Sony Ericsson W890i Google Maps

Sony Ericsson W890i Google Maps

Sony Ericsson has kindly bundled the excellent Google Maps into the W890i. Although the phone is not fitted with a GPS receiver, Google Maps can locate your position to within 1,700 metres. It does this is through cell ID. Using the process of triangulation, Google Maps locates the three nearest cells to you and works out a guestimate of your position.

When testing the service, our position was pinpointed to about two streets away, which won't impress secret service agents, but is pretty good for getting your bearings. You can also do a local search for pubs, restaurants or cafes, plan a route from one postcode to another and receive traffic info. Although navigating via the map view might be more practical, the satellite view has a real novelty factor and we can bank on you zooming into your own back garden with a degree of certainty. If you require a more accurate location of your position via satellite, the GPS Enabler HGE-100 is compatible with the W890i, although this will need to be purchased separately.