Nokia upgrades GPS on the N95

Nokia has issued an upgrade that addresses one of the main criticism of its N95 handset - its slowness at locking on to GPS signals

Published on Jul 20, 2007

Nokia has releases a software upgrade for the N95 handset to make it much quicker to find GPS signals.

Currently the Nokia N95 can take up to five minutes to lock on to a GPS signal and so activate its location and routing functions. This delay has attracted many criticsms - not least in our own Nokia N95 review.

The software upgrade will reduce the lock-on time to under one minute. "It will be reliably under one minute in most countries," Ralph Eric Kunz, Nokia's head of navigation and mapping operations told Reuters.

While most assisted-GPS technologies use mobile carriers' base stations to find locations faster, Nokia's new service bypasses operator networks, using data from the SIM card and new software that helps the phone to catch satellite signals.

Current owners of the Nokia N95 can take advantage of this service by using the Nokia Software Updater. This will update the firmware on the device to the latest version.

Users Comments

gps phone
Posted By FLARE 1 June 14, 2009 04:48:15 PM

Are there any phones that have half way decent gps systems in them? I have a Nokia n95, and a O2 orbit. They both take about 10 minute to get a signal. These phones are kind of old. I hope technology has improved since 2yrs ago. I am hoping for something that can get a signal in less than 1 minute. I use gps for walking mostly. I would like to get something without agps because I do not want to pay for this service. I am looking for something with the best signal for standard gps. Thanks.