Pakistan’s First in-car GPS Navigation and Maps Introduced

Posted by: Aamir Attaa on October 5, 2008 at 1:44 PM

Data Solutions (Pvt) Ltd and Tracking World (Pvt) Ltd are offering Pakistan’s very first in-car GPS system. Initially in detail maps are available for major Pakistani cities (including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Wah Cantt) and all major national highways.

Streets are labeled and searchable for Islamabad, Lahore and some parts of Karachi. In addition there are close to 40,000 POIs (point of interests) such as fuel/CNG stations, banks, ATMs, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, shops, etc. You may find address and phone number information for most of POIs.

In-Car GPS is made possible through Garmin GPS units. These navigation units range from in-car dash mounted devices to devices for motorbikes. There is also a unit which can be integrated with the vehicle’s LCD and displays the navigational information on it.

Initially in-detailed maps would be available for selected cities They say that they had been developing maps for Pakistan for last two years, and now they are ready to launch GPS services next week through an

Lahore based Tracking World say that, customers can pay one time fee for these navigation units and map to use GPS service for life time. They won’t charge you any monthly subscription fee or data transfer fee afterwords, thanks to their partnership with cellular companies.

Users will have to purchase one navigational device and map to kick going.

Once configured, users can input for POIs or location addresses in navigation device, which will speak out or guide drivers through screen to reach destinations.

Devices’ price: Ranges from $399 to $599

Map Price: $120

For Device pricing and features click here

Your input regarding service experiance (in comment box) will greatly help others

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Nokia E71 Now in Pakistan at Price: Rs. 38,000(Review)

Posted by: Aamir Attaa on July 28, 2008 at 12:48 PM

Nokia E71 carries along the footsteps of the E61i messaging phone, one of a rare Symbian mobile phones to come with a QWERTY keyboard.

It is significantly more compact and lighter and thinner than the old E61i, it comes with faster networking, a better camera and GPS too. But on the negative side, the E71’s display and the keyboard looks altogether more cramped. Measuring mere 114 x 57 x 10mm and weighing little higher at 126 grams, the Nokia E71 is certainly larger than most contemporary 3G phones, but this is mainly due to the wide 2.4″ 320 x 240 pixel display, keyboard and large 1500 mAh battery. At just 10mm thick, it will be easy to slip into a pocket, unlike its bulky predecessor.

On the back, Nokia E71 has a good valued 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, and there is a secondary video calling camera on the front too. We do hope that Nokia will make a camera-less version of this phone, as they did with the Nokia E51, however there are no words from Nokia yet in this regards. Nokia’s launch information is inconsistent about video capture resolution, but as far as we can tell it is 640 x 480 pixels at 22 frames per second, which seems pretty good.

QWERTY arrangement of keyboard is a plus along with some navigation keys, but they are bunched quite closely together where the E71 had spacing in between them to help prevent multiple keys being pressed down at the same time. Bear in mind though that the E71 is 57mm wide, and the E61i is 70mm wide, a whopping 13mm difference.

Built by-default into the Nokia E71 is A-GPS that comes with the Nokia Maps application, which is free for basic functionality but requires a fee for full satellite navigation. The 2.4″ screen isn’t particularly large, and the E71 will suffer because it lacks touchscreen capabilities.

This is an HSDPA capable device, with a maximum download speed of 3.6 Mbps (not supported in Pakistan). The E71 comes in three  dual-band WCDMA variants, 850/2100 MHz [E71-3], 850/1900 MHz [E71-2] and 900/2100 MHz [E71-1] depending on region, plus quad-band GSM with GPRS and EDGE data. On top of that, the E71 has 802.11b and g WiFi.

Local connectivity is via a microUSB connector, Bluetooth or infra-red. The Nokia E71 also has a 2.5mm AV output for wired headphones. The E71 has a pretty typical suite of enterprise-class applications, including a document viewer, push email support and the usual array of S60 functions.

Nokia say that the E71 has “two home screens”, presumably a “work” and a “home” one. Of course, the E71 also has a multimedia player. Internal memory is 110MB, expandable to 8GB using microSD cards. The large 1500 mAh battery can drive the E71 for up to 4.5 hours talktime on 3G, 10 hours talktime on GSM and 18 hours of music playback.

