Fixing Verizon’s Pre Plus GPS

Verizon is one of the few carriers who deploy a navigation software of their own – in Europe, most carriers have reverted to Google or Nokia Maps for quite some time.

Big red would not be big red if it wouldn’t protect its own application somehow – in the case of their Pre Plus, the machine has been given a slightly wonky GPS implementation which throws most webOS apps off the track.

Fortunately, a fix is in the works over at PreCentral’s:

The app is very simple: once the GPS is initially woken up (most reliably by launching the VZ Navigator app to its splash screen), GPS Fix periodically polls the GPS for a current location fix, based on a user-set schedule (from 5 minutes on up), and keeps it awake. In my initial testing, the app does what I was hoping it would do: allow apps like Minimap and Navit (which do not read the stored GPS location as do others like Google Maps and YP Mobile, and therefore need current fixes to work), as well as the built-in GPS test (found by dialing ##GPS# on the keypad) to continue to function without having to relaunch VZ Navigator. There are also some nice little features (optional notifications and a manual GPS Fix button), with more coming as James continues to work on the app (in its fourth iteration since last night).

So, hit the URL above – and let us know how it goes…

Related posts:

1. Google Maps for Palm OS review
2. Google Maps – Feedback required!
3. Google increases accuracy of network-based positioning
4. Google Maps gets “My Location” feature for Centro
5. Google Maps and Palm OS