Is there any smartphone with supporting of Bluetooth 5 Long Range feature?

[Schuebbe]

Hi!

Please, help me! Maybe someone knows the answer. Is there any smartphone with supporting of Bluetooth 5 Long Range feature?

Best Regards,
Pavel

[robertv]

I have tested a device advertising at the slowest LR PHY in combination with an iPhone XS and an iPhone 11 and both did not detect the device.

After that I tested the same device with a Samsung Galaxy S10 and it was immediately detected.

The device I used was a Silicon Labs BGM13S SiP on a development board. I could only use the built-in Bluetooth device discovery in all cases as nRF Connect could not be installed on the devices (all tests done in a store)

[Joakim Jakobsen]

Hi, 

If you have trouble installing nRF Connect, I suggest that you create a new support ticket so that we can assist you. 

Br, 
Joakim

[robertv]

It just that these phones are locked down. You cannot install any apps on them (store mode it's called I think)

[robertv]

But I think that the point I am trying to make here is that my experience with an actual iPhone 11 and a BLE LR device would mean that the list above is incorrect.

I am wondering on what information this list is made, just specs or actual tests?

[Joakim Jakobsen]

Thanks for the input. There is of course a possibility that the list is wrong. 

Most of the list is based on the BT SIG listing for the specific phone models. 

That you are not able to discover the device on the mentioned iPhone models could be related to the fact that BLE devices are generally not discovered in the Bluetooth settings on iOS. There are some BLE services with native support but most BLE devices needs an third-party application. 

I haven't done any tests with the iPhone models you mentioned, but I don't think we can rule them out just yet, either. I will try to get some tests done with some of the phones in the list in order to verify. 

Br, 
Joakim

[robertv]

Great!

Maybe there is some weirdness in the sense that devices that advertise using the BLE Coded PHY channels are not discovered and that you must advertise using standard PHY's and switch to coded PHY's afterward.

Having said that, it just worked with the Samsung Galaxy S10, but a Xiaomi Pocophone F1 claiming LR compatibility fails to detect it with Bluetooth browsing.

So I guess there is a gap between claiming compatibility and actually working.