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It means you pay cheap, you get rubbish mate!

And over here you can get some good deals like that but, in the main, people get good handsets "free", never considering that they're paying for a far higher than they actually need/want/use. Over the course of their (often 2 year) contract they pay for that handset. Boy, do they pay for that handset!
 
bigbaldbloke said:
It means you pay cheap, you get rubbish mate!

And over here you can get some good deals like that but, in the main, people get good handsets "free", never considering that they're paying for a far higher than they actually need/want/use. Over the course of their (often 2 year) contract they pay for that handset. Boy, do they pay for that handset!
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In the US, there is a lot of competition for mobile phone services. There are about 10 companies competing in the mobile phone business, although 4 of them have 90% of the market. Typically, they try to buy customers by offering great signup deals that go away after a year or two. It costs the phone companies 10 times as much to get a new customer than to keep an existing one, so there are great deals out there for new signups. You can keep getting those great deals if you are willing to jump to a new provider every year or two.

One can often get an existing provider to match the deal offered by a competitor. All you have to do is threaten to cancel!

There is a big flap going on in the US in that two of the big 4 want to merge, with the competition screaming unfair monopoly.
 
It's more of a quadropoly here - 4 biggies and 2 of them have merged! I think that the 4G roll-out will ultimately determine the big players, but there's also the very real possibility that, worldwide, Apple could start buying up the other handset manufacturers. And we know what they're like for dictating networks......
 
bigbaldbloke said:
It's more of a quadropoly here - 4 biggies and 2 of them have merged! I think that the 4G roll-out will ultimately determine the big players, but there's also the very real possibility that, worldwide, Apple could start buying up the other handset manufacturers. And we know what they're like for dictating networks......
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3G/4G isn't as important here because free WiFi has become so pervasive. The only people buying it in the US are businesses that absolutely have to have Internet access no matter where they are. It is ridiculously expensive here as well. It is not Apple's style to acquire a competitor. I don't think that will happen unless Steve Jobs dies soon - unfortunately, a real possibility. He looks like hell. I'll bet his weight is no more than 120 pounds.
 
Therein lies the poser though - do you want free wifi access or a battery that lasts for the whole day? I've resurrected my Blackberry recently and it's shocking how the drain on Android phones compares to RIM's.
 
bigbaldbloke said:
Therein lies the poser though - do you want free wifi access or a battery that lasts for the whole day? I've resurrected my Blackberry recently and it's shocking how the drain on Android phones compares to RIM's.
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I used a BB Curve after losing my Nexus One, and it was the most painful experience I had for four months. The UI was so basic that it was beyond ugly. Browsing a browser that compressed the web pages was frustrating.
 
bigbaldbloke said:
Therein lies the poser though - do you want free wifi access or a battery that lasts for the whole day? I've resurrected my Blackberry recently and it's shocking how the drain on Android phones compares to RIM's.
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Interesting comment. I find the battery on the FT3 lasts about 6 hours. The battery on my Android phone lasts 2 days. Doesn't mean a lot though, because battery life is a function of duty cycle, and I don't use the phone all that much.
 
Roze said:
I used a BB Curve after losing my Nexus One, and it was the most painful experience I had for four months. The UI was so basic that it was beyond ugly. Browsing a browser that compressed the web pages was frustrating.
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Oh I agree - in many ways BBs are so far behind (browser, boot times, number of apps available, etc.) but, at the risk of starting an argument with myself, in just as many ways they're so much better. I guess it all comes down to personal taste and specific needs, but as a business phone the BB takes some beating.

Good news is I think that Android is narrowing the gap. Some of the most glaring omissions, such as voice dialing and straightforward Outlook synching are now there. But still through using third party apps, depending on your OS version.
 
Let's get back IN TOPIC guys!

The only thing we can do is Research for a working solution and provide it to TIM, our savior, hoping that on Version 5 we will got a full-working Market (and who knows how many other wonderfull things!).
 
you can change your location in settings enable your gps that may help identify it.

as for apps not turning up in the market. in the modded rom section it states how to solve this other than that just google the apk you want :p or check appbrain market
 
bigbaldbloke said:
Location isn't determined by GPS, it gets it from the SIM's IMSI number.
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Because of what BBB said, every time you start from scratch, Google Maps and other such programs think you are in China. In my case, downtown Shanghai. I've seen the Shanghai map so often, I've memorized the streets! If I ever get there, I will know my way around. One has to look on the positive side of these issues.:D
 
Hmm, I'm not sure that that's right y'know? These tablets use an MCC (country code) of 310 (USA) & an MNC (carrier code) of 995 (defined as just "Android"). They're the values used if you run the Android simulator on a computer. So logically, if the tablet's GPS is looking to the IMSI for its location, it should think that it's in the US of A.

