[hayden]

• BlackBerry® 8800 Series
• BlackBerry 8300 Series
• BlackBerry Pearl™ 8100 smartphone
• BlackBerry Device Software 4.2 and later

Procedure

If your BlackBerry smartphone has a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, complete the following steps:

1. On a map, press the Menu key.
2. Click Options.
3. Set the GPS Device field.
4. Press the Menu key.
5. Click Save.

If you are using a GPS receiver enabled with Bluetooth® wireless technology to track your movement, complete the following steps:

1. Pair your BlackBerry smartphone with the GPS receiver enabled with Bluetooth wireless technology.
2. On a map, press the Menu key and select Start GPS.

Note: To stop tracking your movement, press the Menu key and select Stop GPS.

[sTen]

Great! I must absolutely try! thank you hayden..

[The Juice]

Everytime I try this it tells me to match it with my blue tooth enabled GPS device. What is that exactly? Not my earpiece I take it.

[Amigotek]

If you are using the Pearl as your profile states, then you need a bluetooth GPS reciever. The pearl does not have GPS native to it and must use an external reciever.

Zo

[The Juice]

What is that?

[Amigotek]

A Bluetooth GPS reciever is a device that connects to your cell phone through bluetooth (similar connection as your headset). The device itself varies in size depending on the manufacturer but most I have seen are about the same size as the phone. The unit has a built in GPS reciever and antenna that interprets the data being recieved from the sattelites. It then sends that data over to the phone which then translates it into data you can use with your mapping software.

Zo

[The Juice]

That can't be used for tracking the movements of the phone though?

[dismacoa]

Hi i curently bot a 8300 curve and I tried using GPS with google maps but it doesnt work. I went to GPS options but it doesnt give me any options. My cell phone provider is TELCEL in Mexico. maybe there isnt any GPS in Mexico? I live close to de border maybe it might work?

[Amigotek]

The 8300 does not have built in GPS. The 8310 does.

Zo

[damian6973]

Hello,

I have, since yesterday an German Vodafone Curve 8310.
What kind of Map do you mean, that I can track my movements?

regards

Daniel

[denseljr]

i have an 8100 pearl does it have it built in??

[Amigotek]

No. The 8310 and 88XX series have it built in along with most (if not all) CDMA versions.

Zo

[alwaysbelieve1]

I cannot change BB Maps to recognize my Verizon 8130 as having GPS. How do I get it to recognize it? Right now it says there is no GPS present in the selection area.

[oventek]

I use Google maps on my 8310 and love it! Really cool with the satellite overlays...

[Amigotek]

Originally Posted by alwaysbelieve1 I cannot change BB Maps to recognize my Verizon 8130 as having GPS. How do I get it to recognize it? Right now it says there is no GPS present in the selection area.

Did verizon disable the GPS without the use of thier VZNavigator service?

Zo

[alwaysbelieve1]

Originally Posted by Amigotek Did verizon disable the GPS without the use of thier VZNavigator service? Zo

Don't know, but I do have the service on my account. I also have "Location On" selected in my GPS settings.

[CashCrandle]

My GPS refuses to work with Alltel, I think maybe they have some agreement with telenav, so they cripled it, if there is anyway around this feel free to holla atcha boy. I hope this information helps, good luck.

[Spoook]

In Australia BB maps doesn't work. It doesn't seem like you can do this with Google Maps. Am I right in saying this? I can get directions and follow them with the GPS but can't seem to track my movements. Does anyone know of some way to do this without BBmaps?
~via BB (wap.pinstack.com)~

[armus]

brand new 8130 with built in GPS. just went out side and walked around with my GPS tracking me. It's even close than by 8100 was using the hockey puck and seems more reliable - was always getting pairing problems and couldn't get signal issues even with it sitting on the car's dash. Unfortunately, BB Maps doesn't have location saving and turn directions. I'm refusing to pay TelNav - it's decent service but too expensive when I only use it maybe once a month.

[J-Reyez]

where can these external gps things be purchased?

[rob@NIW]

Originally Posted by armus brand new 8130 with built in GPS. just went out side and walked around with my GPS tracking me. It's even close than by 8100 was using the hockey puck and seems more reliable - was always getting pairing problems and couldn't get signal issues even with it sitting on the car's dash. Unfortunately, BB Maps doesn't have location saving and turn directions. I'm refusing to pay TelNav - it's decent service but too expensive when I only use it maybe once a month.

Wait a minute. If you are not paying for TelNav, then how are you tracking yourself? Are you sure it is using GPS? How did you get it to work??

[bonebox]

Originally Posted by rob@NIW Wait a minute. If you are not paying for TelNav, then how are you tracking yourself? Are you sure it is using GPS? How did you get it to work??

