More from Larry:

More from Larry:

So GPS navigation has been around for a while, at the top of the range, of course Garmin and TomTom units, with their “widescreen” versions about 4.3inches diagonal. So how about having a 10 inch Sat-Nav? Daft idea? Well I have travelled across Europe by car on numerous occasions, and I would have been quite happy to have a full size digital map. In order for it to be actually useful, it would need to have an autonomously running GPS module, not needing 3G connection to pinpoint your location.

Here comes the Nokia Booklet 3G, with a built-in GPS, and accelerometer, and 3G. However, typical Nokia, some of these functions are completely useless as you take the device out of the box.

My mother visited for a week, she has been to the UK only a handful of times and there were lots of places she wanted to see. As you can imagine, there was lots of driving, one of the days we did over 400miles! The Nokia was with us all the time and never let me down. Never did it lose signal or battery power, so it was easy to identify our next destination as we were on the move. Even at motorway speeds the 3G internet was flawless! Now what if… What if I could use the Booklet instead of my Garmin SatNav? It would be even more amazing, wouldn’t it?!

I’ve researched into the issue and with quite some fiddling around I found out how to make it work. Here is a picture of a basic application that shows the feed from the Nokia GPS unit.

If you wanted real navigation that works offline, Garmin Mobile is the way to go! Here is a snapshot of the signal strength inside a building. Impressive, isn’t it?

And finally, the ultimate challenge! Putting the Nokia Booklet 3G to the test, by using its GPS module to plot the location and its 3G internet for streaming maps on Google Earth, where you can also ask for directions on the go.

In the last analysis, the capabilities of this little netbook are substantial! However, there could have been more software support from Nokia.

The Future of Location is a continual series running here on Mobile Industry Review. This time I’m delighted to be able to feature the thoughts of Motti Kushnir. Motti is Chief Marketing Officer at location based services giant, Telmap. I’ve put a little more about the company at the bottom of Motti’s piece.

Here we go, over to Motti:

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Smartphone shipments continue to increase (forecasted to reach 34% of shipments in Western Europe in 2010 and 57% in 2013 according to Canalys), and bring with them a wealth of new uses for mobile phones, beyond just voice and messaging. GPS chipsets are standard in today’s smart phones (and actually in many feature phones as well) which serves as fertile ground for the proliferation of location-based services (LBS) which are becoming extremely popular with end-users. According to research firm Gartner, in 2009, 96 million people already used location-based services and that number is expected to grow to 526 million by 2012.

We see more and more cases where location is enriching core services such as SMS and voice, allowing people to share locations and direct each other using maps. The next step is for operators to cooperate and reach full LBS interoperability and seamless interaction across networks and operators, both on country and global levels, similar to what has been achieved for SMS and MMS.

Mobile operators are very active in the LBS arena working on creating an advanced mobile location experience for their subscribers through the roll-out of innovative, intuitive, valuable services that appeal to the mass market; high-end device market, as well as lower-end devices where operators plan to later on monetize through advertising.

Mobile operators also invest in providing their users with an ultra local experience. This comes from the realization that one product does not fit all, as different regions and countries get their information from different content providers. Therefore, LBS should deliver on its promise and be truly local, providing up-to-date, accurate information and content.

Location-Based Advertising is still at its infancy but more players are trialing and showcasing location-based advertising capabilities, which is needed in order to supplement traditional-subscription-based revenue streams. These are becoming less popular as users expect to get LBS for free following Google and Nokia’s announcements of free offerings. So far, there are some encouraging results showing that location-based advertising has the potential of becoming extremely popular with both advertisers and consumers, as it’s relevant, targeted, useful and timely.

Facebook, Twitter and several niche social-networking players such as the popular Gowalla and FourSquare are becoming more and more engaged in location-enabled social networking, as can be seen by the popularity of these services on the mobile and the announcements from Facebook and Twitter about integrating location into their services (not to mention the recent Facebook Places announcements). As a result the ability to check-in and tag favorite places as well as share content in a simple and interactive way is now a reality.

In the future, Telmap believes that we are in for smooth communication between our real-time location, up-to-date information about what’s happening in our area and our personal information.  For example, our alarm clock waking us up 15 minutes earlier as traffic on our way to the office is heavier than usual, or our Telmap5 mobile location companion serving us a coupon to a store in the vicinity of our downtown meeting location, offering a $10 discount on diapers, helping us score some points at the home front.

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Thank you for taking the time Motti. Very, very interesting. I really, REALLY want that alarm clock example — right now, Motti. And given the amount I’m spending on diapers (or ‘nappies’, for us Brits) with our 8-month year old, I could also use that coupon!

