webOS Hardware

[#1 · Accepted solution]

I think what they mean by "not supported" is that they have not developed a webOS version of their specific GPS application. To give you an example from the US, Sprint and ATT had their vendor (TeleNav) develop a webOS version of the navigation software. Verizon did the same thing (they use a different vendor, I don't remember their name though). Until Bell has their GPS app vendor develop a webOS version of the client, you're probably stuck using Google maps. As a side note, I just read an interesting article about a 3rd party map solution you might want to check out. It's called BFGMaps and it's currently in beta. More info about it is here: http://developer.palm.com/appredirect/?packageid=com.watchmefreak.bfgmaps

[#2]

Thank you very much. That explanation makes sense. I've downloaded that app that you recommended. Looks very interesting so far.

Thanks.

[#3]

I have had my Verizon Palm Pre for about 6 weeks. I can categorically say that there are problems with the GPS. I have spent weeks playing with it and trying all sorts of things to get it to reliably work. I have had conversations with Verizon and Palm Technical support. Ihave tried re-tried every trick they suggested. I have completely reset the phone and started from scratch.

GPS works sometimes. Sometimes is only takes a minute or two to get a fix. Sometimes it takes 30 or 40 minutes to get a fix. Sometimes, like today, it never got a fix over a 12 hours period of time. I have found that cloudy skies, like today, are when the GPS simply will not work.  It will not get a fix when two other cell phones, a TomTom Navigator and an another GPS device , all simultaneously side by side, get fixes in seconds to minutes.

I have come to believe that the Palm Pre simply has antenna problems. It has reception problems with WiFi. I have set upWifi tests with my iPod, a friend's iPhone, and my daughter's Droid. Everyone of those devices is consistently twice as fast as the Pre in speed tests and in timed downloads of selected web pages. In side by side 3g tests between DD's Verizon Dorid and my Pre, the Droid is always faster. Twice as fast. A logical explanation for the intermittent GPS failures is poor satellite reception, an antenna problem. If the problem is the antennas then no software fix will ever make the GPS work any better.

A note about the Pre location services. There are three ways that Pre will try to locate you. One is called "agps." agps uses cell towers to triangulate your location. This method of locating you can be off by a mile or more. It is not at all accurate but it generally always works. The second method uses Google Wifi location data to triangulate to your location. This is quite often accurate down to a few dozen feet in Urban locations where there are plenty of Wifi signals. It gets less accurate out in the country or on freeways. The third GPS is "sgps" or satellite GPS. This is the real GPS. It is accurate to within ten feet or less. This the GPS, sgps, that the Palm Pre is having trouble with. This is also the GPS that you most want.

My conclusion is that we will just have live with our Pre's giving us poor performance. Poor GPS performance. Poor Wifi performance. Poor 3g Performance. It is a shame. There are so many other things that I like about this phone.