Connecting to a WP8 Polar H7 Heart Rate Monitor

Question

Is there a way to connect to low-power Bluetooth devices from Windows Phone 8? e.g. Heart rate monitors such as the Polar H7.

Some prerequisites I tried:

• I saw this sample for Windows 8 - http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowshardware/Bluetooth-Generic-4f4ea968/view/Discussions - which seems to require a fairly deep level of knowledge.
• I saw this closed question here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13224392/nokia-lumia-920-and-bluetooth-low-energy-devices
• I implemented WP8 Bluetooth support for Sphero (see https://github.com/slodge/BallControl/ )
• I read about other SPP level code - for example, http://metroeeg.codeplex.com/documentation?referringTitle=Home&ANCHOR#GettingStarted - this apparently says: "Typically, WP8 applications can only talk to paired devices." - but I can’t find a way to connect my HRM with my Lumia 920

I can not find any information about WP8 and Bluetooth LE devices. Are they supported? Can WP8 talk to my Polar H7 heart rate monitor?

Answer 1

Currently, Windows Phone only supports the RFCOMM protocol via Bluetooth 2.0. The device’s minimum hardware specification does not currently include BT4.0 LE - although some of the devices support it, it does not work in the API. This is because health devices using BTLE support the GATT protocol and the current proximity stack using RFCOMM, which allows you to create scripts, such as support for a serial port profile.

This gives us devices such as Sphero and MetaWatch that can connect to the phone - but, unfortunately, not the latest generation of devices for health and fitness.

Polar is currently making a BT 2.0 heart rate monitor if you want to connect something with your 920 :)

Answer 2

With the new Windows 8.1 update, you can connect the Polar H7. I am using Nokia Lumia 920 with Endomondo. It works the same as any other bluetooth device, so on Windows Phone you first need Pare it. Go to your Bluetooth settings and it should be visible. If you used the preview of Windows 8.1, you must first upgrade to Windows 8 and then install the official release.

Answer 3

The Polar Wearlink + Bluetooth Transmitter is NOT CONNECTED to the Lumia 920 or any other Windows phone.

See: Transmitter_with_Bluetooth__Compatibility "> http://www.polar.com/en/support/FAQs/Polar_WearLink_Transmitter_with_Bluetooth__Compatibility

Answer 4

as with updating a Windows 8.1 phone, support for H7 (and, presumably, other BT LE devices) works correctly, it was tested in the adidas micoach application (accessible through Windows storage) on the Nokia Lumia 920