[jeffabcc]

My need for navigation outweighed my patience in waiting for Verizon to offer VZ Navigator for the 8830. So I bought a Holux GPSlim 240 external bluetooth GPS. Here are my observations after a weekend of use:

The Holux is unbelievably small and powerful! It's on my keychain, and is no bigger than my car's remote. From my den in the middle of my house, in my pocket, it can see and lock to 4 satellites. It also uses the same mini-USB connection for charging as the BB, and can function as a wired USB GPS for a laptop.

I downloaded Telenav, which officially supports the 8830. So far, I am very impressed with its capabilities. I have VZN on my wife's phone and use it all the time. Maybe it's just the difference between the BlackBerry and the cellphone interface, but Telenav has so many more useful features, such as 3-D map view, real time traffic monitoring and rerouting, and an integrated dial-up voice recognition feature that let's you speak an address and have it appear in your destination list.

The GPS works with all my GPS capable apps, such as Google Maps, BB Maps, and Beyond 411. Now that I have Telenav, I'll probably be using these less, but it's still great that GPS is available for them. Even when Verizon releases VZN, there's no guarantee that the internal GPS will work with any other app.

[nsquark]

Originally Posted by jeffabcc

Even when Verizon releases VZN, there's no guarantee that the internal GPS will work with any other app.

I believe any application wanting to use the BlackBerry's GPS functionality is coded to use the location.api which is RIM (not Verizon). There is no gauruntee but I'm thinking that once Verizon has GPS enabled RIM devices then any software company can utilize it's GPS capabilities just like they would for any other GPS enabled RIM device.

[jungleland]

Originally Posted by nsquark

I believe any application wanting to use the BlackBerry's GPS functionality is coded to use the location.api which is RIM (not Verizon). There is no gauruntee but I'm thinking that once Verizon has GPS enabled RIM devices then any software company can utilize it's GPS capabilities just like they would for any other GPS enabled RIM device.

You are correct...If it's on, it's on and anyone can use it for any GPS app

[tls07]

hate to dissapoint but couldnt verizon just activate the gps when the VZ navigator is launched and disable it when its not running? Hope Im wrong I need GPS also.

[birddog]

On Thursday of last week (the last day of my VZW contract) I finally terminated my VZW service. I have to admit, their customer support was pretty good while I did this

I made it very clear to them that the main reason that I was doing this was because they disabled the GPS feature of the 8830. I told the man (honestly) that if he could give me an 8830 with working GPS (even if I had to use only VZN) I would purchase 2, one for me and one for my wife, with unlimited data plans and would return my AT&T phones which were still under the 30 try-buy.

The CS tech thought this was going to be easy, because he thought VZN was coming out on the 8830 very soon, but after making a few calls, he came back with: "Verizon has not plans to offer VZN on the 8830"

[JGBerry]

Originally Posted by birddog

On Thursday of last week (the last day of my VZW contract) I finally terminated my VZW service. I have to admit, their customer support was pretty good while I did this

I made it very clear to them that the main reason that I was doing this was because they disabled the GPS feature of the 8830. I told the man (honestly) that if he could give me an 8830 with working GPS (even if I had to use only VZN) I would purchase 2, one for me and one for my wife, with unlimited data plans and would return my AT&T phones which were still under the 30 try-buy.

The CS tech thought this was going to be easy, because he thought VZN was coming out on the 8830 very soon, but after making a few calls, he came back with: "Verizon has not plans to offer VZN on the 8830"

i like your bold statement to VZW hehe. i'm surprised they didn't give you a hard time about cancelling. ATT is horrendous when cancelling. they ask you a TON of questions and try desperately to keep you. they try everything in the book, and just shy of actually offering a sexual favor haha.

i had a bad cancelling experience with ATT as you can tell...

[tls07]

I know there are several threads already started. But I just spoke with the head of the GPS department at verizon today and he said that the update was supposed to be out by now and was intended to be released with the phone but it had several delays. He could not disclose the release date for the update but said it would be coming very soon. I dont how much of it to belive beacause of all the other responses that have been said by verizon but hopefully it is true and will come soon.

[JRSCCivic98]

Originally Posted by tls07

But I just spoke with the head of the GPS department at verizon today and he said that the update was supposed to be out by now and was intended to be released with the phone but it had several delays.

Care to share the direct number and name of this person?

[dclawyer]

Is the GPS fast enough when you drive? I used to have VZN on a Razr and it could not keep up with my car. I would pass turns and then it would tell me to turn. I now have a Garmin and it is right with me.

[alfa]

Originally Posted by JGBerry

ATT is horrendous when cancelling. they ask you a TON of questions and try desperately to keep you. they try everything in the book, and just shy of actually offering a sexual favor haha...

Most companies are nowadays. AOL used to be the leader in cancellation nightmares. XM Radio is pretty bad, in my experience. But with cell phones, if you're out of contract, canceling is easy. Just say you're moving to a place that doesn't have coverage.

Oh well, now back to the regularly scheduled GPS bitc*fest.

[birddog]

I really thought VZN CS was great when I canceled.
When I chose "Cancel Service" from the automated phone menu, it took me straight to a person -- no waiting at all.
I really did not need to speak to them to cancel -- having AT&T transfer my old numbers to my new AT&T phones automatically triggers a cancellation of service at VZN.

All I really wanted to know was:
to avoid paying VZN any extra money, either in early terminations or extra days of service, would I be better off having AT&T transfer my old numbers on the last day of my contract or the first day without a contract?

The answer: if I canceled on the last day of my contract, there would be no early termination fee.

Done, Thank you very much!

But the person on the phone really did try to retain me as a customer. At the time I was in no particular hurry, so I went along with it and because I was curious to find out what answer he'd come back with regarding GPS on the 8830. But he answered MY question first, so I didn't need to stay on the line with him.

I agree about AOL.. I used to use those 30 day free coupons all the time. The fine print said you needed to give them 10 days notice, so they were really only 20 day free coupons and you had to fight with them to get the service shutoff before a bill was issued.