[MrVideo]

I lost my original 8830 while riding my motorcycle, due to the clip case not clipping very well. I didn't make sure it was clipped in place, and sure enough, it was gone. It was a long enough ride that retracing didn't find it.

In any event, I get a new one on ebay from a dealer. Because US Cellular will only work with their Blackberrys, the choice was limited. In any event, I get the phone in service and asked about the latest version, as I couldn't find it on their website. It is buried (now bookmarked). No simple download link with a select OS option and then select your phone option, like a real website. 4.5 downloaded and installed.

Next I loaded Nav4all, which is what I was using. Go outside and don't get GPS sat lock at all. Google's map download won't find the GPS birds either. Oh crap, phone broken. It was a refurbished device as well. So, it is going back after I get another.

Found another on ebay from a user from upstate that had to sell his as he was moving to a location that wasn't covered by US Cellular. I get it, wipe it and install 4.5 (since it was already on the computer. I get the old phone de-serviced and the new one serviced. I try the Blackberry map and it can't find the GPS birds. Download Nav4All and it too can't find the GPS birds. WTF!!!

So, I call tech support, and ask if the 8830 and 4.5 has GPS issues. Yep, it does. So why-the-hell is an OS on the website that doesn't work properly. No warning, no nothing. I asked if I can downgrade. Yep.

I called the CEO's office to lodge a complaint about the OS that breaks GPS. The CEO's secretary connects me to upper level support, who was going to dig into it and have something done on the website.

I get home from work and after I am done watching the LLWS game on the computer (don't have ESPN, directly watch from the stadium, no commercials :D ), I try and downgrade. The desktop manager won't even give me the option. So, yet another call the smartphone support. We could not find a way to downgrade. During our conversations, he has conversations with others. He comes back and asked if I had GPS issue with the 122 version. On these phones I had no clue and the GPS was only attempted to be used after the OS upgrade. But, on the original phone, it did take the BB a long time to lock the GPS birds. Yep, that is an issue. If they tried to fix it in the 4.5 release, it was only made worse.

While he was trying to find out how to get the OS downgraded, he talked with another person who said that a third party mapping application installed a piece of code that made the GPS fuction work. He e-mailed me the link. I installed the application, which has a 7-day trial period. But, supposidly, after the trial expires, the piece that improves GPS locking stays functional, it is the mapping app that stops (it is $100 otherwise). He was told that the app can be deleted and the GPS piece stays functional. I'm just going to hide the app's button. In any event, after the install, I went to the Blackberry maps and damn, the GPS lock was there.

Downloaded Nav4All and it worked.

So, bottom line: the RIM software has a nasty bug getting GPS to work. They can't get their own phone to work right and yet, a third party app was able to.

Here is the link to use in the phone to have it download the app: ww8.garmin.com/codfiles/builtforblackberry (not enough posts to do the full URL).

Put that in the browser and your GPS issues should go away, or improve the GPS lock timing. It made my non-GPS lock work, and be speedy about it.