[FatherChristmas]

I'm very new to the BB world, and even newer to Geocaching. My service is through Alltel, which has recently been bought by Verizon.
A lot of the threads I read about Verizon and GPS problems are from a while ago, sometimes more than 2 years.
Is this still an issue?
If so what are my options to get around this? A good GPS puck? If so which are good right now?

[anon(193652)]

I'm very new to the BB world, and even newer to Geocaching. My service is through Alltel, which has recently been bought by Verizon.
A lot of the threads I read about Verizon and GPS problems are from a while ago, sometimes more than 2 years.
Is this still an issue?
If so what are my options to get around this? A good GPS puck? If so which are good right now?

Verizon is no longer blocking GPS. If you get a device with OS version 4.5 and above it is unlocked. if you get an older device that supports 4.5 you just need to update your OS and it will be unlocked.

[FatherChristmas]

Ah, ok. I'm in the process of downloading the update now, and figured I would ask as well.
This is very good news! Thank you!

[cook46933]

I do not have Verizon, but I have read a lot of the threads around here. My understanding is the Storm and the Tour are the only models with unlocked GPS chips. The 4.5 upgrade allowed Blackberry Maps to access the GPS, but that is all. Google Maps will use cell tower triangulation to get an approximate location.

[FatherChristmas]

Can anyone confirm that my 8330 will only be able to access BBMaps for the GPS?

[hippiehound]

Yep that's it.Verizon wants us to pay for GPS.And everytime I used Google Maps to find my location it was way off.

[grandpa dan]

Google maps doesn't "triangulate" it estimates your location based on the tower you are accessing and the range of that tower. Vzw has (supposedly) unlocked the gps but my understanding is that the providors of the 3rd party apps haven't yet updated their code to work with vzw.

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[bacon.jay]

So grandpa dan, does that mean that the GPS on my 8330 will work with third party apps once the new OS is released for that model? I was under the impression that GPS was controlled by VZW service books, which for the 8330 did not allow...

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[Xopher]

Verizon is no longer blocking GPS. If you get a device with OS version 4.5 and above it is unlocked. if you get an older device that supports 4.5 you just need to update your OS and it will be unlocked.

GPS is still locked. More accurately, aGPS is still locked. All 4.5 did was add PDE authorization to BB Maps. Any device that uses aGPS only will still be locked into VZW's restrictions. Pearl, Curve, 8830...

The Storm and Tour both have dual-mode GPS. Apps that can take advantage of the new chipset have a way to go around the aGPS restrictions. If an app can only access aGPS information, then it will still be locked out, even on the Tour and Storm.

[grandpa dan]

Fwiw the gps chip on bb's is weak. Its a novelty at best. Its not as strong and therefore loses sat lock ALOT. If a person really needs turn by turn nav they're better off with a garmin than trying to make due with the gps in a bb.

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[anon(368121)]

Fwiw the gps chip on bb's is weak. Its a novelty at best. Its not as strong and therefore loses sat lock ALOT. If a person really needs turn by turn nav they're better off with a garmin than trying to make due with the gps in a bb.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I use VZNav on my Storm quite a bit and have never lost satellite lock. I've (rarely) found myself in areas with no 1X or EvDO signal, however, which certainly puts a crimp in VZNav's style . . . the map data is transmitted over the air, so no data, no maps.

[joshuastree]

Fwiw the gps chip on bb's is weak. Its a novelty at best. Its not as strong and therefore loses sat lock ALOT. If a person really needs turn by turn nav they're better off with a garmin than trying to make due with the gps in a bb.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I was recently on a week long road trip that took me all through SoCal and Nevada. My friend had his Tom Tom and I had VZ nav in my car. I never once lost signal, but he was constantly. I realize this isn't the garmin, but it did show me the VZ nav was well worth it because it never once lost a connection and always showed the best route. I consider it a great replacement to carrying a separate device around.

I just hate how buggy the program can be on my storm when trying to get directions through Poynt.

[FatBoyHD]

Is there any workaround to get the GPS working on vzn so I can use DarkStar? BB 8330 4.5.0.77

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