[blizake]

Hey all just got my curve and I am liking the keyboard and some of the other goodies on it.

My problem is with the curve promotion I thought it was supposed to have gps support.

I am missing something or is it just disabled on ATT&T's phones.

Thanks for all the help

[gfisher99]

The Curve does support GPS, but it does not have an integrated GPS receiver like the 8800.

You can purchase a Bluetooth GPS "puck" that works great with the Curve. I use the Pharos iGPS-BT without any problems.

Hope this helps,
Greg

[JSanders]

The 8300 does not have gps built-in, it is available via bluetooth. The 8800 has gps built-in. You probably read something wrong if you read the 8300 had it built-in.

[birddog]

Originally Posted by JSanders

The 8300 does not have gps built-in, it is available via bluetooth. The 8800 has gps built-in. You probably read something wrong if you read the 8300 had it built-in.

I've seen a lot of people get confused between the 8300 and the 8830 -- which does support GPS (except for Verizon -- so I have heard)

[blizake]

I thought I read somewhere that the curve had it also.

My mistake I guess we traded the camera for it.

Thanks for all the help

[edj9000]

Originally Posted by gfisher99

The Curve does support GPS, but it does not have an integrated GPS receiver like the 8800.

You can purchase a Bluetooth GPS "puck" that works great with the Curve. I use the Pharos iGPS-BT without any problems.

Hope this helps,
Greg

I'm thinking of trading in my 8800 but still want GPS. When using an external puck are you able to view the actual GPS coordinates when ? Does it work with Google Maps? Do you have to install softwaer from pharos to get it to work?

Thanks!

[JSanders]

edj, there's a whole gps forum on this board for great questions like yours. I'm sure you'll find an answer there.

[coolkarim]

Shame GPS wasnt on it. but I have a tiny bluetooth one that fits on my keyring, size of a lipstick, so I really have GPS whenever I want.

[joginder]

it has gps but you need to unlock the .alx file to install it.

[cellguy]

Originally Posted by coolkarim

Shame GPS wasnt on it. but I have a tiny bluetooth one that fits on my keyring, size of a lipstick, so I really have GPS whenever I want.

Sounds cool. Do you have the name of the manufactuer?

[mmcpher]

Can't I get my GPS. . . . and my Curve? I noticed in the RIM technical docs on their support page they list the 8300 among those with GPS. When you look up GPS under the 8300's Advanced Options, it says "BlackBerry 8800". Is RIM taunting me? Why can't I switch the Telenav preference setting on the 8300 (assuming you installed Telenav notwithstanding it won't work) for GPS Source from "internal" to "bluetooth" and then make that bluetooth device the old 8800, which you can BT pair with and between the 8300, but to no apparent effect?

[rcasey]

1) joginder, you mention you can unlock the .axl file to enable gps????

2) More importantly, is there a service out there that is similar to Verizon's "VZ Navigator" that as I understand it, uses their radio towers to triangulat the location of the cell. It then gives you turn by turn visual and audio directions.

I really dont want to have to carry around a puck, that seems like a step backwards.

Thanks

[John Clark]

There seems to be some confusion here regarding "GPS support." GPS is a separate receiver in the BB that will receive signals from the GPS satellites orbiting the Earth and pinpoint your location via lattitude and longitude.

The 8800 is the only device that has functioning GPS receiver support built in to the device. The 8830 has a slightly different GPS receiver but at this time is locked out by Verizon so you can't use the GPS receiver. The 8300 does NOT have a GPS receiver built in.

That being said every one of these devices can use mapping applications such as Google Maps and/or BBMaps. Also, if the device doesn't have a built in GPS receiver then an external Bluetooth GPS receiver can be purchased and used with the mapping applications.

What joginder meant to say is that BBMaps (just the mapping application) can be unlocked via an edit to the .alx file if the application is not showing up on the device. This is true. In the later versions of the 4.2.1 OS some of the carriers have "hidden" the BBMaps icon so that their customers will sign up for the pay-for-use mapping/turn by turn w/voice prompts applications such as TeleNav.

You can't "unlock" a GPS receiver by editing an .alx file. You can "unlock" the map application if it's not showing on the device. The map application can be used without GPS if desired. (I used BBMaps and Google Maps without any GPS attached for a long time and really liked both apps.)