[expo-location][android] Use modern heading sensor when available #49700

We are currently developing a compass-like application.

After multiple tests and sketchy fixes, we figured out that the current .watchHeadingAsync() is underperforming compared to what is possible with a really simple native Android module that just forwards the native Sensor.TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR or Sensor.TYPE_GEOMAGNETIC_ROTATION_VECTOR.

The current version uses TYPE_MAGNETIC_FIELD + TYPE_ACCELEROMETER raw sensors, with a manual sensor fusion, then throttles the update to 2deg and 50ms.

I was wondering if there is a reason for all this hassle or if this is just legacy?

From what I get, Expo's purpose is to offer a unified facade to the underlying platform APIs. I propose to use Sensor.TYPE_ROTATION_VECTOR or Sensor.TYPE_GEOMAGNETIC_ROTATION_VECTOR, either chosen by a flag (like useGyroscope: boolean) or automatically selected based on availability.

It would be a pleasure to help by providing a pull request if a maintainer agrees to mentor me in this matter.

Thank you for your work,
Let me know if I can help in any way.

PS: Sorry if any part of my message seems offensive; English is not my first language.