Nokia E71 is available in around PKR 38,000 in Pakistan with United Mobile and Advance outlets (PKR 38,000 is for United Mobiles, Advance Telecom price may vary)

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Find out your Friend’s Loaction With Warid Zem

Posted by: Aamir Attaa on July 20, 2008 at 9:47 PM

Thanks to Abdussamad who pointed out this another Location Based Service by Waird, that will enable you to find the real time location of your fiend, family, kids and so on…!

How to find a friend’s Location through SMS?

To Locate a Friend via SMS:

1. User-A sends an SMS by writing FIND<space><NUMBER> e.g “Find<space><032XXXXXXXX>” and sends it to 141
2. User-B will receive an SMS requesting to permit or deny User-A’s request
3. In case User-B accepts the request, then User ! will get the real time location of User-B in an SMS, or in other case the SMS will notify the deniel of service due to User-B

How to locate a friend’s Location through MMS?

To Locate a Friend via MMS:

1. User-A sends SMS by writing FIND<space><NUMBER><space>MMS e.g      “Find<space>032XXXXXXXX><MMS” and sends it to 141
2. User-B will receive an SMS requesting to permit or deny User-A request
3. In case of approval from User-B, User-A will get location of User-B through MMS* or a denial message if not

Note: MMS settings and activation is required if you need to find friend’s loaction by MMS

Additional features for Fiend’s Location Finder

Service Charges for Friend’s Location Finder via SMS

For each request of finding Friend’s Location, Rs.3 + tax will be charged. On successfully receiving the requested location of place, Rs.3 + tax will be deducted from your account.

Total Price: 3 + 3 = Rs. 6 per location (Excluding Taxes)

Service Charges for Place Finder via MMS

For each request of finding Friend’s Location, Rs.3 + tax will be charged. On successful receiving of location of place, MMS retrieval charges, i.e. Rs.3 + tax will be deducted from your account.

Total Charges: 3 + 3 = Rs. 6 (Excluding Taxes)

Can I access Location Based Services through WAP?

Yes, Location Based Services is available on WAP.

To find a Place: http://lbs.waridtel.com/ff

Check Points

• Service will not find you friend’s location if his/her mobile phone is switched off
• MMS, WAP should be activated and configured in order to use this service via MMS, WAP

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Find locations with Warid’s Location Based Services

Posted by: Aamir Attaa on July 20, 2008 at 1:56 PM

Warid can now help you find various places of interest while you are on move. All you need is to send an SMS and you will get a response from Warid displaying you a list of restaurants, Banks, ATMs, Mosques or hotels near you.

Warid Location Based services are very affordable in terms of pricing, user friendly and helpful for those who often travel to new places.

How to find a place using Warid Location Based Services?

To find a Place via SMS, type
NEAREST<space><CATEGORY NAME> and send to 141
To find a Place via MMS, type
NEAREST<space><CATEGORY NAME><space>MMS and send to 141

Note: You need to input exact category name, which are which are

• Dining (restaurants)
• Banks (ATM, and branches)
• Religion (mosques, churches, temples)
• Hotels

You can always get the updated list of categories by typing
CAT<space>LIST and send it to 141

Location Based Services Via WAP

You can also access Location Based Services through WAP

To find a Place open this URL: http://lbs.waridtel.com/mm

Other Commands for Location Based Services

<LOC> and send it to 141 User gets his/her own location on SMS

LOC<space>MMS and send it to 141: User gets his/her own location on MMS

LOC<space>NUMBER and send it to 141: User can forward his/her location to the desired number through SMS

LOC<space>NUMBER<space>MMS and send it to 141: User can forward his/her location to the desired number through MMS

HELPM and send it to 141 User gets the list of all Mobile Map commands

Service Charges for Place Finder via SMS

For each request of finding a place, Rs.3 + tax will be charged. On successfully receiving the requested location of place, Rs.3 + tax will be deducted from your account.

Total Price: 3 + 3 = Rs. 6 per location (Excluding Taxes)

Service Charges for Place Finder via MMS

For each request of finding a place, Rs.3 + tax will be charged. On successful receiving of location of place, MMS retrieval charges, i.e. Rs.3 + tax will be deducted from your account.

