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Verizon unlocks GPS on some of its WinMo phones
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Verizon Wireless has decided to allow a certain number of its Windows Mobile handsets to have standalone GPS, breaking them free from Verizon's proprietary navigation software.
Verizon previously had locked these phones so they could only use VZ Navigator. However, according to an official statement released from the carrier, the Samsung Omnia, Samsung Saga and HTC Touch Pro will all get firmware updates in the first half of 2009 allowing them to use standalone GPS software such as Google Maps.
According to a statement made by Steve Schwed, Verizon's HQ Executive Relations Supervisor, Verizon has worked out a solution with Windows Mobile to get a software upgrade for the three devices sometime in the first half of next year. Schwed said the reason that certain features--i.e. standalone GPS--may not be enabled on Verizon handsets is that they do not meet "performance goals."
"We will often choose to introduce the phone without that feature but ask that the manufacturer come back to us with revised software that has to be tested to make sure the service works the same across our entire wireless footprint--from Maine to Hawaii," he said in the statement. "In the case of open standalone GPS, we are partnering with the Windows Mobile device manufacturers to provide a software upgrade that will add this capability to the existing assisted GPS capability."
For more:
- see this article
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Comments
Posted by Steven Groves | December 18, 2008 - 12:22pm
We're a provider of a solution that counts on the standalone GPS capability and our clients have been asking for a Verizon-based solution since before we shipped the product this December.
We've had to push them off and suggest that it was really Verizon they needed to change their policy to align with AT&T and Sprint. This really welcome news! Maybe T-Mobile will catch up too!
Posted by Steven Groves | December 18, 2008 - 12:25pm
oh - if you want to see how / what we're doing, log into SilentDispatch.com; it is a solution for mobile workforces that is already shipping in the ground transportation industry.
Posted by Anonymous | December 18, 2008 - 1:47pm
I am about to fire Verizon anyway. All my friends using LifeInPocket free GPS Navigation, no mater they are with AT&T, Sprint, Nextel, T-Mobile even AllTel while I have been paying $10 a month for VZ Navigator which is much worse then the LifeInPocket.
I was using Motorola which Verizon blocked it then I upgraded to Blackberry while Verizon still blocking it.
Who cares about Win Mobile, they were supposed to be open anyway! Goodbye Verizon!
Posted by Slightly Hopeful | December 22, 2008 - 3:35am
Fantastic! Verizon really deserves credit for this move. It makes me at least a little more likely to stay a Verizon customer...
Now the just have to stop crippling their phones in other ways (less memory, bad keyboard layout, etc.)...
Posted by Anonymous | March 26, 2009 - 2:43pm
End of March already and no word from Verizon. When I got my phone in Jan the salesman told me it would be unlocked in the next week or two!
Posted by Donny | May 10, 2009 - 9:27pm
Well its mid May. Almost end of second quarter. Still no firmware unlock for my Omnia.
Posted by Anonymous | May 16, 2009 - 5:36am
I am on my 3rd Omnia. The only reason I accepted this one the promise of free gps soon from the salesman. I have been with VZW since they were Bell Atlantic. I think AT&T will appreciate my $150 per month!
Posted by Anonymous | June 2, 2009 - 4:59pm
Well have the year is over still not unlocked. Verizon lied again. Who would have thought that. There just like a politician.
Posted by Samsung Onnia i910 Owner | July 13, 2009 - 1:46am
Well I spoke with a Verizon Wireless Tech Representative this evening (because my Google Maps still was not functioning) and asked him how come the GPS was still locked and it is now mid-July. Can you believe that his response was that I should get VZ Navigator 'cause "it's only $10 a month. Can you believe these lying, greedy, no-honor pariahs? If they don't unlock these phones, and unlock them soon, this will be my last VW phone. "Irritated' doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about them right now.
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