Free Turn-by-Turn Voice Guided Navigation with Ovi Maps

We were hoping something like this would happen but we would be lying to you if we claim to have smelled this before Nokia left this cat out a couple of days ago.  Yeah, we are talking about the new avatar of Ovi Maps offering  free turn-by-tun voice guided navigation across 74 countries in 46 languages.

The latest move by Nokia is taking the navigation tools competition to a new level, a level very few services can sustain. Google started the trend with its similar free service in the US with its android app but Nokia beat them hands down, by offering a similar service across the globe and going by the present market penetration of Nokia devices, it’s anybody’s guess which is going to shape the navigation industry in the long-run.

As you can see from the screenshots, Ovi Maps has got a new makeover. Not only are the navigation options free but some there are some third-party add-ons as well. Lonely Planet is one notable addition and so is Hungry-Go-Where.Before we go gaga over the killer features of this app, take a look at this introductory video on the new version of Ovi Maps

Now, that’s what we call a “Complete Navigation App“. Ovi Maps also offers real-time search for points of interest and weather forecast, just in case you are too lazy to pop your head out of the window to see what the sky looks like!

We tried the navigation app extensively here and found the voice instructions pretty lucid and easy to follow. Further local street names were pronounced correctly and not with an European accent as you would expect from a “Made in Europe” app. Once you select your starting and end points, you can select what language and voice (male/female) you would like to have for your instructions and the itinerary is downloaded in real time, updating on traffic info as seen from the video above. Pedestrian navigation is handy as well, especially when you find yourself lost in the wrong lane.

The bottom line is the new Ovi Maps is one killer app and waste no further time and head to www.nokia.mobi/maps/dl to get the latest version of Ovi Maps on your 5800s.