You do not need Telenav to enable GPS on your BlackBerry. If you look in this same forum you'll find many threads for various other free GPS applications for your BlackBerry, many that will allow you to "track yourself". If you're wanting a free full-fledged GPS solution such as TeleNav, the field is admittedly pretty narrow at the current time, but they ARE out there (Nav4All and amAze GPS).

It surprises me how many people think they must have Telenav and pay the $10/mo fee in order to enable GPS on their BlackBerry. I'm curious to where they're getting this misinformation. Sounds like one heck of a marketing ploy.. er, strategy.

[funkym]

Right dudes. GPS is a free service.

[Misinformed]

That rox.

[rob@NIW]

Originally Posted by bonebox You do not need Telenav to enable GPS on your BlackBerry. If you look in this same forum you'll find many threads for various other free GPS applications for your BlackBerry, many that will allow you to "track yourself". If you're wanting a free full-fledged GPS solution such as TeleNav, the field is admittedly pretty narrow at the current time, but they ARE out there (Nav4All and amAze GPS). It surprises me how many people think they must have Telenav and pay the $10/mo fee in order to enable GPS on their BlackBerry. I'm curious to where they're getting this misinformation. Sounds like one heck of a marketing ploy.. er, strategy.

Thanks bonebox.
Yeah, I know TelNav is not necessary, and that there is a GPS receiver on-board. I would not even consider buying TelNav, not only because I shouldn't have to pay a monthly fee, but I don't want the bozo cartoon image of the road and "turn by turn" audio directions. I just want to see where I am on the map, like I can with my Garmin unit. (its just nicer not to have to carry Garmin)

I just want to use the GPS data with google maps, and I read about people finding solutions to do it with no problem on the Blackjack 2, so I figured there is a way.

After a google search, I found many people saying that Verizon had locked down access to the GPS data on the 8130, so I was looking for hack, rather than an app. Thanks for the good news, I will check those out...
And, I'm still on clear if you guys are getting this to work on Sprint or Verizon...

__________

did you check out the latest posts on NextInWireless.com ?

[bonebox]

Originally Posted by rob@NIW Thanks bonebox. Yeah, I know TelNav is not necessary, and that there is a GPS receiver on-board. I would not even consider buying TelNav, not only because I shouldn't have to pay a monthly fee, but I don't want the bozo cartoon image of the road and "turn by turn" audio directions. I just want to see where I am on the map, like I can with my Garmin unit. (its just nicer not to have to carry Garmin) I just want to use the GPS data with google maps, and I read about people finding solutions to do it with no problem on the Blackjack 2, so I figured there is a way. After a google search, I found many people saying that Verizon had locked down access to the GPS data on the 8130, so I was looking for hack, rather than an app. Thanks for the good news, I will check those out... And, I'm still on clear if you guys are getting this to work on Sprint or Verizon...

Well, I'm on AT&T so I can't speak for Sprint or Verizon, but I hadn't heard of those carriers locking GPS down on the BlackBerry. AT&T actually does try and lock it down to some degree from the OS level, but that's easy to bypass just by installing a non-AT&T OS on the phone. You might try doing that if you haven't already, you could be having a similar issue.

[bonebox]

Upon further research, it does appear that Verizon is locking down the 8130 from a hardware level, so upgrading the OS probably wouldn't be of any use. Might be worth a shot anyway though. At least, I couldn't find any verification from anyone saying upgrading to a non-Verizon version of the BlackBerry OS didn't fix it. Unfortunately, the only other option seems to be buying an external GPS puck. I'm assuming the person above that said they got their 8130 working w/ the built-in GPS is using a different carrier than Verizon.

[jmerlos]

That sucks if all the carriers started doing that, i have tmo and so far i haven't had any problems with it but so far they don't even try to push any sort of gps software onto their phones which is one of the big reasons i changed over to them i just went from the pearl 8100 to the blackberry 8800 its a big different in size but i am liking it so far, i had to buy the unlock code cuz thos perros,, (doggs) at at&t wouldn't give it to me since the phone is from at&t lmao it says cingular on it but so far i almost done with the removing of any at&t traces from it.

[cddmh]

Originally Posted by hayden BlackBerry® 8800 Series BlackBerry 8300 Series BlackBerry Pearl™ 8100 smartphone BlackBerry Device Software 4.2 and later Procedure If your BlackBerry smartphone has a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, complete the following steps: On a map, press the Menu key. Click Options. Set the GPS Device field. Press the Menu key. Click Save. If you are using a GPS receiver enabled with Bluetooth® wireless technology to track your movement, complete the following steps: Pair your BlackBerry smartphone with the GPS receiver enabled with Bluetooth wireless technology. On a map, press the Menu key and select Start GPS. Note: To stop tracking your movement, press the Menu key and select Stop GPS.

Thanks