I think that the GPS issue is more a case of the device not retaining its last location in its memory, and thus always defaults back to its factory setting. Why that would happen to be Shanghai, I have NO idea! Maybe it's hardcoded in its place of manufacture?
 
bigbaldbloke said:
Hmm, I'm not sure that that's right y'know? These tablets use an MCC (country code) of 310 (USA) & an MNC (carrier code) of 995 (defined as just "Android"). They're the values used if you run the Android simulator on a computer. So logically, if the tablet's GPS is looking to the IMSI for its location, it should think that it's in the US of A.

I think that the GPS issue is more a case of the device not retaining its last location in its memory, and thus always defaults back to its factory setting. Why that would happen to be Shanghai, I have NO idea! Maybe it's hardcoded in its place of manufacture?
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What you say makes sense. Any guru out there know how to change that default location? If I change it in Google Maps, it doesn't stick when the pad is rebooted. Probably it's in the firmware.
 
mburwen said:
What you say makes sense. Any guru out there know how to change that default location? If I change it in Google Maps, it doesn't stick when the pad is rebooted. Probably it's in the firmware.
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Ummm...my pad does retain the map that is displayed with the last gps fix obtained in Maps, unless I delete the data by starting titanium backup, going to the Maps page and selecting delete data, then Maps starts up and insists on having an internet connection before downloading and displaying a world map... not Shanghai.
My tab is a DISCO10 build with Tims 4e.....
 
It might be worth comparing the contents of your respective data/data/com.google.android.apps.maps folders as I'd have thought that that's where any cache would be kept.
 
bigbaldbloke said:
It might be worth comparing the contents of your respective data/data/com.google.android.apps.maps folders as I'd have thought that that's where any cache would be kept.
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Interesting development.

Switch off the wifi and gps. delete google maps data. start google maps, it complains about not having an internet connection. close maps, start wifi, restart google maps, it downloads and displays a world map. (Surely this means it does not use any positional data it might get from ip address positioning -...A-GPS). Then close google maps and start the GPS, restart google maps and it reverts to Shanghai map. some 1 to 2 minutes later it displays my correct location. Remove the antenna, force stop and then re-start maps.. it displays my current location still. I'll check on the files in the folder you suggest BBB and see what the differences are between 'world map' and 'current location'


OK.. as far as I can tell there are a few differences between the files in /data/data/com.google.android.apps.maps/files/ when position un-fixed (world map)and gps fix achieved. The main one being the DATA_PROTO_SAVED_CATEGORY_TREE_DB file, Other changed files all start DATA_Tiles_**
Does this sound at all interesting?
 
Hi dart / 3b,

As a matter of curiosity I perused all the config files and dumped all the databases associated with the GPS Status 2 app and the only reference to the Shanghai coordinates was in gps.conf where they appear as the Target Longitude and Latitude.

After an initial 'Yay!' my enthusiasm was unfounded as changing these values either: using the GPS Status / Menu / Radar / Set Target function or directly in the gpsstatus2_preferences.xml file made zero difference to the initial coordinates displayed by the app.
Additionally, if the gps.conf file is deleted or the default_values_set variable in the other file (can't remember the full name, begins with an underscore) is set to false, the Long and Lat are reset to Shanghai.

My conclusion is they are hard coded into the app.

Regards
tbod
 
bigbaldbloke said:
Does it revert to Shanghai in all GPS apps? Have you tried GPS Status to see lat & long there?
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No....BBB... not on mine, in ALL the GPS Navigation apps I have tried my tab remembers the last valid fix position and displays the relevant map at startup, the GPS_Status app however, always starts in Shanghai, which, if you think about it, is fair enough as you are not interested in where you are.... just how your gps is receiving the satellite signals.

I have just started a thread on 'the other forum' asking people who have the 'my tab always starts in Shanghai' syndrome to post their model number to see if it is a hardware build issue, but you have to use a navigation Software (like google maps or sygic Aura, copilot, etc)... not a GPS utility
 
Hi again,

Just corrected the name of the config file in my earlier post. Plus:

GPS Status always comes up [before getting a fix] with my Latitude and an infeasibly large number for the Longitude.

Google Maps comes up with the same value as GPS Status (which is in tne sea of the SW coast of Ireland).

MapQuest craps out when I press the 'go to my location' button - presumably due to the invalid Longitude value.
 
There's a hidden menu for configuring GPS (GPS debug/settings) in Android, but I think that Tim may have stripped it out of his ROMs (or the manufacturers didn't bother with it). In Froyo you're supposed to be able to get to it by dialling something like *#*#9874123650#*#*
 
bigbaldbloke said:
There's a hidden menu for configuring GPS (GPS debug/settings) in Android, but I think that Tim may have stripped it out of his ROMs (or the manufacturers didn't bother with it). In Froyo you're supposed to be able to get to it by dialling something like *#*#9874123650#*#*
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Yeh....but thats a bit difficult on the tab :p

Tbod..yours and mine behave differently..is yours a DISCO or a DISCO10?
 
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