GCM SERVICE_NOT_AVAILABLE on Android 2.2

Question

I am getting the error "SERVICE_NOT_AVAILABLE" on my GoogleCloudMessaging.register() call on a Android 2.2 device.

I am writing an app that uses GoogleCloudMessaging using the new Google Play Services. I implemented it using the guidelines provided on the Android website and my source contains a lot of error checking and handling code such as making sure the Google Play Services is installed, or updated. The GCM registration code also implements a exponential backoff as google as suggested one to implement to handle the SERVICE_NOT_AVAILABLE error.

I have tested my application on a wide array of devices including ICS, JB, Honey Comb and even 2.3.x devices. The GCM registration works and I am able to send messages to it via GCM. However on a 2.2 device I am continuously getting a SERVICE_NOT_AVAILABLE error on the GoogleCloudMessaging.register() call even with the exponential backoff in place.

The device that GCM is failing on is a Samsung SGH-I896 to be exact and the phone has 2 google accounts on it. I've read that this error might be caused by a misconfigured time, but the time is set to be automatic. The phone is not moded and is running samsung stock ROM.

I have also tried rebooting the device as well as reinstalling Google Play Services without luck. Any help on this issue will be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I tried to implement GCM using the old gcm.jar and GCMRegistrar and it ended up working on the device. However I hardly consider this a good solution to the problem as Google has stopped supporting this method afaik.

EDIT2: See the accepted answer.

Answer 1

I experienced the same problem. GCM works fine on my Tablet running Android 4.04, but always received a SERVICE_NOT_AVAILABLE on my smartphone running Android 2.3.

I found following workaround not using (so far as I know) any deprecated classes. Add the action "com.google.android.c2dm.intent.REGISTRATION" to the GCMBroadcastReceiver in your manifest. This will enable to receive the registration_id at your GCMBroadcastReceiver.

<receiver
   android:name="YOUR_PACKAGE_NAME.GCMBroadcastReceiver"
   android:permission="com.google.android.c2dm.permission.SEND" >
      <intent-filter>
         <action android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.intent.RECEIVE" />
         <action android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.intent.REGISTRATION" />

         <category android:name="YOUR_PACKAGE_NAME" />
      </intent-filter>
</receiver>

After that your GCMBroadcastReceiver is able to receive the registration_id:

public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
   String regId = intent.getExtras().getString("registration_id");
   if(regId != null && !regId.equals("")) {
      /* Do what ever you want with the regId eg. send it to your server */
   }
}

Although I still get a SERVICE_NOT_AVAILABLE error, I can handle the registration_id in my GCMBroadcastReceiver and I am able to send messages to my smartphone. Quite weird, but it works for me.