Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) devices has been out for quite
sometime. However, support for Bluetooth LE was not available until Android
4.3. Even so, support for Bluetooth LE is still dependent on the hardware that
you have running the Android 4.3. For
instance, the first generation of Nexus 7 does not support Bluetooth LE, even
if you have upgraded it to Android 4.3.
Bluetooth LE is based on
the Bluetooth 4.0 Specification. It is also commonly known as Bluetooth Smart.
In order to test if you device supports Bluetooth LE, add the
following permissions and uses-feature element in the AndroidManifest.xml file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="net.learn2develop.checkforble"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1.0" >
<uses-sdk
android:minSdkVersion="8"
android:targetSdkVersion="17" />
<uses-permission android:name=
"android.permission.BLUETOOTH"/>
<uses-permission android:name=
"android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN"/>
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.bluetooth_le"
android:required="false"/>
<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
<activity
android:name=
"net.learn2develop.checkforble.MainActivity"
android:label="@string/app_name" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name=
"android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name=
"android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>
In the onCreate()
method of your activity, use the hasSystemFeature()
method from the PackageManager class
to check if Bluetooth LE is supported:
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.widget.Toast;
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
@Override
protected void
onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
String msg;
//---check to
determine whether BLE is supported on
// the device---
if
(!getPackageManager().hasSystemFeature(
PackageManager.FEATURE_BLUETOOTH_LE))
{
msg = "Bluetooth
LE not supported on this device";
finish();
} else {
msg = "Congrats!
Bluetooth LE is supported on " +
"this
device!";
}
Toast.makeText(this,
msg,
Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
