Verizon and GPS

Well, it has been about six months now and the BlackBerry 8830WE is working fine. No significant problems, though I wish there were a viable alternative to syncing it to Outlook. (I also had problems during a firmware update, but that is probably due to my impatience.)

However, there is one BIG annoyance. Verizon has chosen to hold the built-in GPS receiver hostage. They will only let you use it is you pay $9.95/month, and even then only with VZ Navigator. VZ Navigator 4.0 looks promising, but only version 2.9.9 is currently available for the BlackBerry, and it is only OK. The main issue is that is is slow.

There are other programs (Google Maps, Beyond411, Nav4All, etc.) for the BlackBerry that could use the built-in GPS receiver, but can't. Verizon is the ONLY carrier that chooses to disable the built-in GPS receiver, simply because they want more revenue. They should not be disabling it. At the very least unlock it for other programs when I subscribe to VZ Navigator! Otherwise I may take a look at AT&T when my contract is up.

Yes, I could buy a Bluetooth GPS receiver to use with the 8830, but that would not be very convenient, and a waste given the phone already has a built-in GPS receiver!