14 DAY TRIAL // As many of you might already know, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has changed the name of its Nokia Maps into Ovi Maps, and now we learn that a new version of the Ovi Maps 3.0 Beta has made it into the wild. According to the guys over at the Nokia Beta Labs, the new version of the service comes with better maps, leveraged Drive and Walk navigation, as well as synchronization with Ovi MapsBeta for Web.
One of the most important features that the new release brings is the support for the S60 5th Edition touchscreen handsets, meaning that users of a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic or those who already purchased a Nokia N97 will also be able to enjoy the service. In addition, the Ovi Maps 3.0 Beta now comes with a new maps data version and features faster zooming and planning.
Other specs that the new release brings forth include additional features such as weather information, safety spot warners in selected countries, premium POI (Point of Interest) content for travel, selected events and cinema or extended country coverage for traffic info service, as well as a new “Shop & Licenses” format.
In addition, the new Ovi Maps 3.0 Beta comes with various fixes and improvements for the Maps Updater and for the Map Loader. According to the developers, the Maps Updater now features support for 21 different languages. There are a series of other bug fixes as well, meant to offer an improved overall user experience.
Those who would like to try out the new Ovi Maps 3.0 Beta should know that the Maps Updater and Map Loader 3.0 work on Windows XP and Vista and that the Maps Updater needs the Nokia PC Suite installed. The Maps 3.0 Beta works on Nokia devices that run S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 or Feature Pack 2 (E63, E66, E71, E90 Communicator, N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95, N95 8GB, E55, E75, N78, N79, N85, N86 8MP, N96, 5320 XpressMusic, 5630 XpressMusic, 5730 XpressMusic, 6210 Navigator, 6220 Classic, 6650, 6710 Navigator, 6720 Classic).
Starting with the new release, S60 5th Edition (5800 XpressMusic and N97) mobile phones are also supported. The Ovi Maps 3.0 Beta can be downloaded from Softpedia as well, via this link. In addition, we should also mention that Ovi MapsBeta for web works on IE6 (Windows XP), IE7, Firefox 2, Firefox 3 (Windows XP or Vista) and Safari 3 (Mac).