Total Charges: 3 + 3 = Rs. 6 (Excluding Taxes)

Check Points

• There are no subscription charges, hence you will be charged only when you request for any place
• The distance given by “Warid Place Finder” can be un-accurate by 500m. (As you location will be measured by the tower you are connected to)
• Maps service is currently available to subscribers in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi & Peshawar only.
• You need to have MMS and WAP activated in order to use Warid Location Based Services Via MMS or WAP

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3G iPhone and Nokia N95 - A Comparison for Pakistani Users

Posted by: Aamir Attaa on July 14, 2008 at 2:01 PM

I have previously discussed the availability of iPhone in Pakistan, emergence of 3G iPhone and its craze that we have been witnessing in Pakistani consumers, now i thought of presenting a comparison 3G iPhone and Nokia N95.

As we know well that 3G iPhone or even its earlier version are good enough when it comes to data services, but a gadget lover in Pakistan can not wholly rely on the data features that 3G iPhone offers while compromising with other features such as GPS, 5 MP Camera, Video Capturing etc.

Check out below table that compares the features of 3G iPhone and Nokia N95

	Apple 3G iPhone	Nokia N95
Operating system	Mac OS X	Symbian S60
3G	No	Yes (HSDPA-enhanced)
Camera resolution	2 megapixels	5 megapixels
Browser	Safari	Nokia Web Browser with Mini map
E-mail	Displays HTML-rich; Push IMAP (Yahoo); IMAP/POP3	POP3/SMTP/IMAP
Music player	iTunes	RealPlayer / Nokia Media Player
GPS	Yes	Yes
Touchscreen	Yes (multi-touch sensors)	No
Screen	8.9cm (320×480 pixels)	6.4cm (240×320 pixels)
Weight	133g	120g
Memory	8GB/16GB	160MB
Processor speed	Unknown	330MHz
Expansion slot	None	microSD (Maximum 2GB)
Replaceable battery	No	Yes
MMS (for sending pictures and video)	No	Yes
IM (instant messaging)	No	Yes
Video calling	Yes	Yes
Video capture	No	640 x 480 (30 frames per second)
VoIP	No	Yes
YouTube	Yes	Yes
User can install 3rd-party apps	No	Yes
Accelerometer changes screen orientation when rotated	Yes	No
Spell checker	Yes	Yes
Ambient light sensor (dims screen in low light)	Yes	Yes
Proximity sensor (turns screen off when put up to your ear)	Yes	No
Video output to TV	Yes	Yes
Visual voicemail	Yes	No
Threaded SMS	Yes	No
Browse music by album covers	Yes	No
Flickr integration	No	Yes
Supports stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)	Headset Support Only	Yes
Locked to carrier	Yes	No
Prices	Rs. 50,000 plus (expected)	Rs. 35,000

Clearly visible that N95 can be a better phone in Pakistan than of 3G iPhone with 5MP Camera, Bluetooth, third party application, MMS, many audio and video supported formats and so on. But if you are addicted to touchscreen and navigation ease that 3G iPhone offers, then 3G iPhone is your certani choice.

Mr. Asim who used iPhone for some time, states in his blog that he has come back to Nokia N95. He has collection of reasons for doing so, which are as following

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Pakistanis Allowed to Add locations on Google Map

Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 24, 2008 at 10:20 AM

Couple of weeks ago I had chance to experience a GPS enabled (AT&T) blackberry 8310 in Islamabad. The good thing was that we were able to view our real time location on handset screen with Google maps. I was greatly impressed as the accuracy was more than anything, with spotting us exactly as where our car was. It was awesome.

I am quite familiar with Islamabad/Rawalpindi, however, while on the road we had to go to Barakahu (a town 10 KM north to Islamabad). GPS handset was doing well by displaying all satellite images, and our real time location, but the unfortunate thing was that the map didn’t show names of locations, streets and other information; leaving us almost helpless.

However, there is a good news, as through Muhammed Nasrullah on TGP we have heard that Google is now allowing everyone to add/append locations on Google Map. Mr. Nasrullah quoting a GIKI graduate, currently working in Google, has revealed that anyone who has Google Account can add roads, landmarks, coffee shops, hospitals, parks, gas stations etc. on the map and moderate entries made by other people.

To start your work, just log-in with your account and point your address bar to following URL

http://www.google.com/mapmaker

To Edit/Add Islamabad locations:    Click here
To Edit/Add Lahore locations:    Click here

For more details visit: http://www.google.com/mapmaker/mapfiles/s/support.html

So things are going to get easy in coming days, when some of service provider is going to locate nearest gas station from our current location, also it may suggest us the cheapest gas station and so on…
But we will have to be act wisely, and prevent any spam.

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