GPS/satellite? This kind of accuracy is normal for only network-based localization. With GPS I get much better results, though I'm in Europe.

I also noticed that not only using the physical/hardware key to lock/unlock phone causes GPS signal lost, but also backlight level changes can cause this (especially in worse satellite visibility conditions) -now I set the light sensor to the brightest position and I have much better results with GPS signal stability.

I can confirm, that sometimes the route to destination is calculated through not very best path (and the route is made of 'second quality' roads even when a much better road is available just a few meters nearby and with the chosen option to drive 'fastest' or 'optimized' route -with the shortest path it's even worse). I very often have to manually change the route (taht's why I want to have a *quick* and *easy*: 1. way to add points to route 2. the ability to not only zoom in the overview of route, but also to move map data in that view to check the route on different details level and at any point of the route, not only the 'important' ones -which is currently impossible (and was possible in Maps 2.) now can only 'simulate' or 'point-by-point' or zoom in only in the center of the route/map 3. ability to avoid some fragment of a route -for example next 2km- or/and to set some street in a longer/further distant to be avoided -for example I know, that some road on my trip -let's say 300km ahead in some big city- is currently unavailable and I want to set that road as 'not-use-this-road' before I start driving, not only when approaching it)

BTW: could someone share it's average GPS accuracy. On my nokia 5800 I very often have something of 50-180meters when considering landmark position time and 100-400m accuracy of height (sea level), is this good enough (signal mostly from 4-6 satellites)? I noticed that some people are saying to have much better results.

Submitted by joswerling516 on 01-10-2009 22:08.

HOW DO YOU INSTALL GARMIN ON AN N97??????

Submitted by joswerling516 on 01-10-2009 22:15.

I have been having the same problems with my OVI Beta. Constant re-calc and signal loss, late updating of position. It instructs me to make a turn after I've had to make it, etc. My years-old Garmin Street Pilot works much better. What is going on? Why does a high-tech company like Nokia have such trouble with GPS?

Submitted by iivo on 05-10-2009 18:33.

You should never rely on GPS alone, because they might partly fail for various reasons, sudden temp change in the road-map (such as constructions and accidents etc.), GPS signal varies due to weather conditions and terrain. Now Having said this....

I have had a great experience with nokia maps, driving in a godforsaken place where and trough long tunnels, in valleys etc. no problem. Just remember to bring your car-charger, and mount you phone is a suitable car-mounting-cradle.

--- N95 31.0.0.17 | N97 12.0.0.24 ---

Submitted by Flying2U on 07-10-2009 13:50.

Please list the versions of Nokia Maps that you have good experience with. I believe we all agree that 2.x was a great product, I am also a N95 8GB user. Unfortunately 3.x is a poor product, coupled with aweful mapping (NavTeq) running on a flawed platform (N97).

The N97 does not charge from the car-charger when using Nokia maps!

Submitted by mbrett on 07-10-2009 14:08.

[ Flying2U Stated: The N97 does not charge from the car-charger when using Nokia maps! ]

Mine is fine. There have been issues with certain 3rd party car chargers as the N97 requires a higher power output than some 3rd party chargers provide. Could this be your issue or are you using a Nokia product?

mbrett
N97 RM-505 (Product Code: 0585262 (Vodafone UK)) FW 12.0.026
N95 8Gb (Product Code: 0558787 (UK)) FW 31.0.015
http:///www.twitter.com/MartynBrett
http://www.n97geeks.com

Submitted by navio1973 on 09-10-2009 11:00.

To install Garmin on your n97 is easy: you buy it and you install it. I saw that in landscape mode it has some problem showing the maps.

About the problem of signal loss is due to the antenna of your phone: please read http://betalabs.nokia.com/forum/topic/4142#18774 my comment #51 and #54 and the comment of ming_dk #56. Remember if you made it alone it is at your own risk.

Navio
Nokia N97 V12.0.024 RM 505