AccordingtotheintroductionofNordicSemiconductorASA,nRFToolboxforBLEisaToolsappontheAndroidplatform.Thereiscurrentlya2.7.3versionreleasedonAug06,2019,youcanseethedetailsbelow.
ThenRFToolboxisacontainerappthatstoresyourNordicSemiconductorappsforBluetoothlowenergyinonelocation.ItcontainsapplicationsdemonstratingBLEprofiles:CyclingSpeedandCadence,RunningSpeedandCadence,HeartRateMonitor,BloodPressureMonitor,HealthThermometerMonitor,GlucoseMonitor,ContinuousGlucoseMonitorandProximityMonitor.Sinceversion1.10.0thenRFToolboxsupportsalsotheNordicUARTServicewhichmaybeusedforbidirectionaltextcommunicationbetweendevices.Version1.16.0addedAndroidWearsupportfortheUARTprofile.TheUIallowsonetocreateconfigurableremotecontrolwithUARTinterface.
TheDeviceFirmwareUpdate(DFU)profileallowsonetouploadtheapplication,bootloaderand/ortheSoftDeviceimageover-the-air(OTA).ItiscompatiblewithNordicSemiconductornRF5devicesthathavetheS110/S130/S132SoftDeviceandbootloaderenabled.Sincethe1.11.0versionnRFToolboxallowstosendtherequiredinitpacket.Moreinformationabouttheinitpacketmaybefoundhere:https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/Android-nRF-Connect/tree/master/init%20packet%20handling
TheDFUhasthefollowingfeatures:
-ScansfordevicesthatareinDFUmode
-ConnectstodevicesinDFUmodeanduploadstheselectedfirmware(softdevice,bootloaderand/orapplication)
-AllowsHEXorBINfileuploadthroughyourphoneortablet
-AllowstoupdateasoftdeviceandbootloaderfromZIPinoneconnection
-Pause,resume,andcancelfileuploads
-Includespre-installedexamplesthatconsistoftheBluetoothlowenergyheartrateserviceandrunningspeedandcadenceservice
Note:
-Android4.3ornewerisrequired.
-TestedonNexus6,6P,9,SamsungS3,S6andS7.
-CompatiblewithnRF5devices
-Thedevelopmentkitscanbeorderedfromhttp://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Buy-Online.
-ThenRF51andnRF52SDKandSoftDevicesareavailableonlinefromhttp://developer.nordicsemi.com
-ThesourcecodeofnRFToolboxisavailableonGitHub:https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/Android-nRF-Toolbox
-nRFToolboxhasreplacedthenRFUtilityappwhichisnolongersupported
Knownproblems:
-Nexus4andNexus7withAndroid4.3doesnotallowtounbounddevices.
-Reconnectiontobondabledevicesmaynotworkonseveraltestedphones.
-Nexus4,5and7withAndroid4.4failswhenreconnectingwhenGattServerisrunning.
-ResetofBluetoothadaptermayberequiredifothererrorappear.
KnowproblemswithDFUsettings:
-SettingPackageReceiptNotificationtoOFForlessthan~400maycausetheoutgoingbuffertooverflow.
