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Okay, I caved and used an exclamation point in the title. But that’s only because I’m legitimately excited. I was just browsing around the Internet yesterday like I usually do, when I saw that BGR had a new post up. So I went to my RSS reader and had a looksee. What did I find? Verizon has enabled GPS on the Curve and Pearl! See? There I go again with the exclamation point. Again, warranted. This is a pretty big development, as Verizon has been notorious for disabling their GPS units in all smartphones. This has irked me and countless other VZW customers to no end. We have phones with GPS chips. GPS signals are freely available. So why the heck can’t we use them? Well, now we can. To an extent, that is.
What, do you think Verizon would let us run around willy nilly with our fancy GPS units? Nah. There are some restrictions. First, you’ve got to have OS 4.5. You can head to the BlackBerry Forums device-specific section to find out how to get OS 4.5 for your Berry. Also, it only appears to work with BlackBerry Maps. I tried it with the much-cooler Google Maps and it was having none of it.
This is a pleasant surprise from the folks at Verizon. No, it doesn’t give us the full GPS functionality we crave — after all, you can do plenty more with your GPS than driving directions and maps. But it’s also nice to know we can get turn by turn directions without having to pay $10 per month for VZ Navigator.
If any of you test out other location-based apps with your VZW Berry, let me know how it goes.
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Filed under : BlackBerry Applications 9 Comments
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9 Comments ↓
[...] everything I regularly complain about, so I can no longer complain about it. Verizon has gone and uncrippled GPS in certain BlackBerry models. This is an under-the-radar move, as in Verizon hasn’t said anything about it. There are a [...]
This is surely a joke…no way VZW would cater to the customer like this!
Richard, I was thinking the same thing.
[...] Answered: Verizon has recently “unlocked” their GPS functionality on the Curve and the Pearl. That being said, they may be mucking with things behind the scenes in order to provide full [...]
Mine did not work.
BB 4.5
Gps on, can’t find a gps satelite.
I downloaded google maps and set all permissions to ALLOW and now my BB MAPS is working. Had something to do with 1 of the application permissions.
[...] Verizon users can now use GPS. Well, at least on BlackBerry Maps, and with OS 4.5. Still, a great development for Verizon users. [...]
[...] to us on Twitter!Finally, after years of crippling GPS units in their smartphones, Verizon has let the GPS free on BlackBerry devices. I was ecstatic to learn this a few weeks ago, even though it only works on BlackBerry Maps and not [...]
Does anyone have any advice as to the best Verizon BB curve GOLF gps software. Green Finder is supposed to be great but their website says it will only work on the Verizon BB storm. THanks
nRange Golf GPS is a great Golf GPS app. Their website blog lists a couple of ways for Verizon users to use the app. Not sure how they work since I’m on AT&T and it works great!
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