AGPS is a partnership between an always-on GPS receiver and assistance server on the tower and a scaled down GPS receiver on the handheld. The tower GPS will always have the current satellite constellation data ready and can pass it quickly to a nearby, just-powered-on cell phone to greatly speed up acquiring an accurate fix on the handheld. Hence you can power up a cell phone and immediately make a 911 call with location info.
Some AGPS receivers I have had in cell phones cannot function at all without cell tower support, and not all cell sites are yet so equipped. And obviously, such a limited receiver could not work away from cell service. I hope this is not the case for the Bold.
I am optimistic because I heard from someone who got the information from RIM tech support, that the 8800 GPS was capable of operating without cellular service (getting maps is another story).
The best of both worlds would be a mobile device GPS with full autonomous capability but also the capability to operate in assisted mode when the service was available. It would be great to get some real data on how the Bold's GPS operates.
Regards,
Carl
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