Mobile Google Maps now with Voice Search

Google has just released a new Google Maps for Symbian (Nokia) devices which includes voice commands.
I found the voice search very accurate. Here are some screenshots taken from my Nokia E63 whilst testing out this voice search feature. (You can also see on the map Google latitude in operation as well as the Google Buzzes shown as speech bubbles)

Pressing the call button in Google Maps activates voice search

Google Maps will then try attempt to figure out what you said

Results are displayed or press # to have them listed in this way

How have you found it? Leave your comments. Download it at http://www.google.com/mobile/maps/ or http://m.google.com/maps from your Nokia E63.
Below is a table of what the Google Maps for Mobile has for Nokia E63 users.

Google Maps for Mobile Features	Nokia E63
Free Voice Navigation	no
Labs	no
Search by voice	yes
My Location	yes
Business listings	yes
Business reviews	yes
Driving directions	yes
Transit and walking directions	yes
Latitude	yes
Layers	yes
Street View	yes
Satellite view	yes
Traffic	yes
My Maps	yes
Starred Items	yes
Buzz	yes

Nokia takes on the Netbook Market with Booklet 3G

It sure is a sign of the times when the world's biggest manufacturer of mobile phones weighs into the netbook market. The Nokia Booklet 3G is a slick, light companion for those who can't leave their computer at home. Whilst we are still exploring pros and cons of this breakthrough system, we would like to share some initial impressions for those who just want to know the quick facts and gut reactions. 

Form factor Apart from being only 1.25kg, the booklet comes with a small but sufficient sized keyboard. It's just the layout that takes a little while to get used to. The shift key for lefties will be a little out of reach for the pinky and the up and down arrows are a little hard to discern from the shift key on the right. 


Power Running on an Intel Atom, you do not expect lightning speed but those purchasing the Booklet 3G are generally not looking for outstanding performance. It runs very well on Windows 7 starter and handles web browsing flawlessly.


Portability There are two types of users of laptops and that's why the netbooks came out. Some people have turned laptops into desktops while others do not like lugging 3kg around. For these people, the booklet 3g makes a lot of sense. It's featherweight means you can carry it around with one hand and treat it literally like a notebook (you know, those hardcopy ones with a spiral binder). 


There were so many instances that I chose packing the Booklet 3G than my "light" Dell XPS 1330 which weighs 1.8kg. Compared to the Booklet 3G, my 13.3" laptop looked like a giant! Having tried the Booklet 3G, I have been left with an itch which seems to be only satisfied with buying one for myself. And it wasn't just me. 


A taste of things to come? The Booklet 3G surely conquered with its size and its slickness but I felt that the booklet did not make the most of its distinctive niche. It is different from a Netbook in that it has a 3G sim card slot as well as an in built GPS. However, Nokia did not pack anything that really brought out the potential of a netbook-with-GPS. The Windows7 Nokia GPS gadget showed your location but did not enable you to navigate with the Booklet. It would be cool to have it acting as a big screen GPS device! Also the "pc suite" for the Booklet was lacking in its ability to use the sim card inserted into the Booklet. I could surf the net using the SIM card and send SMS but I could not receive messages. It would have been good if I could make and receive calls as well. Maybe something to consider for the future, Nokia? 


Nevertheless, the size of the Booklet and the seemingly never ending power supply surely impressed many of the people around me with people asking "how much is one of those?" Well, in Australia you can't get one of those just yet. The Australian Nokia website does not even feature the Booklet 3G. In the USA, it retails at USD$549. 

Another solution to the Maps Updater Problem

This comes from the Nokia Forums and deals with the problem we were talking about in the previous post. There is a fix by  just deleting the ClientIndex folder in your phone. Here is the post...

I only have experience with version 3.01 or later, which can be found here:  

http://static.s2g.gate5.de/nokiamaps-client/nokia_maps_3.01_09wk44_b01_s60_3.1_lm_rom.sis

Please note this file is for the E63 and other similar phones on the same version of the operating system. There are actually different versions of the Maps application for different phones. Installing this file on your phone will put you on 3.01 of the Nokia Ovi Maps application. If your phone is fully supported by voice navigation, you want version 3.03. Nokia's E63 is not, and this is the version it needs.

It's possible (but I can't say either way) that earlier versions didn't have a ClientIndex folder, in which case you would need to upgrade to Ovi Maps 3.01 or later. Nokia E63 ships with version 2, for example, but I never bothered to see if it the phone had a ClientIndex folder running version 2.

The map itself is extracted to cities\diskcache and doesn't need the ClientIndex folder, of course. But the Index file definitely needs it.

If all else fails, I would delete the cities and QF file on your memory card. This may take a  while but it will mean any maps or anything you had on your phone are gone. Then I would run the Nokia Ovi Maps application once (on your phone). It may take a while to start becaue it will re-build the cities folder and file structure and also re-build the QF file). Then exit the application on your phone.

Now copy the necessary Index file, maps and voice(s) to their respective folders.

If you notice the ClientIndex folder still doesn't exist at this point, perhaps there is another problem I don't know about or perhaps you are using a phone model I am not familiar with.

Hope that helps.

Problems solved with Nokia E63 and Nokia Maps Updater

I am not sure what happened. There was a time when Nokia Maps was working fine for me. Somewhere along the line, I was no longer seeing the Australian map so I decided to upgrade my Nokia Maps.

Deleting Nokia Maps did not work and I found out that this is not possible as it is part of the E63 firmware so I installed the newer version over it... or at least tried to. I got the following error message.. have you seen this before?

It said "Cannot get enough information about the phone [3]. Unspecified error (1). I am hoping someone in the Nokia community can help with this. I cannot update my Nokia Maps and I can't install new maps on to my phone.. any ideas?

Edit: Tried taking advice from a Nokia Forum and it suggested that I install Nokia Maps 3.01(32) from here http://static.s2g.gate5.de/nokiamaps-client/nokia_maps_3.01_09wk44_b01_s60_3.1_lm_rom.sis. It also installed License Manager.  It worked but still updating maps is a problem. 


Some recent posts on the Nokia forums has suggested that there is a server error that is causing this. 

Hi,

An update to the Nokia Maps Updater issue - We are still investigating. Unfortunately it is a bigger issue than (I) first thought.

R&D are looking in to this and i will update when i have more info.

KR
Chris

Now more recently on the 26th April: 

We have identified a defect that was preventing users from updating their Maps application with Nokia Maps Updater [NMU] or with Nokia Ovi Suite [NOS].

While this defect is being fixed, upgrading using either NMU or NOS have been disabled.

As soon as we have resolved this defect we shall allow NMU and NOS to upgrade the Maps application once again.

I will look to update this (and other) threads when i have more news on this.

Kind Regards

Chris

Keep an eye on 

http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/t5/Maps-Navigation-and-GPS/E63-Maps-Updater-Error-Cannot-get-enough-information-about/td-p/672440/page/4 for more updates