Now this is just AMAZING.

Nokia has decided to stop charging for GPS navigation on its phones. Voice navigation for driving and walking is now FREE. If you have an NSeries, ESeries, XpressMusic 5800 (or a bunch of other devices which have maps/navigation) you basically have just been give a GPS navigation device that works all over the world.

The maps on Nokia devices always have been free. Which was great. But navigation was a charged service. Middle East wide navigation, for example, used to cost US$ 10 per month or US$ 100 per year. But as the competitive game between Nokia and Google has heated up with the latter offering free navigation, Nokia decided to up the ante and go free with its comprehensive navigation service world wide.

I have been testing Nokia’s Amman and Jordan maps and voice navigation for some time now and I have been pretty delighted with it. People sometime ask me why the heck I need voice navigation in Amman. Well, most of the time I don’t of course. But only in the past few weeks I used my N97 Mini test unit several times to find addresses. For example, I was supposed to go to a meeting at a company located somewhere off Abdullah Ghosheh Street the other day. You know, one of those side streets in a typical residential area. As I left my office, I searched for the street name, found it, clicked “drive to” and was guided effortlessly to my destination.

I also used the service on a recent trip to Irbid, which I rarely visit. I found my way out of a residential area to the main road back to Amman..

The video above is a cool demonstration of the service, shot in in one of my favorite cities: Berlin.

If you have a Nokia phone, check if you have the maps app. Update it to the latest version. Get the Amman/Jordan map (I think by now it should be downloadable from the web). And off you go

Read these related posts on 360east:

• 360east Exclusive: First ever demo of Amman’s GPS map on a Nokia device
• Navigating Amman: Hands on with Nokia’s Jordan GPS maps!
• InsideJo: Jordan’s homegrown GPS car navigator debuts in January ‘09
• Nokia 5800 XpressMusic ships in the UAE, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in December ‘08
• Hey Nokia Levant people: I STILL can’t get Ovi to work on Zain Jordan