Bluetooth 4.0 with older Bluetooth

Question

i'm trying to implement an application using a Bluetooth 4.0 module, and I wonder if using this application with an Iphone 3GS containing a simple Bluetooth 2.1 EDR module is going to enable me take advantage of the the low energy in my 4.0 module. Thank you for your answers

Solution 1

Bluetooth 4.0 is the standard, which includes both classical Bluetooth Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate (BR/EDR) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE, or Bluetooth Smart, which is a marketing name).

Compatibility depends on the the device and Bluetooth chip e.g. is it a BR/EDR only chip (Bluetooth 3.0), a BLE only chip or a dual-mode chip capable of both BR/EDR and BLE. A dual-mode chip can (until 4.1, at least) only operates in either BR/EDR or BLE mode for any given connection.

A dual mode chip, certified as Bluetooth 4.0, can and should be able to connect to a Bluetooth 2.1 chip, in BR/EDR mode.

A Bluetooth BLE (Bluetooth Smart) chip will not be able to.

First, you must clearly determine if your Bluetooth 4.0 module is only capable of BLE.

Solution 2

According to Bluetooth 4.0 (ie BLE), there are two kinds of devices 1) A dual mode device , which support BR/EDR , ie Bluetooth 2.1 or 3.0 and same time it support Bluetooth 4.0 2) A BLE only device, which supports only Bluetooth 4.0

In general, sensors which supposed to be work in coin cell battery will be designed with BLE chipset and mobile devices will be designed with Dual mode chipset. So the mobile device can have interoperability with other BR/EDR device as well as it can connect and fetch data from sensors.

More over a BLE device can not communicate with a classic Bluetooth device[ BR/EDR or Bluetooth 2.1 device]

Solution 3

No of coures not, how can a Bluetooth 2.1 magically turn into a bluetooth 4 module.

If you apps requires Bluetooth 4.0 than add it to the Required device capabilities in the info.plist. Add bluetooth-le to the Required device capabilities.

Solution 4

Bluetooth 4.0 in low energy mode is actually quite different from what people consider classical Bluetooth. While Bluetooth 4.0 in the iPhone is backwards compatible with Bluetooth 2.1, Bluetooth low energy in general (or Bluetooth Smart as it is also known) is not backwards compatible.

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