I've been writing to Applied Ballistics recently, and they are telling me that the Kestrel does not send data to the I-phone. I don't know if other ballistic apps take info from the Kestrel. Plus, they still don't have the Applied Ballistics app working on the I-phone.
As above... It is a Bluetooth issue between Apple and Kestrel's hardware choice.
The Bluetooth installed will not make a connection with Apple's proprietary products....If I had to speculate, Kestrel did this in our favor to keep the costs of the units down instead of paying royalty to the draconian, apple whores.
The Bluetooth installed will not make a connection with Apple's proprietary products....If I had to speculate, Kestrel did this in our favor to keep the costs of the units down instead of paying royalty to the draconian, apple whores.
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As above... It is a Bluetooth issue between Apple and Kestrel's hardware choice.
The Bluetooth installed will not make a connection with Apple's priority products....If I had to speculate, Kestrel did this in our favor to keep the costs of the units down instead of paying royalty to the draconian, apple whores.
No this is apple being anal retentive. This is not a kestrel issue.
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No...that's not completely accurate. There is no Apple conspiracy against Kestrel....Apple is not going around not allowing Kestrel connections to Apple products for no reason.
It simply does not work due to Apple having certain standards and the Kestrel not in compliance with them (for whatever reason). If Kestrel wanted to connect to Apple products, they could have done so, providing they follow the standards (and likely pay a royalty).
IIRC Didn't Kestral state that they were working on a model or, software upgrade to existing units so that they could work with apple products?
It's more of an Apple problem than Kestrel. Apple will not allow those type of apps/devices to connect to the Iphone. It's not just Kestrels. Once/If Apple opens up their code then you'll see more apps/devices connecting to devices via BT. It's not a royalty deal at this point anyway.
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It's incredibly frustrating. I don't buy that this is simply an Apple problem. Kestrel is already charging a significant amount of money for the higher end products. They don't have a problem paying for Horus and Applied Ballistics, which are essentially nothing but a bunch of algorithms. Kestrel needs to get its act together and provide a product that is Mac compatible, before someone else beats them to it. If that means marginally more costs in R&D or production, then so be it. I will buy the first product that is up to snuff.
Google Iphone and blue tooth and read all the other complaints about the same thing with different devices. It's not a Kestrel problem. How many other devices have you ever seen that just plug into an Iphone via blue tooth other than speakers? There's a reason. Apple doesn't want you to. They've discussed it but haven't implemented it yet. App aware bt is not in the Iphone set of features right now. If you want to control a device other than speakers you have to plug into it's aux i/o.
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edt: Here's a list of the only bt profiles supported by iphones. App support is not there. BTW, try connecting your iphone with your Mac and see how much luck you have there. It's clugy at best.
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edt: Here's a list of the only bt profiles supported by iphones. App support is not there. BTW, try connecting your iphone with your Mac and see how much luck you have there. It's clugy at best.
Hands-Free Profile (HFP 1.6) | Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) | Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) | Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP 1.4) | Personal Area Network Profile (PAN) | Human Interface Device Profile (HID) | Message Access Profile (MAP) |
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Has anyone had any luck connecting their Kestrel to an HTC Evo (Andriod OS) I was hoping to switch to an iPhone later this year, now I hope to still switch, and just make my old phone a dedicated range device that can interface with the Kestrel
While it is handy, there is no reason to bluetooth data like that. It just kills battery power.
Other than the wind, the other data available via Bluetooth does not change enough to need a constant connection.
The better way would be to use a grab feature that keeps the handshake but shuts the data down. Pulled on demand.
But honestly its so easy, why would you not just input it manually ...
Other than the wind, the other data available via Bluetooth does not change enough to need a constant connection.
The better way would be to use a grab feature that keeps the handshake but shuts the data down. Pulled on demand.
But honestly its so easy, why would you not just input it manually ...
The way I see it, the primary purpose of the bluetooth is not to constantly stream data. It is to perform software updates and manage profiles. If you don't get the bluetooth model then you have to buy another item to do those things that costs just as much and requires a wired connection.
You can't do those from your phone anyway so either way you're gonna have a PC/Mac involved. It's not a big deal really. I have both an Iphone and a Droid and I use neither in the field. I get my firing solution directly from the Kestrel with a given profile I've uploaded. If you have the Kestrel AB why would you want your phone anyway since it should give you the same output as the Kestrel and that's one less thing you have to worry about messing with? Great in concept and the geekiness factor but not real practical in the field. If you don't then Lowlight hit it on the head.
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edt: btw, I for some reason got to thinking this was regarding the AB version so my mistake.
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edt: btw, I for some reason got to thinking this was regarding the AB version so my mistake.
