Finless rom 1.3 - Discussions and issues

[Finless]

Did a quiick file search on the tablet for netwroklocation. Thats going to be the problem.

I do not see a APK called com.google.android.location.NetworkLocationProvide r
I do see
/system/app/NetworkLocation

So more to do tomorrow

bob

[jameslewisuk]

Did a quiick file search on the tablet for netwroklocation. Thats going to be the problem.

I do not see a APK called com.google.android.location.NetworkLocationProvide r
I do see
/system/app/NetworkLocation

So more to do tomorrow

bob

You could be on to something but using root explorer on my android phone it's still called networklocation.apk in /system/app

And it's the same strings, and wifi, gps and 3g location services all work on it. :S

[Sowa]

I checked out these lines in my android-phone(android 2.3.4), which has a GPS, A-GPS and successfully locates with disabled GPS modules and disabled SIM. Used only WiFi.
In the framework-res.apk/values/strings:

    <string name="config_networkLocationProvider">@null</string>
    <string name="config_geocodeProvider">@null</string>

[jameslewisuk]

I checked out these lines in my android-phone(android 2.3.4), which has a GPS, A-GPS and successfully locates with disabled GPS modules and disabled SIM. Used only WiFi.
In the framework-res.apk/values/strings:

    <string name="config_networkLocationProvider">@null</string>
    <string name="config_geocodeProvider">@null</string>

So perhaps we are chasing after a red herring? @Sowa, which apps does it locate ok with on your phone? I believe that Google maps is independent of the issue, as with google maps downloaded off the market the locations work fine with network/3g location and wifi location etc on my 7c G2. It's all other apps that call for location that don't seem to work, like News/Weather App, and non-google apps from the market like Beautiful Widgets, weather apps etc.

I am also looking at the same issue on my 7c G2, which if I change those strings.xml settings it *does* boot.

I will repost what I discovered, I believe the issue is the same for the G2 10...

Network location services via 3g or wifi doesn't seem to work correctly, applications that call for location such as news/weather or beautiful widgets can't access location.

I did think this could be the fix… (I think it's part of the fix)
If you look inside
/system/framework/framework-res.apk
If you decompile that you can see
/res/values/strings.xml


There are these lines in that xml file:
<string name="config_networkLocationProvider">@null</string>
<string name="config_geocodeProvider">@null</string>


I believe they should be:
<string name="config_networkLocationProvider">com.google.a ndroid.location.NetworkLocationProvider</string>
<string name="config_geocodeProvider">com.google.android.l ocation.GeocodeProvider</string>

I de-compiled framework-res.apk, edited the strings.xml then recomplied and zip aligned it. The location services still didn't work with the edit.

I believe the network location services provided to apps works via NetworkLocation.apk a google apk in the systemapp directory

I am using my ZTE skate android phone to make comparisons.

If I look in /data/system/packages.list on my ZTE skate I see this line:
com.google.android.location 10018 0 /data/data/com.google.android.location
Which shows that NetworkLocation.apk is installed

If I look in /data/system/packages.list on my 7g G2 tablet, the line is missing, even though NetworkLocation.apk is in the /system/app directory.


It leads me to believe that the 7c G2 tablet does not like the version of NetworkLocation.apk
Further to this, if I try to manually install NetworkLocation.apk from the systemapp directory on the 7c G2, I get the message "application not installed" when I run the APK to install it.

Therefore, I believe that the version of NetworkLocation.apk that Arctools puts on the devices is not compatible with the device, and isn't actually installing but just sits in the /system/app folder. (A bit like compass and phone which don't do anything either)

I wonder if we can get a NetworkLocation.apk that will work ?

[jameslewisuk]

Bob, this might be of interest, this is the

AndroidManifest.xml from inside NetworkLocation.apk, you can see it references to the strings in values.xml in framework-res.apk



<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.google.android.location"
android:versionName="2.2" android:versionCode="8" android:sharedUserId="android.uid.system">
<uses-sdk android:targetSdkVersion="8" android:minSdkVersion="8"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMP LETED"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INSTALL_LOCATION_ PROVIDER"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE "/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE "/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOC ATION"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETT INGS"/>
<uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.providers.setting s.permission.READ_GSETTINGS"/
<uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.providers.setting s.permission.WRITE_GSETTINGS"/
<application androidrocess="system" android:label="@string/app_label"> -
<service android:name="NetworkLocationService"> -
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="com.google.android.location.NetworkL ocationProvider"/>
<action android:name="com.google.android.location.GeocodeP rovider"/>
</intent-filter>
</service>
<activity android:name="ConfirmAlertActivity" android:excludeFromRecents="true" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Dialog.Alert"/>
</application>
</manifest>

[jameslewisuk]

So perhaps we are chasing after a red herring? @Sowa, which apps does it locate ok with on your phone? I believe that Google maps is independent of the issue, as with google maps downloaded off the market the locations work fine with network/3g location and wifi location etc on my 7c G2. It's all other apps that call for location that don't seem to work, like News/Weather App, and non-google apps from the market like Beautiful Widgets, weather apps etc.

Found something else interesting, I installed google apps on my 7c G2 with arctools, logged in to my google account, downloaded Maps and couldn't access my location. "location unavailable" Even though the location via wifi box was ticked in settings>location

I started again and the next time I ran the google SetupWizard.apk on bootup (touch the green android to begin) and it goes through set up and has 2 tick boxes to allow location services (see pic)



I tick those, and sign in to google account, download maps, and location is then available in google maps....
News and Weather app still doesn't know where I am though and wants me to set it manually.

