Nokia Location Tagger Beta

Nokia Beta labs have churned out yet another amazing application this month ...and this time its called the "Location Tagger". Basically what this app does is that it starts off your GPS ..and gets your current or last saved co-ordinates and embeds them into the EXIF data peresnt in the JPEG pictures header.And when you upload such pictures on flickr , picasa or google earth , you will be able to see the picture in the exact position on the map you had clicked it on.



Shozu has been offering this feature in its app for a long time ..but its nice to see nokia jump into things and offer an app of their own. So if you have a Nokia N95, N95 8GB, N82, and E90 using the integrated GPS, or any S60 #rd edition device with a bluetooth GPS ..head over to :

http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/locationtagger

to download the app. Is it as good as shozu ? Post your comments.

Hands on with Shozu v3.2

Shozu was one of those apps that was plagued with a lot of problems in the previous version . It used to hog memory , cause my N95 to crash and reboot randomly and i used to get the dreaded "memory full" error quicker than you can say jack sparrow !!




But now ..The shuzu team has released Version 3.20.. And its not just their logo that has changed !! Apart from adding a lot of more zucasts ...they have even added a lot more partners.You can now post your videos and photos to Youtube , Flickr , Kodak easy share , livejournal , wordpress , blogger ...and the list goes on. For all the people who are hearing about shozu for the first time ..you can head down to www.shozu.com and grab your free copy of the app.You have to sign up...and choose your phone model..and the link will be sms'd to you..or you can even grab it online. You can even schedule your zucast download time and download limit online ...so the zucasts you have subscribed to will be downloaded only during the time you have set it to.



But has the application really improved in performance and stability ?? I'd say yes !! With the previous version of shozu i had this problem where the gprs connection never terminated ,and i had to manually disconnect it from the connection manager. This issue seems to have been fixed with the new version.




Also ...There will always be a shozu process running in the background . I couldnt get the low down on how much memory this uses ...but judging from the fact that i dont get those memory full errors anymore...seems like the shozu team has done a pretty good job in keeping the memory usage low. EDIT : just found out that since i've installed shozu on my mem card ..and the process runs continously in the background ..I cannot connect my N95 in the mass storage device mode until and unless I kill the shozu app using some task manager app like swissknife utilities or ytasks :(




The standard features like Geo-tagging seem to be the same . The fact to be noted about the geo-tagging feature ..is that you should be locked on to the gps satellites for the geo tagging feature to work.So what i do is ..open the GPS data app in the background...let it lock on to the GPS satellites ..and then proceed to click photos.




There are a lot more zucasts too.Now you can subscribe to casts from buzznet , rocketboom and a lot more media providers.



The contact backup feature works as well as it did in the previous versions.Nothing new to report here....but its really good to have such a feature.Something that nokia has not been able to conjure up yet. I know we can backup our contacts to pc suite or lifeblog ..or even the memory card...but why cant nokia have a common online service for all its customers where they can safely store their contacts , pictures and videos ..upto a certain limit ??I'd rather wirelessly sync my contacts to an online service other than backing them up to my pc. I think this is one of the features that nokia should really look into before its too late and someone else steals the show.





In all I'd say the new shozu v3.2 app is a huge improvement over its previous version.Not only have the number of media channels increased ...but the interface is much quicker and memory issues have reduced considerably. It might not be the perfect app... but it looks like its heading in the right direction . This app has a lot of scope to be the next big thing in terms of media integration and push button publishing ..so i'm looking forward to a lot more improvements and features to be added to shozu over the next few months. As usual...Let me know what are your views on this app.It's always nice to have a good discussion going on . :o)

Geotagging photos on the N95 using LOCR

Remember how i always used to rant that the current apps available for Geo tagging on the N95 really suck. I mean ....there's shozu of course ...but its way too unstable ...and then there's zonetag... which hasn't come out with a symbian s60 v3 version yet.

But guess what ... all your N95 enthusiasts out there ..your prayers have finally been answered !! LOCR ...is a brand new FREE app which allows you to geotag your photos taken from your camera , on your camera ..or even on your p.c . There are several different flavors . There's the P.C edition ..which you can use to geotag photos on your p.c ..and then there's the symbian o.s versions ...which support symbian os v2.0 , v2.0 FP 1 and v3.0 . So that means you can use it even with an external bluetooth gps device . Cool...!!

All you have to do is first register on the Locr website . After doing that you can download the app from the download section . Install it on your device and you are all ready to go.



The best part is this app recognizes the inbuilt N95 gps module , and even when you arnt getting a GPS signal , it allows you to use your last known co-ordinates to tag the photo. Of course , you can edit it manually too. The photos can be uploaded to the Locr website via GPRS or Wi-fi and you can view them through your phone's web browser. Another cool feature is the ability to find photos near you...by using your current GPS co-ordinates. The only downside i've found in this app is the lack of third party support..i.e ability to upload your photo's on sites other than the locr website.Also the Max resolution supported is 1024 x 768 (0.8 mega pixels) :(



In all..this IS the best Photo geotagging app I've used on the N95 so far. Doesn't hog memory , doesn't crash and of course has all those excellent features which i mentioned before. I would recommend all you N95 users out there to give it a try ..and don't forget to let me know how it works out for you . :)

8 Motions ... The all in one GPS mapping , tracking, geo-tagging & buddy monitoring App !!

Another day .. Another great Application...and that too FREE of cost !! Thomas Landspurg , who is one of the people working on the webwag widgets app i reviewed earlier sent me his pet project 8 MOTIONS to test on my Nokia N95. 8 motions is a GPS mapping , tracking and buddy monitoring app. You can use it to find out where you are Via GPS (supports both internal gps like the N95 and external bluetooth gps ) , You can use it for route mapping , directions to places , and also to track your buddies locations .

To use this awesome app ..you have to first register at http://test.8motions.com/ , after you enter your mobile number on your profile , you can have the link to the app sent to you by sms.
When i tried to download the app from my mobile through the wap link ,Although the wap page didn't recognize my mobile properly , the jar file got downloaded and worked just fine.



After installing the app on the mobile , you can either set your gps position , by allowing it to access gps data , and you can also see where you are by letting the application download maps via gprs. This app works similar to mgmaps , but has some additional features that give it an edge. One interesting feature of this app is the ability to click a snap , geotag it and upload it to your flickr account . Although to do this you have to go to http://www.flickr.com/auth-19913 and enter the code given there into the token field in the application ...and you're all set to upload your geo tagged photos to flickr. Sweeeeeet !! :)



Another interesting thing about this application is the fact that you can find out or track your buddy locations . As soon as anyone in your buddy list logs into the application and his position is updated via gps and the app , you can view his position too by clicking on the respective buddy in the buddy list. So now you can keep track of your friends 24x7. Sounds kinda like "big brother" ..doesn't it ?? :D



Another cool feature is the compass , and the GPS tracking feature. You can set the app to record your GPS movement ..for e.g your car / bike ride , and it will continuously poll the gps at the interval specified by you , and update your location coordinates to a file. You can later export this file and view it on applications like Google earth to get an outline of your route.these tracks can then be re-used to navigate to the same place again ..or even shared with your buddies. You can even download new tracks and use them.
The application even lets you toggle between 4 different map providers ..which are Google , Msn , Ask and Yahoo. So what are you waiting for ? This is one cool app which in my opinion combines the best features of mgmaps + shozu + googlemaps mobile into one nifty little application.And although there is no Wi-fi support at the moment ...it is still one of the best GPS and geotagging apps I've come across in a long time.Go ahead ..give it a try ..and do let me know what you think of it.