We have a (GPS) fix! - Testing Nokia Booklet 3G to the limit

This is Momchil here with a quick post on the Nokia Booklet 3G. I’ve been busy editing all the video material, and I haven’t had the chance to write anything recently. I’ve been using the Nokia Booklet for nearly three moths now, and I love it. I just had the feeling there is more to it that can be utilised.

So GPS navigation has been around for a while, at the top of the range, of course Garmin and TomTom units, with their “widescreen” versions about 4.3inches diagonal. So how about having a 10 inch Sat-Nav? Daft idea? Well I have travelled across Europe by car on numerous occasions, and I would have been quite happy to have a full size digital map. In order for it to be actually useful, it would need to have an autonomously running GPS module, not needing 3G connection to pinpoint your location.

Here comes the Nokia Booklet 3G, with a built-in GPS, and accelerometer, and 3G. However, typical Nokia, some of these functions are completely useless as you take the device out of the box.

My mother visited for a week, she has been to the UK only a handful of times and there were lots of places she wanted to see. As you can imagine, there was lots of driving, one of the days we did over 400miles! The Nokia was with us all the time and never let me down. Never did it lose signal or battery power, so it was easy to identify our next destination as we were on the move. Even at motorway speeds the 3G internet was flawless! Now what if… What if I could use the Booklet instead of my Garmin SatNav? It would be even more amazing, wouldn’t it?!

I’ve researched into the issue and with quite some fiddling around I found out how to make it work. Here is a picture of a basic application that shows the feed from the Nokia GPS unit.

If you wanted real navigation that works offline, Garmin Mobile is the way to go! Here is a snapshot of the signal strength inside a building. Impressive, isn’t it?

And finally, the ultimate challenge! Putting the Nokia Booklet 3G to the test, by using its GPS module to plot the location and its 3G internet for streaming maps on Google Earth, where you can also ask for directions on the go.

In the last analysis, the capabilities of this little netbook are substantial! However, there could have been more software support from Nokia.