Nokia E90 Sat-Nav report
I'm coming back from London now (again writing this post on the train), having spent a glorious afternoon seeing Spamalot in the West End. While there, I got the chance to try out my Nokia E90's Sat-Nav functionality in earnest, and the results were, well, mixed..
The Nokia E90's maps are certainly comprehensive, and were well up to the task. While queuing for the tickets, I searched for the nearest ATM, and the E90 found it without problem.
It also found the theatre I was headed for, and plotted a route from the Tokyo Diner to the Tottenham Court Road in seconds, which let me have lunch and plot how to find a Nintendo Wii for sale (or not, as the case turned out to be), all before Spamalot started.
So in terms of being a comprehensive Sat-Nav device, the E90 has no problems. However, it is almost unusably slow for doing a quick scan around a particular area. Move the cursor up, down, left or right, and the E90 sits and thinks about things for a while, and then eventually moves. Zoom in or out of a location, and you get the same problem.
Worse, the phone never seems to find the GPS satellites, so it won't tell you your current location.
I suspect I may be dong something wrong, as the Nokia N95 certainly doesn't have these problems. I'll have a look at the configuration in more detail, as it's frustrating having such a gloriously easy-to-use Sat-Nav in your pocket that's too slow to be of any use.
A couple of other points to note are that the battery has lasted all day, despite heavy Internet use and Sat-Nav use, which is reassuring. In fact, it still doesn't have to be charged now. In addition, there's no worries about the E90 getting stolen when using it in public - if you don't open it, it looks like an old Nokia brick, and so no-one gives it a second glance! It's only when you open it that its true wonder is revealed, so leave it closed and you're fine!
