Prepare to be amAzed!

Over the weekend I discovered free navigation software for mobile phones called amAze. I have been using it for a few days and I must admit, I am really impressed - or should I say amAzed! I can highly recommend it.

The great thing about amAze is that it is written in Java 2 Mobile Edition and therefore works on most modern mobile phones. You don't have to have a phone with an integrated GPS like the N95 to use it. It works brilliantly with a Bluetooth GPS receiver connected to your phone. Two of my friends have installed it on an N70 and N73 and are using it with Bluetooth GPS receivers with excellent results. The amAze site lists phones which have been verified to work with the software and many phones from most major vendors are included.

Even if you don't have a Bluetooth GPS, I'd still say it's worth having as the maps and address search feature are useful even without the turn-by-turn navigation.

The address search is very easy to use and works well:



During navigation you can switch seamlessly between the map view and the arrow view. I have found that the voice prompts are very good and I don't even need to look at the screen.



Here is a Flash video clip from the amAze site which gives an impression of how it works (you need sound to hear the voice prompts).



I was planning to one day purchase a Nokia navigation license for my N95, but now that I have amAze on my phone, I will be able to put the money to better use. It's not quite a Garmin but hey, it's free, and I always have it with me!

Flying N95

I have tried out the Sports Tracker software on my N95 to log trips in my car and it worked brilliantly (I'm not into running or cycling - I try to avoid any exercise that involves less than 10 horse power).

I planned to give Sports Tracker a try on my off-road motorcycle by placing my N95 in the pocket of my hydration pack, but before I got a chance to do that, a more interesting opportunity arose...

Whilst on holiday in Jo'burg, I decided to try it out in my brother Gareth's model aeroplane. He has a Funtana S40 3D aerobatic radio controlled aircraft.

I created an activity named "Flying" in Sports Tracker with the settings I required and got it up and running, ensuring that the GPS had lock. I set the phone to use the "Offline" profile to avoid unwanted RF interference.

Next we placed the phone in a bubble-wrap envelope inside the fuselage of the aircraft. Unfortunately I had to close the phone's slide due to space constraints.

Then we closed her up carefully. I threatened Gareth with his life fearing the potential demise of my beloved N95 (when a radio controlled aircraft crashes, there is usually nothing but toothpicks left over). He gave me the usual "There are no guarantees" speech.

Finally Gareth took her for a hair raising, high speed, high G flight. When he landed after about 15 minutes of redical manoeuvres, I said a prayer of thanks that my phone had made it unscathed and we eagerly opened her up to review the results.

Sadly, Sports Tracker only recorded the first minute or so of flying. I think the GPS lost lock during the first aerobatic manoeuvre and was unable to re-acquire it because of the high speed and rapid acceleration. Having the phone's slide closed probably also inhibited the GPS's performance. BUT we still managed to get just under 1km of track recorded and clocked the Funtana at 120km/h straight and level (about 840km/h scale speed) - not bad. We wanted to give it another go but ran out of time. Perhaps some other time... Boys and their toys - all in the spirit of fun I say!

New firmware for N95

I have read several posts about the new N95 firmware which was released by Nokia in May. All of the articles I read spoke of the cool new features and improvements included in the new release and I couldn't wait to get my grubby little mitts on it.

Like a good compliant user, I faithfully tried to upgrade my phone using the Nokia Phone Updater software once or twice a week for the last four weeks or so. Each time I was disappointed by a message saying that there is no new version available for my phone.

Just as I was starting to get really frustrated, I stumbled upon this great post on Simply Symbian over the weekend. Following these instructions, I successfully changed my phone's product code using the Nemisis Service Suite so that the Nokia Phone Updater believes it is a European model. I was then able to download the new firmware and upgrade the phone successfully. Yeehaa!

The new firmware is awesome! My GPS now acquires lock in seconds thanks to the new Assisted GPS feature. The phone's UI is much more responsive too.

I guess Nokia will eventually get to releasing the new firmware in this region, but if you're like me and just can't wait for them to decide when we Africans need access to their latest technology, give this a go.