Firstain

Yes you are reading it right. Nokia has challenged Google Maps with the announcement of making Ovi Maps absolutely free to provide step by step and driving directions and that too at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGES!

This is a smart move that could take the industry by storm. Nokia’s Ovi Maps has got a unique hybrid technology and essential features required for navigation hence making it available to over 50 Million cellphones.

As said, this is a huge challenge for Google Maps as Nokia have an advantage of providing inbuilt systems for their navigation adding to the fact that Nokia is selling more cellphones then Google.

• Everything is free! Only data charges apply!
• Voice guided navigation for both pedestrians and drivers, available for 74 countries in 46 different languages
• Maps for over 180 countries
• No network connection required when navigating

With Nokia’s unique hybrid technology, maps can be pre-loaded on to your Nokia smartphone. Hence you can set Ovi Maps to offline mode and save battery power and yet get the navigation system to work properly.

Ovi Maps is built on an advanced technology called hybrid Vector maps. These Vector maps are high quality but less data intensive and allow you to continue navigating even if you lose your network connection. The hybrid technology ensures that, unlike other providers, any downloaded map data is stored on the device for future use.