Orange unveils Sat Nav for Orange application

An alternative to Nokia's standalone satnav

1 November 2006 12:34 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Orange has launched its own satnav application designed for use on smartphones, rather than a dedicated satnav.

The GPS navigation application is available for use on devices from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, BlackBerry, and Orange, and is powered by Webraska using Navteq mapping.

Although the software is saved onto the smartphone, maps are not; rather users must download the maps they need from the internet before they set out on their journey, or on the go, possibly incurring data charges. Maps are downloadable by wifi, 3G, GPRS, or Orange’s EDGE network.

The advantage to having downloadable maps is that they are updated every three months, and users always have the most up-to-date traffic and speed camera information available. Favourite routes can be saved to the device.

Sat Nav from Orange costs £150 ex VAT, and includes a GPS receiver with in-car charger, and a car windshield or fan grid. Real time traffic information costs another £27.59 ex VAT a year, while maps for Europe cost £27.59 ex VAT per year. Maps for the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands come standard.