Testing NOKIA Handsfree – in a Porsche

Normally, I’d say “it’s no often you get to drive one of the most expensive cars you could ever dream to own” – but I have had a good year thus far.  That said, when Nokia called up to ask if I’d like to take a look at some of their latest mobile navigation and in car technologies – I was always going to say yes – but the manner in which I was to review it was nothing short of a surprise.

I was aware up front that I’d be getting a vehicle to drive – why else would they want my drivers licence and ID on the day.  So, on that day, I caught the train to work.

When Chris from Nokia turned up and asked where the ‘walking’ entrance was, I was nervous that I was in fact going to be catching the train home, and that I’d gotten the wrong end of the stick.

However, I plodded along – click Continue Reading for the full story.

I met Chris outside my office, and he handed me a Nokia C7 Mobile Phone.  This is actually quite a nice sized phone, rounded design, smaller than many ‘touchscreen smartphones’ seem to want to always be – and generally very responsive.

Chris instructed me to open the OVI maps application, choose WALK on the menu, then select a ‘saved location’ from the favourites – A location Chris had plotted earlier it seems.

And off we went.  Guided by the OVI maps on the C7 I was given my very basic instructions to walk around the block to my ‘destination’ – and what a destination.  Parked on the street, outside a homewares centre – A Porsche 911 Turbo Convertible.

Of course it wasn’t until much later that day my Googling revealed the $390,000 value of the car!

I signed my life away, and jumped in the car.

Inside, the #NokiaNav team had installed a screen mounted clip for the C7 to sit in, plus a CK200 In car Bluetooth Kit.

My instructions – “enjoy”

And I did.  A pleasant drive home, testing the mapping functions of the C7 which is just as impressive as any other mapping device I’ve used, so no quarms there.

The next day, I had the car parked out front of work, ready to meet the NokiaNav team for my next ‘challenge’

You see, the night before, I had opened the ‘bonnet’ of the Porsche and found a locked box – curiosity was killing me.  So, I hoped this challenge would reveal the box’s contents.

This time, before opening the navigation in OVI maps, I sent the OVI maps application online to ‘sync’ with the server.  This is one of the coolest parts of the whole technology test.  The Nokia team had logged on and added a ‘destination’ to my online account, and when I synced that application, that same destination appeared in my C7 OVI maps list of favourites – labelled ‘Challenge 2’.

I followed it’s instructions to a park in Lane cove, where a man stood holding a key – I grabbed the key – opened the locked box to find a note, a CD and a set of Nokia BH905i Bluetooth Stereo Noise Cancelling Headphones.

The note instructed me to place the CD in the car, and ‘crank it up’ then to call a number while using the headphones.

So I did, and despite the noise in the car, I was able to hear clearly the instructions from the man on the other end of the phone advising me of the location for our Friday Night wrap party – sadly, this was where I was handing back the car!

It was an amazing week – I enjoyed the car the most, of course, but the gear from Nokia was great too!

Stand out feature – the CK200 Car Kit – it allows you to paid/connect TWO bluetooth mobile phones.  So you and your passenger can both have your phones connected, and each make and receive calls.  You can even be on a call on one phone, and then put that on hold and take a call with the other.

This is a feature I’ve heard of only recently, but it seems like poor form for any in-car system not to include this from this day forward!

The BH905i headphones are comfortable, and offer full music control of your device, and even if you’re not connecting a Nokia, there are a stack of cables available to ensure every device is usable with these Headphones.  They would be great on planes for their noise cancelling features

Handing the car back on Friday was a tough one – I did think – If I don’t turn up – when will they come find me?  Could I get away with a weekend drive?

Then, at the event, playing Scalectrix racing and watching a video from the week – I wondered if we’d be surprised by the chance to ‘swap cars’ – there were after all 5 cars involved in the same challenges – Another Porsche, Aston Martin, Audi R8 and Stephen Fenech drove a Ferrari 430.

Fenech is adamant he had the best car, but let me tell you – having driven a Ferrari 360 and Ferrari Californian along with a Porsche around a track, the Porsche is the best of the bunch – Stephen will just never know….

Thanks Nokia – but no thanks for taking it away:)

Below is a video summary of the week that was:)