[wraenking]

Like the title says. I bought a phone yesterday, put a new digitizer screen on it, and it seems to work fine. Im trying to test the gps before i activate it, and it does not seem to be working. Do i need to activate it for gps to work?

Thanks

[jeffh]

The GPS on a Verizon 8330 is not a general purpose GPS. Verizon only allows it to be used with VZNav, BBMaps, Bing, and maybe one more app that they push. It won't work with Google Maps and almost certainly won't work with your 3rd party digitizer. If you want a general purpose GPS with Verizon, you'll need to get a Tour if you want a physical keyboard or a Storm if you want a touchscreen device. All Verizon's 8x30 devices have the same limitation. The 9x30 devices do not.

[wraenking]

i should have explained better. Yhe phone i bought is a storm 2, but i havent activated yet, but wanted to make sure the gps is working. Doesnt seem to be now, as i have not called to switch phones yet. Should it be working without activating it/

thanks

[jeffh]

Yes, I think the GPS should work before you activate it. An easy way to test it is to run the built-in self-test. Go to Options / Status and type test. Select the GPS from the menu of tests.

[MobileMadness002]

i should have explained better. Yhe phone i bought is a storm 2, but i havent activated yet, but wanted to make sure the gps is working. Doesnt seem to be now, as i have not called to switch phones yet. Should it be working without activating it/

thanks

Will need an active BB Data plan to have the maps downloaded to the device.

[wraenking]

I have garmin loaded. im inside at work, and im not picking up any sats. Thats why i thought maybe i had to activate phone for it to work. Should an led light be blinking when gps is working? i have nnothing blinking

[jeffh]

No, there's no external indication the GPS is working. Depending on your roof, it may not be possible to see the satellites from indoors. Go outside and garmin should see them, but as the poster above noted, you won't have any maps until you activate data.

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[syb0rg]

I have garmin loaded. im inside at work, and im not picking up any sats. Thats why i thought maybe i had to activate phone for it to work. Should an led light be blinking when gps is working? i have nnothing blinking

Garmin's North American Maps system is about 2GB of information, i just loaded it onto my W255, there is no way you got that onto your Storm2. With that being said the application you loaded most likely loads information on to your phone to pull information via BIS/BES onto your phone, and uses the GPS signal to figure out where you are and what the surrounding map (supplied via BIS/BES) looks like, to make it look like a automotive GPS.....

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[jeffh]

...the application you loaded most likely loads information on to your phone to pull information via BIS/BES onto your phone, and uses the GPS signal to figure out where you are and what the surrounding map (supplied via BIS/BES) ...

Correct, that's how Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry works. The only BlackBerry GPS apps that I know of that use pre-loaded maps are TrekBuddy and Mobile GPS. They're designed to be used in areas where you don't have a cell signal.

[austinkli]

Yes you need service on it for the GPS to work

[jeffh]

Yes you need service on it for the GPS to work

I agree that you need service for maps to download. Have you tried the internal GPS self-test on a BlackBerry that had no service? That's the evidence I'm looking for, but I don't have an inactive device to try.

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[syb0rg]

I agree that you need service for maps to download. Have you tried the internal GPS self-test on a BlackBerry that had no service? That's the evidence I'm looking for, but I don't have an inactive device to try.

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testing it now a pulled SIM card 9700 for ya man.

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[syb0rg]

five minuets out side and it never picked up my location.

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[jeffh]

That's an interesting and, to me at least, unexpected result. The GPS in my Tour will continue to operate with the radio turned off, which obviously isn't the same as deactivating the phone. I wonder if GSM and CDMA BlackBerry devices work differently in this case. It's not clear to me "why" a BlackBerry would have to be activated on the network for its GPS to work.

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[wraenking]

Well, i activated the phone, and still nothing. i left it outside for 5 minutes at least. How long should it take to lock in a signal even if the gps was never used?

When i replaced the cracked LCD there were two wires that had to be disconnected. I dont htink i damaged them. I am not sure if one of those is the gps or not.

When i activated it, the phone, texting, and bbm was working.

[wraenking]

I guess if the GPS doesnt work i will call asurion.