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GIZMO GALLERY

The Nokia 6210 is an attempt to enhance the attraction of in-built GPS software. It has a dedicated star-shaped key to launch the GPS navigation software.

This aside, the Nokia 6210 Navigator runs the latest Symbian OS 9.3 and packs a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera, accelerometer, stereo FM radio and a 2.4 inch QVGA display. The handset is an upgrade to the Nokia 6110 Navigator. The design is similar to its predecessor but it’s slimmer. The keys have undergone a rejig, otherwise there’s no noticeable difference.

The Assisted GPS (A-GPS) set-up on the 6210 Navigator works with pre-loaded Nokia Maps software and Nokia also supplies a 1GB micro SD card with maps of eight cities and not to forget a six-month navigation licence. The user can load maps on the go from Google Maps or download the whole map on PC and then transfer it on to the mobile saving the GPRS charges and a lot of time too.

Sadly, auto rotation does not work in Nokia Maps 2.0 as there is no landscape mode to view the maps (unlike the Nokia N95). Further, the font is too tiny to be used comfortably during in-car navigation but works well when used for navigating around on foot. In-car navigation with Nokia Maps offers turn-by-turn voice and visual guidance with a broad number of route-planning options that includes traffic information and re-routing. This is the first Nokia with a built-in compass, although this feature comes handy only in case one has selected the Walk mode option.

Giving a tough fight to Nokia is the HTC’s P3470, a Windows Mobile 6 phone with an in-built GPS chip. The first impression is that the device seems quite capable and despite the relatively slow CPU (just 201 Mhz) it seems to function smoothly, probably aided by the 128MB of RAM. The lack of 3G and WiFi is a bit of a disappointment which is only offset slightly by the integrated GPS.

The GPS works well with the bundled TomTom 6 software (one of the best GPS softwares) but works equally well with Google Maps. It takes a while to acquire a position fix, when switched on for the first time (around 3 or 4 minutes) but subsequent uses of the GPS gets the signal much faster.

While the Nokia 6210 packs a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, and the image quality of the camera is great when compared with the HTC’s P3470 that has a 2.0 megapixel camera and no flash. Noticeably, the HTC has employed the most user-friendly parts of the Apple iPhone interface in its latest model.