Motorola Q Music 9m with GPS

[bradly]

Hello, folks...

Back in October I bought a Music9m from Verizon Wireless. The only real drawback (for me) was no GPS. We all know that Verizon Wireless, due to network security concerns (wink wink) disables the built-in aGPS receiver on most of it's smart phones.

Their verbal excuse was that with smartphones running just about any software you want them to run, (under Windows Mobile) outside users could gain access to your phone via your phone's internet connection. From there, they would be able to hack into your device and find your exact GPS coordinates. We all know this is just an excuse however.

The real reason in my own opinion is that if the aGPS receiver were enabled via an OTA (Over the Air) update, and VZ Navigator were allowed on these devices, it would open up a world of CHOICE to Verizon Wireless's subscribers. People could use Google Maps, Windows Live Search, basically anything they want. (Which means they wouldn't have to pay the ten bucks a month for VZ Navigator.)

I travel quite often and I grew very tired of looking up directions with Google Maps, and not knowing my current location/having real time turn-by-turn notifications. I quickly began searching for an external GPS receiver online.

I stumbled on the Motorola Motonav T815 system. It comes with a small hockey-puck looking external Bluetooth receiver and the Motonav program on a 2GB Micro-SD card. I ordered it from anything4wireless.com.

I played around with this thing for HOURS and nothing seemed to work. The GPS receiver would connect with the phone (no problem, it's paired automatically when the MOTONAV program starts up) but would not communicate coordinates with the Q9m at all, so I wasn't navigating anywhere.

After 4 hours of playing with options, this is what I found... (and its NOT in the Motonav user manual)
Under Windows Mobile 6:
Start--> Settings--> Connections--> USB to PC--> Check "Enable Enhanced Network Functionality"

I know, it makes no since. The External receiver is connected via Bluetooth, not USB... so why does this option matter? The h*ll if i know. I just know that when I enable it and then restart the phone... the GPS unit communicates with MOTONAV on the phone.

By the way, it works GREAT. Its a great alternative to Google Maps, Live Search, VZ Navigator, etc. because it does NOT require an internet connection to work. All the maps are loaded onto the 2GB micro SD card. So, when you roam into an area where you are using cell towers other than Verizon's, it still works GREAT. All route recalculations are performed from MOTONAV's on-card database, not over the air from a central server (unless you are using a normal cell phone with the T805 model) As long as your data plan works, however... motonav uses your device's internet connection to find updates on local restaurants, clubs, ATMs, etc.

I know for a fact that VZ Navigator will not work in places like Alaska, Central Kansas, etc where you'd be roaming on another provider's network. And if you own a smartphone like I, you know that your device doesn't even come with or is incompatible with VZ Navigator.

Motonav does the job well.

[dima]

What "Enable Advanced Network Functionality" does is turn on (or off) RNDIS support. This turns the phone into a network router which enables the BT PAN (networking protocol) to work when you pair the GPS to the phone. Whether the connection using RNDIS is USB or BT doesn't matter as for as the router founction is concerned.

When RNDIS is turned off (box unchecked) then the usb connection is established via a virtual com port. Some BT GPS recievers allow connection via a virtual com port also if you establish the port when you initialize the software. However, serial links are much slower than network links, so you always get people saying "it works when I turn off ANF but the connection is slow as molasses". Indeed it is.