[Gandhi]

It is not provided by Google. Someone has ported it on bada OS. It is available on all bada forums.

There is no voice guided navigation in the java version. Normal navigation works fine. Also, it doesn't have maps stored on the device, so you have to have a good data plan for it.

For the Route66 app (navigation app provided by Samsung), only Voice guided navigation is what you need to buy, all other features are free for life.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by Gandhi

It is not provided by Google. Someone has ported it on bada OS. It is available on all bada forums.

There is no voice guided navigation in the java version. Normal navigation works fine. Also, it doesn't have maps stored on the device, so you have to have a good data plan for it.

For the Route66 app (navigation app provided by Samsung), only Voice guided navigation is what you need to buy, all other features are free for life.

Thanks a heap.

Do the map apps require lot of data? Very roughly speaking, if one activates a day's data plan for which IIRC one gets about 10 MB (depending on the telco), it should be enough for a longish car drive, right?

Good to hear Route66 is free minus voice. Seems only Nokia is giving free voice navi. for life. High time the others started too.

[shwetanshu]

so gps is also free? i mean no 30 day trial thingy?

[Gandhi]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Thanks a heap.

Do the map apps require lot of data? Very roughly speaking, if one activates a day's data plan for which IIRC one gets about 10 MB (depending on the telco), it should be enough for a longish car drive, right?

I haven't tried it, so can't comment on that.

Good to hear Route66 is free minus voice. Seems only Nokia is giving free voice navi. for life. High time the others started too.

Looks like I gave you wrong information. Navigation package has to be purchased once 30-day free trial expires. I haven't even activated the 30-day free trial yet. There is an offer going on right now for Wave users. Lifetime navigation is priced at 50 USD. I'd say the overall package is still VFM.

Someone who has used Route66 in India, please comment.

Also, have you gone through this detailed review of Wave? - Samsung S8500 Wave review: Hello, world! - GSMArena.com

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by Gandhi

I haven't tried it, so can't comment on that.

Looks like I gave you wrong information. Navigation package has to be purchased once 30-day free trial expires. I haven't even activated the 30-day free trial yet. There is an offer going on right now for Wave users. Lifetime navigation is priced at 50 USD. I'd say the overall package is still VFM.

Someone who has used Route66 in India, please comment.

Also, have you gone through this detailed review of Wave? - Samsung S8500 Wave review: Hello, world! - GSMArena.com

Haven't gone thru thru that review in detail as I'm not considering the S8500 right now. I'm looking at its cheaper siblings. And extra 50$ for budget phones like that dosen't cut it... :( Nokia 5235 seems better value compared to that! If I decide to spend the amount required for S8500, then I'd want some/many of the apps available with Android or even Symbian, which seems not to be an option for now.

I recall reading that you get only a limited time Route66 license for the cheaper siblings too. So I guess the same applies to them.

What is your opinion about Nokia 5235?

[Gandhi]

I had considered that when we wanted to buy a phone for my wife. Only difference between 5235 and 5230 is the unlimited music from Ovi music. I didn't find it worthy enough to pay 1500/- extra. Otherwise 5230 and 5235 are exactly same phones. 5230 is the best phone in that budget if you consider the features. The symbian interface is not very good (still same old UI that they were using for non-touch phones) and screen is resistive.

You should be comparing 5230 and Wave 525 (Samsung Wave525 S5253 Price in India: Metallic Black Color | Flipkart Mobiles). However you won't find a decent GPS Navigation system free for lifetime in any phone other than Nokia.

[Raccoon]

^^^ Besides the Ovi music (almost useless for me), 5235 looks better in that it has this bluish chrome kinda outline. So it looks bit better than the plasticky 5230. Also 5230 is said to have a v poor quality handsfree. 5235 has a much better one. So for the slightly better looks, and better handsfree, I'd prefer the 5235.

