I asked the same on TJC. Does somebody know a smart work around to get position when hiking in Lapland?

GPS location service doesn't work without cell tower ID. If I select Location and Device-only mode and set the phone in flight mode, GPS won't work. I assumed that would take longer to get fix but if flight mode is on, it won't ever get fix.

Is there a work around to get GPS only working?

Intex on version 2.1.0.11

That's odd, I'd imagine GPS works well without cellular connectivity; only acquiring lock takes a lot longer.

I think your problem is that aeroplane mode shuts down receivers as well as transmitters. Retry your test by leaving phone in normal mode but without simcard.

Ou Yes. GPS gets the fix when I remove the sim card - even when wlan is off.

That is odd indeed. GPS is receive only and should not be affected by the airplane mode. I would consider it a bug and report it to Jolla.

Not completely odd.
Some Airlines still requires you to turn off any radio transmitters AND receivers.

Really? Any idea why?
I guess it would have made sense in 1957 when superhets emitted a continuous tone but we are now a few years behind that.

Well the first stage mixer in modern receivers *does* leak out the PLL output, it is fairly low power but still... airlines tend to be fairly paranoid in these things.

Heck, last time I flew they told me I could not take pictures during landing/takeoff with my trusty old canon 10D DSLR!
Lucky I had my even trustier Pentax K1000 manual film SLR with me; when I explained the lady that this camera has no batteries whatsoever and works with springs and levers I was allowed to use it

Yes, about as much as a digital watch. Heck, every electronic device has some kind of oscillator and leaks some amount of radio waves. This paranoia is really out of hand.