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The new BLE peripheral mode introduced by Android 5.0 (Lollipop) won't be enabled on the Nexus 4, 5, or 7 (https://code.google.com/p/android-developer-preview/issues/detail?id=1570#c52), but will be enabled on the Nexus 6 and 9.

Even though the Bluetooth 4.0 compliant chipsets in the Nexus 4/5/7 should support both Central and Peripheral modes, Android 5.0 has singled out the Peripheral advertising function by adding the boolean call "BluetoothAdapter.isMultipleAdvertisementSupported()".

As an example, this code will show that advertisement is not supported on a Nexus 5, but that it is supported on a Nexus 9.

BluetoothManager btMgr = (BluetoothManager) this.getSystemService(Context.BLUETOOTH_SERVICE);
BluetoothAdapter btAdptr = btMgr.getAdapter();

if (btAdptr.isMultipleAdvertisementSupported()) {
    Log.v(TAG, "advertisement is SUPPORTED on this chipset!");
} else {
    Log.v(TAG, "advertisement NOT supported on this chipset!");
}

AndroidManifest.xml should at least have

<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="true"/>

Whenever I look up a chipset I only see that it "supports Bluetooth 4.0" and no distinction is made between Central and Peripheral support. Is there a way to tell which Bluetooth chipsets would support Peripheral mode on Android 5, without running the above code or having access to their firmware source?

ludwigmace
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  • I don't think that the question is too broad. It's a simple yes or no question and if yes, how to do it. I would also be interested in this so that's why I'm commenting. – petersaints Jan 09 '15 at 00:12
  • Apart from Nexus 6 & 9, are there any other devices which support peripheral role? – Arun Badole Jan 27 '15 at 09:28
  • Hey I just got a Moto E 4G LTE and verified that it supports the peripheral role. – ludwigmace Mar 04 '15 at 19:41
  • @ludwigmace have you tried the MOTE G serials which shipped with Android 5? I can't get a Moto E 4G in my country. – Shawn Apr 11 '15 at 14:46
  • I can't find exactly what provides the Bluetooth on that phone, but looking at the specs, the non 4G version has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor as the Moto E 1st gen. That leads me to believe Peripheral mode wouldn't be supported. – ludwigmace Apr 14 '15 at 11:48

0 Answers0