Dan Warne27 September 2006, 2:11 AM
Nokia's new N95 will feature sat-nav using GPS as well as a ludicrously high-resolution five megapixel camera. Is this the beginning of the end for dedicated sat-nav vendors like TomTom and Navman?
Nokia has announced a new entry in its N-series -- the N95 -- which will feature GPS, mapping and a ludicrously high-resolution 5 megapixel camera.
The phone will ship with a maps application with "country, region and world maps that allow users to explore the world, find specific routes, or locate services such as restaurants and hotels in more than 100 countries."
Although there's no suggestion from Nokia that the device will do in-car navigation, makers of dedicated sat-nav devices like TomTom and Navman must be starting to get worried about the potential that lies in phones with GPS built-in.
Mobile phone touch-screens already exist -- a good example is Sony-Ericsson's recent M600i, which runs Symbian 9.1 with the UIQ 3 touch-screen interface -- and if Nokia can create a phone with a large, bright touch-screen, a good loud-speaker with audio output, and a fast enough processor to do route calculation, it could seriously compete with dedicated sat-nav devices.
At the moment though, the press-photo supplied by Nokia shows a pretty basic mapping app running on the phone, more akin to the services provided over GPRS by mobile network operators than a proper 3D navigation solution.
As for the other major feature -- the 5 megapixel camera, it'll certainly help Nokia sell more phones to consumers, but will it improve image quality? Probably not at all. The tiny lenses and image sensors on mobile phones are the limiting factor in image quality, not the megapixel resolution.
On the other hand, if Nokia tagged photos with GPS locations when they're taken, that would be cool. It could deliver on the tantalising promise of being able to view photos "taken in 2005 in Hyde Park" ... no manual sorting required! (Sadly, though, Nokia doesn't mention anything about this in its press release.)
The phone also supports the HSDPA wireless broadband standard, being rolled out by all Australian mobile networks (Vodafone is already in live trials and Telstra is banking the house on its new 3G network with HSDPA).
Nokia says it will ship in the first quarter of next year, and will cost around 550 euros -- $A929 or $US697.
There are more pics of the phone here.