Nokia 3D Maps and Skype integration coming to windows phone 8

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

Nokia 3D Maps and Skype integration coming to windows phone 8.

Windows Phone 8 will replace Bing Maps with Nokia Maps, and it will also offer 3D navigation capabilities, while taking advantage of hardware acceleration. 

“One of the best ways to make a difference in location-based services is posting photos and reviews: that’s how you remember your visit to a place and how you contribute to its story,” a post on Nokia Conversations reads. 

Now, Nokia Maps provides users with the possibility to add a photo to a place description and deliver a relevant review straight from the Nokia smartphone. All Nokia Maps users will then be able to access these reviews to learn more on specific places. 

“We know that Nokia Maps feels truly yours if you can save your favorite places and immediately see them on the map,” Nokia explains. 

Thus, the new version of Nokia Maps offers automatic syncing of favorites with maps.nokia.com, across platforms (Nokia Lumia, Nokia Belle, Nokia N9), and with the mobile web version of the mapping service. All that users need to do is to connect with their Nokia accounts. 

Additionally, Nokia Maps can take advantage of the personalization capabilities that Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system has to offer to its users, such as the option to pin applications, features, functions and individual items to the start screen.

“With Nokia Maps you can already pin individual places or places categories, but with this new version you can also pin to start the directions to get to a place on foot, by car or by public transport. You’ll have instant access to the best route there, wherever you happen to be,” said blog post continues. 

Skype integration.

Moreover, Microsoft is expected to integrate Skype into the platform, for a better experience than before. It will connect to user’s phone book and such. 

Windows Phone 8 will feature Skype built into the OS and integrated into your contacts--and not just messaging but VOIP. Skype for Windows Phone 8 will behave like a regular phone call with a little Toast window popping down as you multi-task with different apps--completely seamless. Don't like Skype? 

That's okay, we hear other VOIP providers can patch into the OS just like Skype can because, once again, Microsoft is service-agnostic even when they own the service.

The fact of the matter is that Skype has 200 million registered users and works across devices and platforms. FaceTime does not.

Source: wpcentral