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Verizon Wireless has unlocked the GPS on the 8330 Curve and the 8130 Pearl?
Boy Genius Report — If you look up in the sky today, you may see some pigs flying as rumor has it that Verizon Wireless has unlocked the GPS on both the 8330 Curve and the 8130 Pearl. This apparently is not a cruel joke but an early Christmas present (or a long overdue upgrade, depending on your perspective). We have tested it ourselves and BlackBerry Maps indeed picks up the internal GPS. You can see that we have locked on to 8 satellites in the screen capture above. It only appears to work on OS 4.5 as BlackBerry Maps for OS 4.3 did not have the option to select the Internal GPS. We couldn’t get Google Maps to work, either - it still used the crude cell ...

Verizon unlock 8330 & Pearl 8130 GPS for BlackBerry Maps
SlashGear — A Verizon update for the BlackBerry 8330 Curve and the 8130 Pearl has unlocked the GPS receiver so that it will work with more than just the carrier’s own VZ Navigator.  Verizon themselves have not commented on the release, but there are multiple reports of users able to lock onto satellites in BlackBerry Maps.  The functionality requires the OS 4.5 version of the RIM satnav software, as earlier builds lack the option to use a handset’s internal GPS. However the unlock has not left the Curve and Pearl’s GPS open to every piece of navigation software; in actual fact, it appears that Verizon have merely ...

Verizon Ungrinchifies, Unlocks GPS on BlackBerry Pearl and Curve
IntoMobile - Cell Phone News, Information, and Analysis — That’s the holiday spirit, Verizon - throw your subscribers a bone and let them use BlackBerry Maps instead of pigeonholing them into the $9.99/month VZ Navigator service like you have for so long. The latest firmware for the BlackBerry 8330 and BlackBerry 8130 isn’t all roses, though - reports say that Google Maps, easily the fuller-bodied mapping app, is still out of commission. It’s a step in the right direction, but maybe one Verizon should have taken from the get-go. Hopefully they’ll stay in that spirit and allow other apps to access the integrated GPS. [via HowardForums] ...

Verizon update for BlackBerry 8300 and 8130 allows BlackBerry Maps
Phones Review — Verizon Wireless have dropped the Scrooge persona by allowing their BlackBerry subscribers to now use BlackBerry Maps rather than the VZ Navigator service at $9.99 per month, which is a nice Christmas bonus. This comes via the latest firmware for the BlackBerry 8130 and the BlackBerry 8300, although it isn’t all tinsel and holly as reports are saying Google Maps, which is obviously the more bodied maps application is still out of commission. One has to say though, this is a leap in the right direction for Verizon Wireless, but one they should have taken from the outset, and who knows, maybe the big red will retain the festive spirit ...

New firmware unlocks GPS in Verizon’s BlackBerry 8830 Curve and BlackBerry 8130 Pearl
IntoMobile - Cell Phone News, Information, and Analysis — With US wireless carriers, it’s a safe bet to assume that a carrier-branded smartphone will hit market crippled to some extent. Features like GPS and WiFi are usually the first aspects of a smartphone’s feature-set to be crippled or locked-out entirely by the carrier. With Verizon’s BlackBerry 8830 Curve and BlackBerry 8130 Pearl, it’s the GPS receiver that has been crippled to work only with Verizon Wireless’s VZ Navigator service. Today, a new firmware has surfaced that effectively breaks the GPS receiver out of carrier lock-down. The new firmware, BlackBerry OS 4.5.0.97, for the Verizon ...