Nokia have reported their Ovi Maps software application has been downloaded 1.4 million times in the week, equivalent to 1 download per second, since it’s relaunch. The top five countries for downloading the app were China, Italy, Germany, UK & Spain and the most popular Nokia devices for the downloads were the E72, 5230, N97, N97 mini and the 5800 XpressMusic.

This will be another kick in the teeth for the likes of TomTom and Garmin who specialise in personal navigation devices. Their shares took a tumble in the last quarter of 2009 following Google’s announcement of a free mobile navigation app and this news is another nail in the coffin for these stand alone devices.

This time of year whilst it is cold and wet here in the UK many people are travelling to the Southern Hemisphere to enjoy some winter sun. Probably one of our most popular hire products is our TomTom South Africa sat nav. South Africa is a beautiful country and many chose to drive the full length of the country starting from Johannesburg and driving to Cape Town via the east coast and the spectacular garden route. Sat Nav Hire South Africa has many advantages. Firstly, it takes away the stress of getting lost or not being able to find you hotel. Secondly, you are able to take in the scenery rather than having to map read.

Our TomTom South Africa units contain recent mapping with 1000′s of point of interest making navigation very easy. There are a few places that are worth a visit which can often be off the beaten track with no precise address. Fortunately, this does not pose a problem when using the TomTom. There is an excellent feature when plotting your route that allows you to enter your GPS coordinates. How do I know the coordinates? you may ask. Most of the places that are in the middle of nowhere such as some game reserves and vineyards display their GPS coordinates on their website. If not, you can visit www.itouchmap.com where you can pinpoint a location on a map and it will give you the precise coordinates. Even better, if you email us your destinations after placing your order we will pre-program the places for you free of charge.

We can also provide you with car hire for South Africa and many other travel extras.

We have recently joined forces with Endless Leisure Ltd who are experts in the Car Rental Business. They have recently launched a brand new website www.acarinthesun.com which is a low cost online booking website for car hire in Spain, France, Italy, USA to name a few.

The new website does not just stop at car hire, they also offer many other excellent travel services from Hotel Rooms to tickets and attractions. Other services include airport parking as well as insurance so you are able to tick off your holiday to-do list all on one site.To place your car hire booking you just need to enter your dates and your pick up location and the booking engine will scan all the best deals from the leading car rental suppliers and offer a choice of quality hire cars from economy cars to convertibles and people carriers. The booking engine is very easy to follow and your booking can be completed via the secure payment system. Within the site there are travel guides for many of the countries that they provide cars for.

We have partnered with www.acarinthesun so that not only can their customers book travel insurance and airport parking but also hire a sat nav to make driving abroad as stress free as possible. If you would like to hire a car or look at the many other travel services then we recommend you visit acarinthesun.com by clicking on the banner below. All sat nav hire bookings can be made on the Zintech website.

We have recently signed up to Twitter where we will be posting latest snippets of our news as well as offers. Some of the offers will only be available for that day and from time to time we will be offering discounts up to 50% off our products. To follow us on Twitter simply click on the icon below which will take you to our page.

The offers we have available will not just be for satellite navigation equipment. We will be offering discounts on mobile broadband hire, laptops and camcorders for hire.

We will also be soon hosting a range of photos on Flickr that have been sent in from our customers from far flung places. Please feel free to email us your photos of anywhere in the world where you have used a sat nav or if you have seen any funny road signs on your journey we would like to post these also.

If you have any funny or interesting photos that you would like us to post on our public Flickr site please email them to flickr@zintech.co.uk.

With the Bank Holiday approaching we are already running low on TomTom’s for hire for the UK and Europe. Therefore if you do intend on placing a booking with us this Bank Holiday I recommened you place your order soon to save disappointment. We noticed over the Easter weekend far more people where choosing to stay in the UK rather than travel overseas as in previous years so our UK TomTom’s are running out.

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To add to our ever growing product range we are now able to offer mapping for both Brazil and Mexico. Mexico in particular is a popular holiday destination with UK holiday makers travelling to resorts such as Cancun and  Puerta Vallarta. In 2005 Mexico was voted the 7th most popular tourist destination in the world with over 20 million tourists a year. Many of the resorts offer all-inclusive deals so many tourists choose to stay within in the resort and relax. For the more adventurous there are many things to see in Mexico such as the ancient Meso-American ruins.

The new Brazil maps we have available to hire cover all major cities and towns. The new map shows the new Octavio Frias de Oliveira Bridge in Sao Paulo and covers all the major road networks.  As Brazil is one of the up and coming economies of the world the TomTom comes in very handy for business travellers who may be visiting the main business hubs of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Although GPS mapping is available for Brazil very few of the car rental companies offer this service. Therefore hiring a sat nav before you go is highly recommended.

Although satellite navigation certainly helps driving in these countries it is not for the faint hearted. The roads can be poor in places and certainly in Brazil driving at night is to be avoided due to the pot holes and also straying livestock.

For costs and advice if you wish to download the Mexico or Brazil mapping

I have listed these useful links that give advice on driving in both Mexico and Brazil.

Advice for Driving in Brazil

Advice for Driving in Mexico

Car Hire in Brazil and Mexico

If you have any advice you want to share about driving in Mexico and Brazil please leave your comments below.

(Zintech are not responsible for the content of third party websites)