Tag: drive navigation

Some problems you may run into with the Nokia E71x phone

Based on the scores of comments left on my series of Nokia E71x posts, there are people using this phone actively. I am no longer one of them. Reason: over 6 months ago, I cracked the screen (not the plastic covering, but what’s underneath said plastic covering). I’m now an active ATT Tilt user albeit with a ‘cooked’ ROM from XDA Developer’s forum). With that in mind, my instructions are 6 months old and your mileage may vary.

That said, I recently received correspondence from a commenter about a sound issue he had been having with his Nokia E71x device. Specifically, there was no sound in the Ovi Maps 3.0 application. Now, I’m not sure why this happens because the steps I’ve written about are exactly the steps I took for installing the Maps application on my device. However, please be aware that Nokia’s not necessarily supporting the E71x phone because it’s custom-made for ATT.

Update (06/10/2010): If you’re having trouble installing the Ovi Store App on your Nokia E71x phone, please visit this ATT wireless forum. Here’s a direct link to the Ovi Store app .sis file for downloading & installing to your phone. Thanks to BobE71x for bringing this to my attention!

In a nutshell, if you have no sound in the Ovi Maps 3.0 application on your Nokia E71x device & your maps version is v3.0 09wk03b02MW OpenGL LM MN, then, please go post-haste to these two websites:

  1. Visit this on the Nokia website about no sound in the Ovi Maps application. The instructions from the user, “Iktus”, were what this commenter followed to resolve his problem.
  2. If that doesn’t work, go to Spanish-language website (translated via Google Translate) by the user, “Tzar” who documents how he resolved the “no sound” issue on his N82 device.
  3. For other weird problems, feel free to comment or visit the same Spanish-language website (translated) for in-depth tutorials, etc.
  4. If you are unable to access the website for some reason, here’s a translated page of the website here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/32544281/Nokia-No-Sound.

One last thing:

  1. Please note that there is still NO free turn-by-turn navigation on the Nokia E71x device. My guess is because this device comes bundled with AT & T’s Navigator program so Nokia doesn’t want to compete with the cellphone provider. Only newer Nokia devices are getting the free goodies. Sorry.

Update on Nokia/Ovi Maps on my Nokia E71x

The visits to my posts about installing Nokia Maps 3.0 on the Nokia E71x phone have been nothing short of amazing! Hopefully, I’ll get some return visitors and we can have a great conversation going on this little blog. I have a couple of comments on the Ovi Maps (.sis file) service and things/quirks I have noticed from my usage. Before all of that, here are some things that might help in getting the best out of Nokia/Ovi Maps on your device:

  1. Make sure you have the latest version of the Nokia PC suite software, Nokia maps updater, and the map uploader software.
  2. If for whatever reason, you can’t get the maps to download via the Map loader software, check out this site which has links that point directly at the maps files on Nokia’s servers here: http://diabo.freehostia.com/symbian/indexmaps.htm As always, caveat emptor when downloading links from external sites posted here. 🙂
  3. Also, you might want to consider uninstalling the Maps Updater and Maps Loader software entirely and re-installing them if you run into issues about the Maps initialization failure, etc. It appears to have worked for the guy in this thread.

On to the rest of the post, if you downloaded the Ovi Maps software hoping for free Drive Navigation, you are wrong as I found out. Now, I don’t blame them as they have to make money somehow. However, you can get drive navigation on your device by purchasing a license from Nokia. Thankfully, the purchasing process is painless i.e. either online or at designated retail locations. For buying the license(s) online (a.k.a. on your device), all you need to do is: (i) Have your credit/debit card ready (ii) Fire up your Nokia maps application and go online if it asks you. (iii) Select “Options” and select “shop & licenses”. It should then automatically update with the latest offerings that Nokia has to offer. (iv) Follow the prompts and tada! I opted to purchase drive navigation and it cost $64.05 including taxes. Be aware that it actually charges your card in foreign currency so you will be hit with transaction charges by your bank. Thankfully, we’re talking about less than $1 with my bank, Wachovia (acquired by) Wells-Fargo so double-check with your bank. I have found the Drive Navigation to be pretty accurate and I actually prefer it to the Garmin XT software I had previously used with my Palm Treo 750 device! As always, configure the options to suit you such as making it take the shortest route (mileage-wise) versus the fastest route which might result in your taking random roads/alleys, etc. 🙂

The second purchase I opted to make was for the City Explorer which is supposed to act like someone giving you directions using landmarks in the city you are in and is tailored for someone who is … walking and not driving. 🙂 I haven’t had a chance to use it much, but I will update this post when I do. The third license I decided to try out was Traffic info and I can honestly say that this doesn’t do much, but tell me when I’m going over the speed limit. I live in an area where traffic congestion is not a huge issue. Thankfully (yet again), the license cost less than $12 for a year of service and I don’t intend to renew. If you have a data plan, it might make sense for you to be constantly updated on live traffic and it also allows re-routing of your trip to avoid traffic jams. If you only get online via WiFi, you will lose out on this useful feature for jampacked areas like San Francisco, etc. Guides is exactly like it sounds, but I’d advise you to only get this is you are sight-seeing in a new town, etc. It’s just another way to get more money out of you. 😀 Lastly, pricing for these items is also available on the <a href=”http://europe.nokia.com/explore-services/maps/prices_and_coverage/pricing-tables-navigable”>Nokia website</a>.

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