Comments on: How to activate GPS on your BlackBerry

By: xiii

xiii — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:20:18 +0000

try GPSed for blackberry, works good to solve some of those connection issues, wasn’t happy at all till i implemented this very usefull gps app

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:12:21 +0000

I have it working with ab 8330 but if I exit BB Maps I have to hard reboot to get it back

By: Taupe

Taupe — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:03:20 +0000

With my Bold it’s sufficient to Power Off and power it back on to regain the GPS signal. Obviously much faster than a full reboot.

By: Blackberry Beard

Blackberry Beard — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:02:31 +0000

Nope. When the clouds went away and I went outside it still said “SPACE = Hide dashboard”…and when I did it again hours later it still said it too. I guess once you lose the GPS signal you lose it till the next reboot.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:45:06 +0000

Kelly,

Google Maps still will not work with a Verizon BlackBerry. Only BlackBerry Maps will function for the time being.

By: Blackberry Beard

Blackberry Beard — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:10:10 +0000

P.P.S. Now that I have no GPS signal I have the reminder of my initial frustration: once you don’t have a GPS signal and you close down the app that way, you can’t get a new GPS signal until you reboot the blackberry. I haven’t done enough researching to absolutely confirm it, but now when I open BBMap and then click on “Start GPS Navigation” I merely get the message in black on yellow, “SPACE = Hide dashboard.” I’ll wait to see if when the clouds go away and I go outside if it can come back, but I seem to remember that I couldn’t get it to work again till after a reboot. Hmm.

By: Kelly Carter

Kelly Carter — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:08:35 +0000

I’ve had trouble getting Google Maps to work with my now-unlocked-by-Verizon internal GPS or my external Bluetooth GPS since I upgraded my BlackBerry Curve 8330 to OS 4.5. But I haven’t spent a lot of time experimenting, so I can’t draw a conclusion yet.

I also am having trouble getting Google Maps to work with the internal GPS of my new BlackBerry Storm 9530. Again, I haven’t dug too deeply into this to understand better.

By: Blackberry Beard

Blackberry Beard — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:37:34 +0000

P.S. Right now there its moderately cloudy with stratus clouds outside. My 8330 is 4′ 6″ to the interior of a window that is 4′ 6″ high and a hundred feet wide…and it is “Searching for satellites.”

You really need to be outside for this to work best.

By: Blackberry Beard

Blackberry Beard — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:15:41 +0000

Link McGinnis, the ideal condition for satellite coverage is out in the middle of an open field on a cloudless day – for you urbanites you can substitute a big mall outdoor parking lot. The first few days after I changed to OS 4.5 I couldn’t get a signal because we were getting deluged by rain and there was no way any signal would penetrate the intense clouds. When the weather finally cleared I tried it again and within 2 seconds it picked up 11 satellites. I then walked indoors to a small convenience store and it immediately cut-out and began “searching for satellites.”

Even in my car I have to keep the blackberry on the dash pushed out to the windshield as far as possible (just like you see with people’s TomToms and Garmins)to get the best satellite signal. When I put my blackberry in my center console it works well on perfect days but doesn’t work so well when its very cloudy.

I haven’t had a whole lot of time using it yet so these are just my initial observations.

By: john Webster

john Webster — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:25:58 +0000

I have it working on the BB storm. I just wish it would work with other apps.