Nokia 6110 Navigator: Phone and sat-nav
If you're the type of person who has trouble finding your way out of your own garage, take a look at Nokia's 6110 Navigator -- a phone with built-in sat-nav
Next time you're in Carphone Warehouse, don't be surprised if the spotty youth serving you asks, "Do you want a free phone with your sat-nav?"
That's the idea behind Nokia's latest strategy to 'bring navigation to everyone' by putting GPS chips in a range of low-cost phones this year.
The first example of this strategy is the 6110 Navigator, which we had a quick hands-on with today. It's a decent-looking, if not exactly mind-blowing, slider phone, that runs Series 60, and features a 56mm screen, two cameras (including a 2-megapixel version), 3.5G support for fast downloads and a microSD slot. So far, so ordinary.
What really impressed us, though, was the built-in sat-nav, especially when we realised that it's got most of the features you'd expect to see in a dedicated GPS device.
To calculate a route, simply enter a postcode and the phone tells you where to go. There's no text-to-speech functionality, so it says things like "turn left in 500 yards" rather than "go left down Arcadia Close", which is a shame, but you can't have everything.
If you pay a subscription charge, the 6110 Navigator uses the data connection in the phone to download traffic data, helping you avoid traffic blackspots, and warns you when you are approaching speed cameras. It can also download weather forecasts, in case looking out of the window is a little tricky for you.
The phone will arrive with a map of the UK pre-loaded, with maps of other countries available at an extra charge. Nokia says that each map has thousands of points of interest, and you'll be able to add your own.
A separate car kit will be available for mounting the phone on the dashboard, but Nokia is also hoping that pedestrians will find the mobile useful. This makes sense -- after all, you're much more likely to have your phone with you than a sat-nav when you're wandering around lost.
It's a great start to what should be this year's big trend -- mobiles with GPS.
Expect to see the Nokia 6110 Navigator appear in a couple of months or so for free with a monthly contract. -JJ
Update: We now have a full review of the Nokia 6110 live in our Reviews channel.