I know I know, GPS is not something that’s really all about the Maemo OS.

But hey, since we’re trying to introduce the whole OS here, we figured we’d merge our upcoming “GPS on the Nokia N900” post into this one.

Maemo 5 has location settings built-in, just like most mobile phone OS’s today.

If you head on over to the Settings Panel in the Nokia N900‘s Main menu, you’ll see a dedicated sub-category called “location” which has all the GPS and Location related options under it.

In the Location Menu, you’re able to choose whether to use the Internal GPS (in the case of the N900).

Or if the device doesnt have a built-in GPS module (or if you just want to save battery life on the N900), you’re able to pair it via bluetooth with another external Bluetooth GPS Device.

Apart from that you can also change your Network Positioning Location server.

Now coming to the N900 specifically, Nokia has a very basic version of it’s Ovi Maps Client pre-installed on the N900.

This version is pretty plain, lacking most of the features of the Symbian version. Still it’s there, so we thought we’d talk about it.

Startup the Ovi Maps client and it’ll try to find your Location.

This actually happens very fast. Mostly thanks to the A-GPS feature, the N900 is one of the fastest/better GPS Mobile device’s we’ve used. GPS locks happens in a matter of seconds.
We were blown away when the N900 got a GPS lock, while we were indoors. First Nokia device to do this, ever !
This further frustrates us, as to why the Maemo version of Ovi Maps is so basic. It doesnt even have turn-by-turn Navigation for crying out loud.

Anywho, moving on the N900 has a Digital Compass built in, so you can use that on Ovi Maps to get a better idea of where you’re going and whether you’re headed in the right direction.

There was some confusion initially when the N900 was launched, as to whether Nokia decided to plonk a Digital compass in it, or not. Well it’s there, and we can vouch for it.

Apart from showing where you are, you can also see it in a Map view, or a Satellite or Terrain View if you prefer.

Map View seems to be the least Network-data-plan-intensive because the N900′s Ovi Maps client downloads your Maps as you go along. There doesnt seem to be a way to pre-load Maps into the N900 yet, which could be expensive for those of you on a Limited Dataplan.

Apart from that, there also doesnt seem to be a way to Sync your favourite places with the Online version of Ovi Maps (like you can with the Symbian version), which means your favourites are pretty much stuck on your device.

You can still search for locations that you’ve saved though.

Otherwise, like we mentioned before, the Maemo 5 version of Ovi Maps is very very basic.

Which is unfortunate, seeing how the N900 seems to get a GPS lock so fast, and stay locked on so well.

Apart from that, there are a lot of 3rd Party applications that use the A-GPS on the N900 to do various things. Barriosquare, for example, is an application that uses GPS to allow you to use the Foursquare service.

Here’s a short video to give you a better idea about GPS on the Nokia N900, and the Maemo 5 Location settings :

Have any questions about GPS on Maemo 5 and the Nokia N900 ? Something we missed ? Do let us know in the comments section below y’all !