Nokia E-71 and GPS/Sat Nav - any one tried it?

Out in the market for , impressive to look but just wondering if anyone tried the GPS/ Sat Nav feature on this fone for Irish maps? any comments on any other features? Is it worth the price [asking price 376 euro - Pre pay vodafone]?

It's Nokia maps which is on a few phones now.

I have it on my N95. It doesn't provide voice navigation out of the box, but you can purchase a licence for varying prices depending on where you want to navigate and how long (There was a 12 month trial for Ireland and the UK included with my N95, so check if you get that). Even without the voice navigation it will still tell you your position anywhere in the world, provided you have the maps installed. The one thing to watch out for when roaming is to preload the maps as if you are using it abroad and the map is not available, it tries to download it (you can imagine the cost)

As far as the mapping software goes, it's good, and nearly on a par with stand alone gps. It's easy enough to use, and the voice directions are good. If you take a wrong turn, it recalculates quickly. It saved me one day when I took a wrong lane at the Mad Cow roundabout on the way to an exam one day.

Have had the E71 for just a few days now. Many people (on the online forums i've checked) have reported problems with the time it takes for GPS lock.

Seemed to be the case with mine as well when i was making a trip to cavan a couple days ago.

Ended up connecting my bluetooth gps and it syncs within a few seconds.

One small gripe may be the size of the keys, which are a tad on the small side and close together but its great to have a full qwerty keyboard.

My previous phone was a Blackberry Pearl which i swore by and i have no regrets with the new phone.

Other than that i'd agree with others that this is probably the best phone out there.

Will give the inbuilt gps a try again this weekend and update.