You can find Motti on Twitter here: mottikushnir

Now then if you need a quick reminder on Telmap, here’s an overview:

Telmap is a world leader in location solutions. The company has established a solid reputation for providing its customers with innovative, value added mapping and navigation solutions that open new business opportunities and generate new revenue streams. Telmap has a unique end-to-end solution including a mobile location companion, a complementary web companion, robust location platform with a set of APIs to support its customers in delivering a strong LBS strategy. The company’s flagship product, Telmap5 is the world’s first personalized location companion integrating innovative and patented technologies including Telmap Active Interface, Telmap Active Search and Telmap Active Widgets.

Some of the big brands using Telmap’s services include Orange FT Group, Vodafone, Vodacom, SFR, o2/Telefonica, SingTel, OPTUS, Cellcom and Pelephone.

If you’d like to participate by having your Future of Location thoughts published, drop me a note.

Building on the search feature of FoneFood this application takes advantage of the magnetometer (compass to you and me) and GPS built into the G1 to locate entertainment venues, restaurants, landmarks and other stuff on a radar-like interface.  At last!  A way to find the nearest Pizza Express wherever you are without relying on Ewan’s legendary instinct.

We’re going to try it out as soon as we can.

Check it out:

One of items I was sent for review in China that excited me most was the SPOT messenger – a unique device that receives a GPS signal to identify your position and then allows that to be re-broadcast via the SPOT satellite service with an ‘OK’, ‘non-emergency help’ or ‘emergency help’ message.  It’s intended for use by people slightly more adventurous than me who venture away from mobile network coverage and want to send status messages or emergency requests for help.  Seems like a great idea and at £130, quite an affordable option.

Without access to the online control panel I set off to China and ran around Beijing and the Great Wall recording messages… back in the UK I finally gained access to the control panel.  Nothing.

Following the supplied instructions I gave it a clear line of sight into the sky again today for several hours and tried again to record a message.  Again nothing.

It might be me, it might be the unit, it might be the location(s)… I’ve no idea.  However, without any way to confirm from the device if a GPS lock has been achieved or whether any messages have been successfully sent it’s a ‘press and hope’ affair – all the right lights flashed at all the right times for me without a single message ever being recorded.  I certainly wouldn’t rely on it as a potential ‘life saving’ device as advertised.  Very disappointing.

To be fair to the manufacturers others have used it with some sucess, but in my testing it’s been too unreliable for me to recommend.  I’d suggest taking Adventure Trading Post up on their ‘try before you buy‘ offer if you’re interested in this kind of device.

It’s got a five megapixel camera with smile detection, decent internal memory with 8GB or 16 GB options, GPS with navigation and geo-tagging, 3.2-inch WQVGA LCD screen, HSDPA up to 7.2Mbps and 12.5-mm thin body. All that, and Windows Mobile 6.1 too.

And like any iPhone wannabe worth its salt, the Omnia also has a touchscreen interface – a Samsung built UI called TouchWiz which can “tap, sweep, drag and drop”. At first glance, the Omnia looks like it could give the iPhone a bit of a run for its money in good looks and functionality – but it seems like most other handset makers are struggling to match Apple on the software front. Still, if you’re looking a solid smartphone that’s not the iPhone, you could do a lot worse than the Omnia.

1. It’s got – surprise, surprise – 3G, which Apple is promising will mean connectivity twice as fast as the old EDGE iPhone
2. Built in GPS
3. Extra storage – it will come in 8GB and 16GB versions
4. Included iPhone 2.0 software, including support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide over-the-air push email, contact and calendar syncing as well as remote wipe and Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to corporate networks
5. Includes the new App Store natively
6. 10 hours of talk time on 2G, 5 hours on 3G, with up to 5 to 6 hours of web browsing, up to 7 hours for video playback and up to 24 hours for audio playback
7. And perhaps most importantly, it’s at half the price (for US customers at least) – $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB

It seems to me that this version of the iPhone is how the device should have looked at launch – 3G connectivity, downloadable apps, longer battery life and GPS – rather than a second iteration. The only extra feature that will make me consider rushing out to buy the iPhone is that is looks like being cheaper – what do you guys think?

Despite RIM’s plans to pitch the device to “business professionals and power users”, the Bold looks like it’s another play by the folk at RIM to charm the consumer audience. As well as boasting similar whizzbang features to those that made the Nokia N95 a crowd pleaser, it’s also got some good looking styling and iTunes syncing, via BlackBerry Media Sync.

Want to get your hands on one? It’ll be out this summer, according to RIM. No word on who’s the lucky UK operators yet.