Add Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) support to the Galaxy Nexus with Android 4.3. This mod works for every ROM (stock or custom) and uses the official BLE API of Android 4.3.
The Galaxy Nexus has a Samsung SWB-B42 BT 4.0 Dual Band Bluetooth chip. This mod add BLE software support. You need a root access to flash your device with new files/libraries to bring BLE support.
Warning: after flashing your device, you will not be any more able to get system (Android) updates from Google.
To use this mod, you will need :
- A Galaxy Nexus phone (tuna) with root access.
- An official or custom Android 4.3 ROM.
This mod has been tested on a rooted Galaxy Nexus "maguro" (GSM/HSPA+) phone tuna, yakju with the official Android 4.3 ROM build JWR66V.
The BLE communication works great between the Galaxy Nexus and an nRF Development Kit from Nordic Semiconductor.
Android BLE applications
-
Simple app which checks for BT 4.0 BLE support on an Android device
https://github.com/tadejkolino/BLECheck -
BLEScanner
https://android-ble.googlecode.com/hg/BLEScanner/Android-App/BLEScanner-0.1.apk -
Google Bluetooth LE sample
http://developer.android.com/tools/samples/index.html
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus Teardown: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+Nexus+Teardown/7182/2#s30574
- Bluetooth Low Energy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_low_energy
- DevBytes: Bluetooth Low Energy API in Android 4.3: http://youtu.be/vUbFB1Qypg8
Thanks to manuelnaranjo, files are based on his commit and to madd0g for his post on xda-developers.com.