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CoPilot Live 6 for Symbian

Sat Nav for your Series 60 phone

Traffic hazards notwithstanding, of course. This is where the 'Live' element of CoPilot comes into play. It's free for the first two years, though it's unclear how much you'll be charged after that time. In any case, the tracking features of Live are free. The system is accessed through a web page, which allows others to monitor your progress and to send you messages and new destinations - these are automatically added to the itinerary. The messages are displayed by CoPilot and linked to simple, single-key responses, such as Yes or No. It's a nice idea, but one more suited to PDAs than phones - it's less distracting for a driver to reach out and press a touchscreen than to press a handset's keys.

Most consumers, I suspect, won't use the tracking features, though the traffic information will be much more useful.

alk copilot live 6 for symbian

T-Mobile's N70 CoPilot bundle costs up to £300, depending on the size of the airtime contract you take out when you but it. If you already have an N70, the software, GPS receiver, car-mount kit, and UK and Ireland street maps cost £200. As I mentioned before, the European maps cost £100 more.

The price isn't bad, but Navicore's Navicore Personal, which has always targeted the Symbian OS, is cheaper and includes a GPS receiver that can be powered with a Nokia phone's charger - you'll be amazed how handy this is. Navicore also bundles a lifetime's free traffic and safety camera updates, and while ALK may ultimately give you this too - we'll have to see what happens in two years when the free-use period ends - it's not a given. Navicore Personal is slightly faster too.

But all that's not to say CoPilot is a poor competitor - it isn't. ALK has done a good job migrating its Windows Mobile software to Symbian, and if you're a T-Mobile user - or willing to become one - and you expect to take out a reasonably sized monthly contract you can get CoPilot with an N70 for a token sum or even nothing at all.

Were you to do so, there's no compelling reason to move to an alternative navigation tool - CoPilot does the business and does it well.

Verdict

ALK successfully brings its CoPilot Live 6 navigation software from Windows Mobile to Nokia's Symbian-based Series 60. T-mobile's bundle is attractive, particularly if you're a heavy-duty caller, and as we've seen, the Nokia N70 is a very nice 3G handset. All together, a fine phone-based sat nav package. ®

80%

CoPilot Live 6 for Symbian

A solid, competent package for the GPS sat nav newcomer...
Price: From free to £300, depending on contract RRP

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