Trip to Japan with N95 8GB

Question

The phone worked like a charm. Got off the plane, turned the phone on and got a arrier almost immediately. Map function worked to identify where I was, which was very nice, but the map detail was severely lacking. Only the major streets were shown. None of the side streets, back alleys, etc. were listed. Someone needs to badly upgrade the maps - specifically of Tokyo. Harajuku area - didn't even show Takashita-dori as a street.
But it is a start. I will be in Russia in July. We'll see how everything goes there.

Answer 1

Nokia Maps was originally developed as an in-car navigation solution, which is why many smaller 'back streets and alleys' aren't there. The latest version, Maps 2.0, has a 'walk' feature, so hopefully the mp data will be updated to reflect that. I could take some time, however, to update all maps for covered by the software; but at least now that Nokia owns Navteq they can push for improvements.
I just checked in Map Loader, the Russia map if about 41Mb (compared to England and Finland which are about 90Mb each), so you are not going to get fantastic coverage. I expect it will be major cities like Moscow and St Petersburg with just 'major routes" for most of the country.
TO the question about SIM cards, note that Japan no longer uses any GSM services so you need to have a SIM which has 3G services activated on your account to use it in Japan.
If you are going to use Maps in any foreign country, then you should either deactivate all network features from the Positioning settings and not allow the Maps app to go online or obtain a local SIM card when you travel, as data transfer is usually expensive on international roaming.