Google Maps

[The Mullet of G]

Not sure if everyone already has this, but if not give it a try as its pretty decent and better still its free, basically as the title suggests its a map viewing app, it shows the usual gps style map which you can zoom into and out of, so far its pretty run of the mill but it has an ace up its sleeve, open the menu and change to satellite view and voilà you now have Google World on your mobile, as far as I can see it uses the exact same satellite images that Google world uses hence its very cool indeed and more than a bit James Bond'ish, the only downside is that it downloads the maps from the internet like Google World, and in satellite view its gonna cost you an arm and a leg in data charges, I used it on an N80 via WiFi for free and it was impressive to say the least.

Heres the link. --> http://www.google.com/gmm/index.html

[Ben]

Thats Mr Mullet, I'll be sure to check this out, tomorrow hopefully ;) ! Sounds fab :D

[The Mullet of G]

Ooooh sounds like someone is getting a new phone, to be honest you really need a WiFi connection to get the best out of this app, as its downloading 2-3mb chunks of data at a time it'd be fairly slow even on 3G, but it works a treat via WiFi and a 10mb connection, you can zoom away down to almost street level, and with the N80's superior screen cars and other details are sharp and easily recognizable, and with the WiFi connection you can scroll around on the map in almost real time without having to wait anymore than 3 or 4 seconds for data. :)

[Ben]

Oh wow! That's simply stunning!

GMM has to be the coolest S60 application ever, and it really does fly on the N80 over WiFi. I finally took the plunge now the prices have dropped from the artificially high £500's and I'm loving the phone, even moreso now I've seen that :p

[The Mullet of G]

Yup GMM is officially cool and gets The Mullet super seal of approval, the N80's WiFi really makes the app what it is though, but I've heard its not to bad via gprs if not a tad expensive. :)

Glad to hear that you finally took the plunge though, its got its flaws but everytime you try to pick fault with it, you end up finding a dozen counter points or something that wins you back round, it truely is the pinnacle of mobile technology. :)

If you haven't already then I'd highly recommend acquiring a 2gig Mini Sd card as this phone just cries out for more storage for mp3's and videos etc, I got one of eBay for £30 including delivery. :D

[Ben]

I'm on the ball. Picked up a nice little high speed number, I'll probably never need to take it out!

[The Mullet of G]

Well played my good man, my mp3 player has taken early retirement now that I've got N80 and a 2gig card. :D

On another note I just flashed the firmware on my N80, using nothing more than the supplied USB cable and a little bit of trickery, the latest firmware has some much needed bug fixes and performance optimizations, they've improved the way the phone handles its available system ram and oh boy does it make a difference, they've also added PTT (Push To Talk) support, after the firmware upgrade an icon for it appeared in "My Own" folder. :D

Heres a list of one or two other changes they've made lol. :)

Changes/improvements made MCU SW v 3.0614.0.3 to v 3.0617.0.6:
- Right soft key function changes to “video call” when entering number in
idle to allow fast selection of Video Call.
- Memory optimization has been done to increase available RAM by about 2MB
- Video sharing is now supported in landscape mode
Accessories
- Improved the volume for text-to-speech conversion
- AD-15 performance improved
Applications
- Imrpovements to Anniversary, To-Do and calendar entries
- Improvements in Fixed dialing number (FDN) handling
- Improvements to FM Radio Auto tuning
Bluetooth
- Improved handling of Image transfer to Macs over Bluetooth
Camera
- Improvements to Video Adaptation Video Encoder and playback
- Camera key is no longer active if device locked
- Improvements to Camera rotation when used by 3rd party applications
- Camera shutter sound is now played during voice call
Data
- Improved PDP context activation time for PC dial up
Favourites
- Bookmarks can now be separated for WEB and Services applications
Gallery
- Flash files (SWF) appear in Gallery and are now launched in FlashPlayer
- Improvements to media gallery opening from camera application
Homezone
- HomeZone indication does not disappear during PDP context active
- HomeZone indication is displayed when GPRS is active and cell changes.
Idle
- EONS/Wrong operators names shown on the display
- Correctly shows network name
- EONS name scrolling stops when keys are locked
- Softkeys are missing in idle state
- Idle screen not always restored
Localisation
- "Localised Greek - Media Gallery - Grammatical mistake in ""Transfer
complete Transferred %N item to %U"""
Mail settings
- Mail settings can now be used from MMC
Messaging
- Improvements to retrieving an email when there's no network coverage
MMS
- Improvements to Video Clip handling in MMS
- Pre-created mms messages can now be loaded
Music Player
- Music player handling when video open in background
Network settings menu
- GSM network settings menu, missing menu entry
Real Player
- ROP stays in Loading status sometimes for live streaming
Streaming
- Incoming Video Call improved handling
Security
- Application Manager: Application loses list of installed applications
- No post after user cancel JAR download
SIM
- SAT UI in file twice so set up idle mode text shown twice
- Phone is not issuing Event Downloads to the UICC in 3G
- Wrong behaviour when saving contact with long second number
Themes
- Updated motion theme
- SVG files containing PNG images are rendered incorrectly
USSD
- USSD command '*121*0#' cannot be processed with USIM
WLAN
- EAP-LEAP fix
- Esock IP crash when cancel pressed after search for WLAN
Video Call
- Video call improvements

[Ben]

Hmm... I might need your godly assistance to do the same thing! The thought of getting it done at CPW chills me to the bone :(

[The Mullet of G]

Yeah I had the same dilemma, I got mine from the Vodafone shop but they didn't look like they could flash a light never mind a phone. :p

I've got a link to a site that details everything you need to do step by step, it also has download links to any software thats required, installing the software is the hardest part, I had to install another copy of XP on an empty partition as I couldn't get it to work on my current one, but once everything was installed it was pretty straight forward, give me a shout if you decide to give it a go and I'll PM you the link. :)

[Ben]

It's gotta be worth a go! Beam me up, Scotty!

[Ben]

All done! It was a little hairy at first, some bits and bobs failed to register when I was installing the various software packages, but I'm now successfully upgraded to 3.0617.0.6. Fingers crossed this will resolve some of the irritating little issues I'd been experiencing! Many thanks! :)

[Morph]

It's worth noting that this app. is supported by non symbian phones and can be installed on a variety of phone models. (http://www.google.com/gmm/devices.html)

[The Mullet of G]

Glad to hear it all went well in the end Ben, I had the same problems with some things not registering but it seemed to work ok in the end, I've noticed theres still the odd bug but the are less frequent and will probably be fixed in a future upgrade. :D

@ Andy, yup it sure is but its questionable as to how much use it would actually be on non Symbian phones, dismall cpu speeds and having to use gprs instead of WiFi would in my opinion render the app all but useless. :)