I know 5230/5235 is like dated now, but its still got best in class screen resolution with 16 M colours, video recording at 30 fps, free voice navi. Besides this, I guess it has nothing else going for it.

5230 and 5235 are reported to have very low sound output on speaker phone and ring volume. Could you comment on this? Would you say it is bad enough to be a deal breaker? And how good is the camera compared to 2 MP cams on other brands?

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

^^^ Besides the Ovi music (almost useless for me), 5235 looks better in that it has this bluish chrome kinda outline. So it looks bit better than the plasticky 5230. Also 5230 is said to have a v poor quality handsfree. 5235 has a much better one. So for the slightly better looks, and better handsfree, I'd prefer the 5235.

I know 5230/5235 is like dated now, but its still got best in class screen resolution with 16 M colours, video recording at 30 fps, free voice navi. Besides this, I guess it has nothing else going for it.

5230 and 5235 are reported to have very low sound output on speaker phone and ring volume. Could you comment on this? Would you say it is bad enough to be a deal breaker? And how good is the camera compared to 2 MP cams on other brands?

You could buy the 5230 and buy the better handsfree separately. When I purchased the 5230, I got a free car stand included in the sales package. Not sure if the offer is still there on 5230.

Speaker sound is average, like expected from a mono speaker. It is not a deal breaker. Camera is nothing to speak of. Don't buy this if camera quality is a priority.

I was simply blown away by the screen resolution and GPS navigation offered at such throwaway price.

But I find the 5230 too heavy and bulky for my liking. Hence looking for an alternative in a similar price range. Wave 2 looks good, only if it came with free voice navigation like Nokia.

Rohan

[UKR]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Thanks a heap.

Do the map apps require lot of data? Very roughly speaking, if one activates a day's data plan for which IIRC one gets about 10 MB (depending on the telco), it should be enough for a longish car drive, right?

Good to hear Route66 is free minus voice. Seems only Nokia is giving free voice navi. for life. High time the others started too.

I have tried the Java version of google map on my S8500 wave. It downloads the image tiles through which we are navigating and stores them in a local folder on the phone. And next time onwards it reuses the downloaded image when navigating through the same area. So it is a one time download. But I am not sure what it does when an updated version of an already downloaded tile becomes available online.

Originally Posted by Gandhi

I haven't tried it, so can't comment on that.

Looks like I gave you wrong information. Navigation package has to be purchased once 30-day free trial expires. I haven't even activated the 30-day free trial yet. There is an offer going on right now for Wave users. Lifetime navigation is priced at 50 USD. I'd say the overall package is still VFM.

Someone who has used Route66 in India, please comment.

I have used route 66 just to check whether it is able to get a lock on the satellites and see whether the red dot moves on the map accurately as we move. It is working perfectly, it shows the direction, automatically zooms in to the map as we slow down and zooms out as we pick up speed. I found it really good and got me interested in the voice guided navigation.

Can you tell me how to activate the one month free navigation package for the wave? Also where can we buy the life time free navigation for 50 USD?

[Gandhi]

Originally Posted by UKR

I have used route 66 just to check whether it is able to get a lock on the satellites and see whether the red dot moves on the map accurately as we move. It is working perfectly, it shows the direction, automatically zooms in to the map as we slow down and zooms out as we pick up speed. I found it really good and got me interested in the voice guided navigation.

That's cool. This means I was right in saying that only voice guided navigation needs to be purchased and other features are free. How is the coverage of maps? At least same as Ovi maps if not Google maps?

Can you tell me how to activate the one month free navigation package for the wave? Also where can we buy the life time free navigation for 50 USD?

I haven't done it myself but read somewhere that Samsung needs to activate your IMEI number for 30-day trial version. You'll probably need to contact Samsung and Route66 both.

Life time free navigation for 50 USD is available here - https://secure.66.com/samsung_wave/

You also get 1 year free speed camera updates (wonder how useful is that in India). More details here - ROUTE 66, the personal navigation pioneer - Press releases

[Raccoon]

Thanks a lot for the very useful inputs guys.

