14 DAY TRIAL // For some time now all of Verizon's GPS-enabled devices have been a reason for complaint for most users. Even though hundreds of official complaints and e-mails had been sent over to Verizon, asking it to solve the problem, good news was not coming into sight. Fortunately, after this major “intervention,” mostly from the users’ side, trying disparately to get Verzion to start working on this problem, finally an email from the operator repaid its customers' efforts.
The main idea regarding this fix is that, through a collaboration with Windows Mobile, Verizon is trying, and it will most likely succeed, to create a software update meant to offer the standalone GPS chips functionality inside the phones and at the same time maintain its GPS assistance capabilities. In translation, GPS will be functional through Verizon's network assistance, as well as on its own, thanks to the aforementioned standalone chips.
In an email on the matter, HQ Executive Relations supervisor for Verizon, Steve Schwed states, "Verizon Wireless, like all carriers, orders devices to meet certain specifications inclusive of features. Each of these specs is tested to determine if it meets our performance goals. There are instances when the phone will pass our extensive testing process but a specific feature may not meet the standard. 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."
"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. This is a complex development project to provide open standalone GPS while maintaining the assisted GPS capability with the level of performance and security that our customers expect. The recently introduced Windows Mobile devices including Omnia, Saga, and Touch Pro are targeted to add open standalone GPS in the 1st half of 2009." he adds.
Since this technology is set to be designed with plenty of aid from Windows Mobile, the first devices to receive this new capability are the Windows Mobile-operated ones plus the Saga, Omnia and the Touch Pro. Later on, most Verizon mobiles will have this feature, but for now, these are the ones you should be on the lookout for.