Ovi - Life Connected

  Ovi , meaning door in Finish , is the Experience Application Suite by Nokia giving people a chance to connect .

With 200 million  internet ready devices  in use Nokia is the world’s largest  portable ‘computer’ manufacturer and with prices ranging from USD 200 and above maybe also the most inexpensive one . 

 

With this global outreach  and subtle offerings Ovi opens doors for the masses to connect and interact be it around the corner or around the world  through Contact , Calender and Notes Dashboard Email Messaging , Music , Maping , Sharing of Photos and Videos  or sharing of ideas while keeping the virtual and mobile world in Sync with the click of a button.

Launched at Nokia World 2008 two the new services on Ovi includes Maps on Ovi and Mail on Ovi with Nokia Messaging .

With the acquisition of NavTeq and Smart2Go , Nokia has also become the  dominant player of GPS and Map application market and has introduced a range of devices with A-GPS pre installed starting from earlier Flagship Nokia N95-1 and guiding the world with Nokia Maps. 

The Nokia Maps application is not limited to only those phones with GPS preinstalled but earlier models like Nokia E61 can also benefit from it connecting through  a Bluetooth GPS receiver .

Over the course of time Nokia Maps has seen many changes and every time the change  made it better . The earliest Map application consists of only basic mapping with only street lines and names along with Navigation . As time progressed Google introduced mobile variant their popular Google Earth as Google Maps but it lacked the GPS functionality and people like me with a Bluetooth GPS and a series60V3 device  ( E61 in my case ) used MGMAPS which utilized map sources from different providers as Yahoo , Google Earth etc .  The process was cumbersome and lengthy and soon Google introduced GPS tracking on Google Maps along with Nokia using Satellite mapping in Feb 2008 with the introduction of Nokia Maps 2.0

The difference between the two , me in being in Pakistan , was Nokia Maps 2.0 had updated satellite images of Karachi , pics taken  after 2004 while Google Maps had a decade old pics which still exists .  Read my post at http://ourn958gb.blogspot.com/2008/03/nokia-maps-has-updated-karachi-maps.html   for the comparison . 

Now at Nokia World 2008  , Nokia took over the Google Mobile Maps territory by offering the first free service , Ovi Maps / Nokia Maps 3.0 , that allows people to pre plan their trip , sync their trip plans with the Ovi web and Ovi PC / Web service with future offerings to include pre planning a Trip , saving Points of interests , Post Editing plans and sharing plans with Peers .

The key feature of Nokia maps 3.0 is ‘Togetherness’ i.e sharing with the world or that particular someone where you are  . This feature is particularly useful for people on the move be it within the city  or across the world .  The application could share your location say with your family and they’ll know where you are at the particular moment . If a friend /  contact arrives near you , the phone can pinpoint the location and distance easier to network and connect. Thus see and be seen here , there and everywhere.   For security reasons in places like Karachi  tracking the loved ones will be easier then ever through realtime location services. The current variant could be experienced through Nokia Vine /  Nokia Sports Tracker on the web  .

 

Sharing location services and PC Sync are not the only noteworthy features for the first time Nokia has introduced 3D objects such as Buildings and Monuments on the map  like Sketchup integration with Google Earth and also  Terrain Maps which shows the highs and lows useful when using the Navigation for walking the uncharted territory . 

For Navigation purposes new technologies are added as determining the best route which use real time Traffic Information as used by Google Maps and inform of the upcoming Traffic jams and  shows the alternate route thus saving valuable time .

Speeding , well the software even warns you of that and saved from the dreaded speeding ticket.

A  lane is approaching for turning the display starts showing the lanes enabling you to slow down and make the turn . The application even monitors the weather and keeps the user updated of the current weather conditions   .   Thus Safety and convenience  is paramount for Nokia a feature I believe is not offered by other GPS manufacturers.

 

Roaming in the strange city  or even in your own know what the hottest places are with a touch of a button with full multimedia content , you’ll discover even more then you know .  Want a concierge and your personal hotel booking agent , your Maps is all that with updated data of current hotels including rates , amenities and availability a great vacation is just a click away thus enriching lives.

 

 

Beside Maps Nokia also introduced Ovi Mail and Nokia Messaging were also launched in the event. 

Around 75 % of the world’s population has not used email and Nokia wants to change that . For the masses their first email experience will not be through the computer but through a phone and Nokia is there to assist them with simplifying the process as much as possible.

Mail on OVI offers An Inbox For Everyone all 200 million devices capable of accessing the net can access the FREE  email service easily due to it’s out of the box , no download , one click access  connecting everyone with anyone and minimizing the learning curve.

The Mail on Ovi offers

• A  @OVI.com email address
• An On the go FREE Email Access with 1gb of storage space ( perosnally I think it’s too low but it’s just a start )
• Web and Phone Integration , action at one place updates the other instantly.
• Spam and Virus Protection

To get Mail on Ovi Simply go to your Messaging folder and sign-up for a new email address right on your phone .

You are not bound to have a @Ovi.com email address , want to bring in your own provider , Ovi Mail will also support othes email providers too from Gmail , Hotmail and Yahoo to your local area ISP through POP3 and SMTP access. 

Although Mail on Ovi is Free and for everyone , Nokia Messaging is not  , hailed as a premium experience for mobile email and IM ( supports all popular IM protocols)  it will be pre installed on the device with ease of setup , next generation user interface for mobile email .

Nokia has not forgotten the corporate clients having Mail for Exchange and is offering MoE for Nokia devices provding access to Microsoft Exchange email , calender and contacts in easy to install solution. 

A current working variant  of Messaging on Nokia is Nokia email which not only handles 10 email addresses but gives Blackberry a run for its money ( It’s Free and works on all S60v3 devices. )

 

I as a tech enthusiast , appreciate Nokia’s efforts to make communication technology  accessible to everyone which not only improves our interaction but also helps us network which further increases our productivity and standard of living , Hats Off to Nokia for the OVI suite and looking forward to introduction of more ‘Experience’ based technologies .

Nokia not only connects people , with OVI it connects people smartly.

Farhan