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

You could buy the 5230 and buy the better handsfree separately. When I purchased the 5230, I got a free car stand included in the sales package. Not sure if the offer is still there on 5230.

Speaker sound is average, like expected from a mono speaker. It is not a deal breaker. Camera is nothing to speak of. Don't buy this if camera quality is a priority.

I was simply blown away by the screen resolution and GPS navigation offered at such throwaway price.

But I find the 5230 too heavy and bulky for my liking. Hence looking for an alternative in a similar price range. Wave 2 looks good, only if it came with free voice navigation like Nokia.

Rohan

Yes, I can of course get a good wired handsfree seperately, but as I said, the 5235 at least looks a bit better than the 5230 which just looks like a really boring plastic brick. +1 about the bulkiness. Looks really dated when the competition has such slim and light products. But despite these drawbacks and poor cam, like you mention, there don't seem to be other options if one really wants the aforementioned features. :(

Just one more questions - do you find Symbian on your 5235 to be really such a big disadvantage compared to Bada or Android?

Originally Posted by UKR

I have tried the Java version of google map on my S8500 wave. It downloads the image tiles through which we are navigating and stores them in a local folder on the phone. And next time onwards it reuses the downloaded image when navigating through the same area. So it is a one time download. But I am not sure what it does when an updated version of an already downloaded tile becomes available online.

I have used route 66 just to check whether it is able to get a lock on the satellites and see whether the red dot moves on the map accurately as we move. It is working perfectly, it shows the direction, automatically zooms in to the map as we slow down and zooms out as we pick up speed. I found it really good and got me interested in the voice guided navigation.

If it works that way, I guess data usage would not be too high.

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Thanks a lot for the very useful inputs guys.

Yes, I can of course get a good wired handsfree seperately, but as I said, the 5235 at least looks a bit better than the 5230 which just looks like a really boring plastic brick. +1 about the bulkiness. Looks really dated when the competition has such slim and light products. But despite these drawbacks and poor cam, like you mention, there don't seem to be other options if one really wants the aforementioned features. :(

Just one more questions - do you find Symbian on your 5235 to be really such a big disadvantage compared to Bada or Android?

If you can wait for a few months, a new Nokia model (C5-03) is in the pipeline, expected to release in Q4.

It would have features similar to 5230, but would have a 5 MP camera and would be slimmer. I am waiting for the same.

Currently I am using a SE non smart phone. The 5230 was purchased as a gift for my fiance, I just played with it for a few days before gifting it to her.

I have not used a Bada or Android phone extensively, but Symbian S60 definitely feels outdated compared to these 2. But unless you are a tech-freak, it should not matter much.

Rohan

[Gandhi]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

I have not used a Bada or Android phone extensively, but Symbian S60 definitely feels outdated compared to these 2. But unless you are a tech-freak, it should not matter much.

Rohan

Android and bada interfaces are miles ahead of version of Symbian (S60 5th Edition) on 5230. It is the exact same UI that was used for non-touch phones and they have simply added touch to it. You can imagine. Whereas Android or bada interfaces were designed with only touch in mind. For example in bada, there is a touch gesture - in contact list, you can swipe right to dial that contact and swipe left to send an SMS. Notification bar on the top is another example. The amount of customization you get with widgets on homescreens is unlimited.

However, I have not used the latest symbian that comes with N8 and likes.

[UKR]

Originally Posted by Gandhi

That's cool. This means I was right in saying that only voice guided navigation needs to be purchased and other features are free. How is the coverage of maps? At least same as Ovi maps if not Google maps?

I have checked only the Bangalore and Trivandrum maps. Maps are fairly detailed for both the places.

[vinaydas]

is there any possibility to connect the wave to a pendrive using a female usb to male micro usb port?(like the n8).
I bought a usb female to female and tried it but no response.
any firmware upgrades for the following?