Nokia has launched a new version of Ovi Maps that includes high-end car and pedestrian navigation features such as detailed maps for more than 180 countries, voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation for 74 countries and traffic information for more than ten countries. Both navigation and maps are free of charge and will be installed on any A-GPS smartphone with Symbian S60 sold from March on, updates of maps and additional Ovi Maps services will be carried out automatically over the air.

NimbuzzOut is a new telephone service by Nimbuzz. Registered mobile phone users can download the Nimbuzz voice over IP client on their cell phone and buy credit for phone calls to other mobiles or landlines. For this purpose, NimbuzzOut sets up a VoIP connection via a UMTS or HSPA or via a WiFi network. Thus, NimbuzzOut can offer cheap rates for some mobile phone calls to other mobile phones or for international calls. In order to top up credit NimbuzzOut users need to pay by Visa or Mastercard.

Today, Nokia starts an advertising campaign for the navigation service Ovi Maps and opens a Nokia Navigation Store at Oranienburger Straße 1-3, just around the corner from Hackescher Markt, in Berlin. Until Sunday, visitors can try the Ovi navigation services on the cell phone Nokia 6710 Navigator, listen to lectures about future trends in mobile navigation or take guided tours to settings of famous movies such as “James Bond 007: Octopussy”, “Goodbye Lenin”, “The Bourne Conspiracy” which were shot in Berlin.

Samsung Corby S3650 is a new cell phone for users of mobile internet and social networking services such as Twitter, Facebook, MaySpace, Flickr, Picasa or Youtube. Supposedly, it is younger people who use such online services and often they want to do this on the road and they are short for money. With the Samsung Corby S3650, there is a cell phone for these young people for a comparatively small price. In Germany, the Samsung Corby S3650 will be available at stores for less than 200 euros. At IFA 2009 in Berlin I had the chance to put my hands on the Samsung Corby S3650, here is a first review of the mobile phone and a short comparison to the Nokia 6760 slide that Nokia announced recently for the German market.

This month, Nokia started selling its new touch screen device Nokia N97. In Nokia’s online shop the Nokia N97 is available for 649 euros while German operator Vodafone charges customers a regular price of 700 euros without subscription. With a new 24 months contract Vodafone customers pay between 200 and 350 euros for the Nokia N97. That’s quite a lot of money for a new mobile phone – but is it still a good deal? Having tested the Nokia N97 the past few weeks I come to the conclusion that the new flagship mobile phone of Nokia offers a great wide variety of features and applications, but almost none of the features represent state of the art.