If I look in root explorer at /system/app/networklocation.apk it's now linked to /data/appsmarket/system/app/NetworkLocation.apk Strange? Not sure if it was before. Looks like market/google sign in updates this.

Okay so I tried maps on my G2 10 from the market and it doesn't get location. "location unavailable"
I'm pretty sure that the "touch the android" set up wizard thing will allow the location to work if that's run first. Not sure how this can be run on a tablet!

[Finless]

Google Maps also does not work for me with location. When I press my location button I get back "Your current location is temporarly unavailable". This has been the case since day one even on stock ROM and many different google Markets version and different google map versions. Currently my google maps is 6.2.0

Bob

[Finless]

You can start the setup wizard easily.

Go to the market and get an app called anycut. It installs shortcuts to your desktop for stuff you do not have icons in the app drawer for.
Run that and select add shortcut
then select activity
scroll down and you may see setup wizard listed twice. On mine the first one is the one you see when running the Market the first time. The second one gives what your talking about. When I ran this both boxes are already checked.

Bob

[Guest]

Google Maps also does not work for me with location. When I press my location button I get back "Your current location is temporarly unavailable". This has been the case since day one even on stock ROM and many different google Markets version and different google map versions. Currently my google maps is 6.2.0

Bob

Is there any chance the Arnova 10 G2 does not have GPS capability for this to ever work?

I know some places say it does support GPS but are we actually sure it can? Is there anyone anywhere who has actually gotten it to work?

[jameslewisuk]

Will, it uses wifi, google has a database of positions of the wifi networks. It works on my phone at home and also partially on my 7c G2

[Guest]

Will, it uses wifi, google has a database of positions of the wifi networks. It works on my phone at home and also partially on my 7c G2

I understand that, it is like http://www.whatismyipaddress.com uses as well. Only problem is it is quite inaccurate compared to the iOS location performance. Hopefully it will work well one day but I think it would take a lot of users adding corrected info, at least on the whatismyipaddress site.

[Finless]

Ha! I got it working for google maps... here is what I did.

When I ran that setup wizard that had the check boxes and then click next it asked to create an account or sign in. I chose sign in and I got an error "accoutn already exists".

So as I test I went in and deleted
/data/system/accounts.db this erases all accounts on the system.
/data/data/
com.android.vending
com.google.android.gm
com.google.android.gsf

I rebooted. Then on boot up I got the google create account prompt. Not the one with the check boxes but the one for the Market. I closed it and did not proceed. Then using anycut I tried to run the other setup wizard. When I clicked next after the check boxes it force closed. So I basically do not have an account setup. Then I ran google maps. IT FOUND MY LOCATION PERFECTLY!!!! This is a first as it has never worked before.

However as Jerry found, Accuweather did not work with location services, Google Earht did not work, etc.

OK some more testing now and see what happens when I do setup an account.

Bob

[jameslewisuk]

Ha! I got it working for google maps... here is what I did.

When I ran that setup wizard that had the check boxes and then click next it asked to create an account or sign in. I chose sign in and I got an error "accoutn already exists".

So as I test I went in and deleted
/data/system/accounts.db this erases all accounts on the system.
/data/data/
com.android.vending
com.google.android.gm
com.google.android.gsf

I rebooted. Then on boot up I got the google create account prompt. Not the one with the check boxes but the one for the Market. I closed it and did not proceed. Then using anycut I tried to run the other setup wizard. When I clicked next after the check boxes it force closed. So I basically do not have an account setup. Then I ran google maps. IT FOUND MY LOCATION PERFECTLY!!!! This is a first as it has never worked before.

However as Jerry found, Accuweather did not work with location services, Google Earht did not work, etc.

OK some more testing now and see what happens when I do setup an account.

Bob

Excellent Bob, you are one step ahead of me, I was just going to try that, reflashing my tab now to test that. It worked like that on my 7c G2 so I thought it might work !!

[Guest]

Ha! I got it working for google maps... here is what I did.

When I ran that setup wizard that had the check boxes and then click next it asked to create an account or sign in. I chose sign in and I got an error "accoutn already exists".

So as I test I went in and deleted
/data/system/accounts.db this erases all accounts on the system.
/data/data/
com.android.vending
com.google.android.gm
com.google.android.gsf

I rebooted. Then on boot up I got the google create account prompt. Not the one with the check boxes but the one for the Market. I closed it and did not proceed. Then using anycut I tried to run the other setup wizard. When I clicked next after the check boxes it force closed. So I basically do not have an account setup. Then I ran google maps. IT FOUND MY LOCATION PERFECTLY!!!! This is a first as it has never worked before.

However as Jerry found, Accuweather did not work with location services, Google Earht did not work, etc.

OK some more testing now and see what happens when I do setup an account.

Bob

Very interesting. Glad to hear you are making progress toward the release. I will see if I can get the location services to work on mine again now with this information.

[Finless]

Update. So after running google maps with no account setup I then ran the setup wizard that has the check boxes. It no longer force closed. This is because when running maps it recreates the .gsf and .gm folders. When I ran the setup wizard again it worked and my account logged in.

Bob