GPS – How to Use GPS on Nexus 4 with Ubuntu Touch

gpslocationnavigationnexus-4ubuntu-touch

I'm running Ubuntu Touch 15.04 on Nexus 4 and GPS does not work.

Of course I enabled 'Location Detection' and 'GPS' in the top menu.
Furthermore I have enabled 'Celluar Data' in the Settings menu and gave permissions to the corresponding apps.

Unav, GoogleMaps and Sensorstatus, they all are not able to locate me.

I tried it with the stable channel (15.04 r5) and the RC channel (15.04 23 (I.e. OTA7))

Anyone any Idea to use GPS successfully?

Here are some screenshots. I wonder, cause there are less possibilities than in costales links.

Settings[1]

Settings[2]

I even tried it near the window over hours with WIFI powered of.

I flashed now the rc-proposed/BQchannel. My settings menu looks now different, but GPS is still not working.

Settings[3]

Settings[4]

Finally I found this Bug-Report, maybe it is an already known bug.

Best Answer

You can use GPS in two ways on Nexus 4.

  1. With Normal GPS.
  2. With A-GPS (Assisted GPS with anonymized Wi-Fi and cellular network info; it can be named as Nokia HERE service as well).

1. Usage with GPS

Go to location settings and select "Using GPS only".

enter image description here

The problem this is option, that it can take a long time to get position the first time. So put your phone near the window, open uNav app (Ubuntu navigation application), tap on a button to find your position, and leave it for an hour with uNav app open untill it finds your position. If it does not find the position, review the GPS settings (check at the bottom of battery settings too), try enable/disable. If everything is OK, try reboot a device. Then go to uNav application and try again untill it finds your position.

Then it finds your position, then navigation works very well. But if you experience any issues using navigation (navigation stops, is choppy or does not the direction), close other apps that might be using navigation as well at the same time (if it does not help, remove GPS permissions from other apps) (this is a known bug, bug report here)

2. Usage with A-GPS

Benefit of this way is that it immediately finds your position and you don't have to wait.

Main Ubuntu channel does not use third-party services, so this option is only available if you flash bq-aquaris.en channel to your device. This channel is adapted for use of several devices, including mako (Nexus 4).

Instruction how to change channel:

  1. Install developer tools on your computer (more info here)
  2. Enable developer mode on your phone (Settings > About > Developer mode > Enable)
  3. Connect the phone to the computer.
  4. In terminal write "adb reboot recovery"
  5. Phone restarts automatically and enters screen with android picture.
  6. In terminal write "ubuntu-device-flash touch --channel=ubuntu-touch/stable/bq-aquaris.en"
  7. Wait untill ubuntu flash the image and boots up. Finish.

Now you will find A-GPS setting on your device, select it.

enter image description here

If it does not find your position immediately, restart your phone and try again.

If after finding the position navigation does not work well, then again, close other apps that might be using navigation as well at the same time for it to work well (see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/location-service/+bug/1468020)

Other notes:

  1. A-GPS works independent of radio version, it can be old or new, does not matter.
  2. Compass is not yet implement on Ubuntu Touch, but it calculates your correct direction then you are driving, so its fine.
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