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Great info, just would add that the Kestrel uses the SPP profile, and that's the technical reason for now talking to the iPhone.
Is that a software or hardware issue? In on other words, will they be able to provide a software update to make existing Kestrels with Bluetooth Mac/iPhone compatible?
Firmware on the Iphone would need to be updated with the added profile. It's all on Apple to decide to let us use these devices with the Iphone.
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As I understand it, that is what BT v4.0 is supposed to allow (that and multiple devices sharing a connection). But again, as I understand it, BT v4.0 was mainly the passive connection to limit battery drain (no constant heartbeat check on the connection, only at data request/transmit time).
I'm not a BT guru, so someone correct me if I'm wrong, or my info is dated, but that is what I recall from the initial intent...
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Hey guys, I figured I'd hop in here.
I'm not an NK employee, so I can't speak on behalf of NK, but since I do the software on the AB Kestrel, I can give you a bit of the scoop here. LastShot300 actually nailed it in terms of what the issue is...
iOS supports various Bluetooth profiles but does not include standard serial comms over Bluetooth. Here's a link to the support Bluetooth profiles page: iOS: Supported Bluetooth profiles
In order to communicate with iOS, you need to conform to one of those protocols. For example, iOS easily supports integrating to your wireless speakers or your car for implementation of play/stop/ff/rewind. There's little support for the full up messaging structure that the Kestrels use to communicate with the PC or the Android platforms.
Android on the other hand, you can read/write anything you want. In case you wanted to look at it, go here: BluetoothSocket | Android Developers. It just acts like an open socket to read/write data to.
The other thing about BT on iOS is that you need to have hardware implemented that supports the iOS authentication protocols. There's a special co-processor or authentication chip that is needed to work with iOS and set up for MFi as working with Apple devices.
Now, that's all talking about BT legacy. BT 4.0 works a bit differently. If you google how it works, it uses similar profiles that establish your data types and then you give a description of such data to your app and to your embedded device and it pushes that data that the phone then picks up.
As you can see, BT is not as simple as it sounds. Conceptually, BT is awesome. But as a developer, it drives me crazy.
I'm not an NK employee, so I can't speak on behalf of NK, but since I do the software on the AB Kestrel, I can give you a bit of the scoop here. LastShot300 actually nailed it in terms of what the issue is...
iOS supports various Bluetooth profiles but does not include standard serial comms over Bluetooth. Here's a link to the support Bluetooth profiles page: iOS: Supported Bluetooth profiles
In order to communicate with iOS, you need to conform to one of those protocols. For example, iOS easily supports integrating to your wireless speakers or your car for implementation of play/stop/ff/rewind. There's little support for the full up messaging structure that the Kestrels use to communicate with the PC or the Android platforms.
Android on the other hand, you can read/write anything you want. In case you wanted to look at it, go here: BluetoothSocket | Android Developers. It just acts like an open socket to read/write data to.
The other thing about BT on iOS is that you need to have hardware implemented that supports the iOS authentication protocols. There's a special co-processor or authentication chip that is needed to work with iOS and set up for MFi as working with Apple devices.
Now, that's all talking about BT legacy. BT 4.0 works a bit differently. If you google how it works, it uses similar profiles that establish your data types and then you give a description of such data to your app and to your embedded device and it pushes that data that the phone then picks up.
As you can see, BT is not as simple as it sounds. Conceptually, BT is awesome. But as a developer, it drives me crazy.
Nick, thanks for chiming in. Does this mean that a completely new kestrel would be needed to connect to apple products in the future and software updates would not be sufficient? Also, are you aware of any actual movement towards creating apple compatible devices? Thank you.
Is up to Apple and I don't think so, because that will open a can of worms in security terms for them. Or Kestrel in the future could change to another profile, which I don't think they will because of simplicity and costs or perharps newer models will support NFC which has the potential to fully replace BT.
A completely new Bluetooth device would need to be selected and the authentication chip added. There is movement toward iOS compatibility through Bluetooth low energy, which is a little different beast. That's why I pointed out specifically above that all of that is in reference to Bluetooth classic.
It IS an apple problem. Apple does not allow data transfers over bluetooth. It's the same reason industrial data loggers all kinds of other niche hardware can't talk to Apple devices either.
The profiles mentioned are what iOS can directly interact with. It doesn't mean that a dev can 't leverage the existing APIs and access the radio itself.
Here's a link to Apple's documentation. It states that SSP or serial port profile is supported and can be interacted with.
https://developer.apple.com/library...html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000997-CH214-TP9
Now, I don't own a Kestrel (yet) but I've been looking closely at this issue and possible releasing a new app to circumvent it.
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