Navicore, the Finland based GPS developer, has decided to tap the UK market, launching the Symbian based phone GPS system – Navicore Personal – which the company claims to be the cheapest and easiest to use GPS system available.
The company states that Navicore is the first quality in-car navigation system, which unlike others, provides the option of the GPS receiver to be carried along with the phone, facilitating its use in other scenarios such as on cycles or even on foot.
The software and maps are stored on a memory card that has a capacity of 256 MB, with an average country map occupying 128 MB of the same. Maps are currently available for Scandinavia, Germany, Benelux, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria and the UK. The company also has future plans to release all maps on a DVD for ease of use and accessibility.
Navicore claims the system to be easy to install and operate, and even the fastest in calculations, a fact as the software was written for Symbian phones from the very start. Since the entire information is saved on the card and the user location is calculated as and when directions are changed, there is no need for GPRS traffic and neither of making a call to download the route.
The two versions of the software available, one for the devices running on the Series 60 user interface from Nokia (priced at £199.99), and the other for the Series 80 devices (priced at £249.99). Another version for the UIQ devices such as those of Sony Ericsson and Motorola is expected to be available by June.
Other features worth mentioning are the capability of the receiver to use the same battery charger as the Nokia handset, and the ability to send your current location to a third person. With this product, Navicore is trying to catch the pulse of the market, doing away with the need to carry a PDA along with a mobile phone as in the case of some PDA based navigation systems, thereby tapping the vast existing and forever expanding market of mobile handset users.
Even though Navicore was limited to GSM phones till now, the availability of Series 60 phones in the CDMA area have facilitated the foray into other big markets such as the US, Canada, Japan, Korea and Latin American.
Posted
on : Sun, 22 May 2005 09:25 GMT | General News
By : Salim Patel
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