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16th February 2011. 10:07

ANT API for Android™ released

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Hello,

My name is Jeff Fung and I am a guest blogger from ANT Wireless, where I work as a software developer.  I am pleased to announce that the much anticipated ANT API for Android has now been released. The Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X8, Xperia™ X10 mini and Xperia™ X10 mini pro will be among the first commercially available Android phones to support ANT. The good folks at Sony Ericsson have indicated that support will be added to more devices in the near future.  Applications will be able to utilize this API in the announced devices as well as in all future devices supporting ANT. 

If you want make your app work with ANT+ technologies, download the API package.  The API package contains interface files for the ANT radio service, documentation, and example code.  Following the code example you will see how to establish and maintain the connection to the ANT radio service.  You will also see how to setup channels to receive and decode data from an ANT+ heart rate monitor, stride based speed and distance monitor, and weight scale.

This initial version of the ANT API offers access to the ANT radio through to use of the basic ANT host control messages. For those of you already familiar with ANT, this is exactly the same messaging interface used for the standalone radio chips as well as for the various ANT USB sticks. 

One of the ANT+ Alliance members, Wahoo Fitness, has developed an ANT+ API which ANT+ sits on top of the basic API.  It is still in beta but already has ANT+ support for some of the most commonly used ANT+ device profiles.  ANT+ This API is ideal for developers who want to add ANT+ device ANT+ support quickly or developers are new to ANT+.  Contact Wahoo to obtain an ANT+ copy of the API. The API is also documented here.

Best regards,
Jeff

Note from Sony Ericsson Developer World:
Software updates are currently rolling out for Xperia™ X10 mini, Xperia™ X10 mini pro and Xperia™ X8. See the Sony Ericsson Products blog  for more information about these software updates. As for the coming products, the Xperia™ arc, Xperia™ neo and Xperia™ pro will support ANT+ technology.

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  • By mcahornsirup
    16th February 2011.
    14:27

    Here is the problem and the solution for X10 mini: According to the Android market place https://market.android.com/search?q=dynastream there are a lot of dynastream example available… but it seems like these apps are not associated with the x10 mini. That’s why you can’t download the ANT Radio Service even if it is necessary to run the Demo…

    Please, let us install the ANT Radio Service.apk manually on our devices until the market place issue is fixed.

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  • By jefffung
    16th February 2011.
    17:41

    You may need to update your phone in order to activate the ANT support. You can do this by going to http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/support/softwaredownloads/detailed/updateservice/xperiax10mini.

    The ANT radio service is set to only be associated with the phone after the update is done and ANT functionality is enabled.

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  • By Tuoppi
    17th February 2011.
    20:48

    Ant Radio Service won’t install to Mini Pro latest update 2.1.1.A.0.6.

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  • By Najat Baker
    18th February 2011.
    11:11

    Did you get any error message when you tried to install ANT Radio Service?

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  • By Ze Antonio
    18th February 2011.
    13:55

    I also updated my phone but Android Market considers it incompatible with Ant+ protocols. So, it’s impossible to install the demos from the Market. Humana Fit, that works with Ant+, doesn’t show any interface regarding Ant+ devices.

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  • By Sven
    18th February 2011.
    14:52

    Why can I see the above persons email? The name Ze Antonio and his email at globo.com is pre-filled in my comment box. You write that you will not publish the email address…

    My original question that somehow never get published yesterday (probably bugs in your spamfilter), is: The API and SE Xperia mobiles, does it support the old ANT-protocol that Suunto use, or does it only support ANT+? Sometimes you’re talking about ANT, other times about ANT+.

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  • By ZeAntonio
    18th February 2011.
    15:09

    Sven, I saw your email address at gmail too. So, the former sender will always have theirs email pre-filled.
    I think only Ant+ is supported.
    I installed Google’s My Tracks, that supposedly supports Ant+, but the app didn’t even try to find any Ant+ device.
    It looks like Ant+ is not supported at all by the phone or that it requires brand new API for it.

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  • By Sven
    18th February 2011.
    15:42

    Do you have the latest firmware in the phone? I think you also need the app “ANT Radio Service” from Dynastream Innovations Inc which is an “interface to ANT Radio on Sony Ericsson phones.” (I don’t yet have a ANT-enabled mobile)

    https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dsi.ant.service.socket

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  • By Tuoppi
    18th February 2011.
    17:52

    Trying to download the ANT Radio Service app..
    Android Market just informs “This item is not compatible with your device”. So I cannot even download it.. :(
    I have very latest update in my Mini Pro ==> 2.1.1.A.0.6, which should already include ANT+

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  • By ZeAntonio
    18th February 2011.
    21:29

    Tuoppi, that’s exactly what happened to me.

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    • By Najat Baker
      8th September 2011.
      08:34

      Hi,

      Could you please provide us with more details? Which hardware version do you have on your device and which Android Market app version you have installed?

      BR
      Najat

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    • By mohd affiq mohd othman
      28th November 2011.
      04:46

      When will the app available for Xperia X10??

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      • By Tobias Nilsson
        28th November 2011.
        08:37

        Hi,

        this is no app in itself. ANT+ is an API that is supported by Xperia X10 mini, Xperia X10 mini pro, Xperia X8 and all the 2011 Xperia phones except Xperia PLAY.

        Regards,
        Tobias from Developer World

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