The good news is that the new Samsung BlackJack II rocks a full-fledged SiRF III GPS receiver – none of that cell-tower signal triangulation stuff here. The bad news, unfortunately, is that the GPS hardware in the BlackJack II is locked-down to only work with the bundled TeleNav software (AT&T’s way of getting more TeleNav revenue). You see, there’s this driver, called GPS Intermediary Driver (GPSID), that Microsoft uses to serve as the communications middle-man between the GPS hardware and applications that need to access the hardware. While the GPSID driver seems to be configured to work with the TeleNav software and Windows Live Search, there’s no provision for any other application to make use of the SiRF III GPS module.
Well, BlackJack 2 hopefuls will be glad to hear that the MoDaCo Smartphone GPS Activator will open up the GPS hardware on your Samsung BlackJack II (and probably the Motorola Q9h) to a host of GPS-enabled applications. The MoDaCo hack will open up the COM4 port for GPS access, allowing you to use associate your favorite apps like Virtual Mobile Earth or Google Maps with the GPS unit.
Turns out, the MoDaCo Smartphone GPS Activator also Application Unlocks your Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard handset. That means you can re-order the applications on your Start Menu – bonus!
Oh, and if any Motorola Q9h owners out there want to give this utility a go, please drop us a line and let us know how it works.
Over-The-Air install:
Point your mobile browser to: http://modaco.com/gpsactivatorbj2
On-device CAB install:
Run this CAB file from your handset: http://content.modaco.net/MoDaCo.SmartphoneGPSActivator.COM4.CAB
Computer installation:
Run this executable from your PC: http://content.modaco.net/Setup.MoDaCo.SmartphoneGPSActivator.COM4.EXE
Props to Paul for this awesome hack!
[Via: MoDaCo]