Mobile Python: Rapid Prototyping of Applications on the Mobile Platform

Chapter 7. Bluetooth and Telephone Functionality

The mobile phone is a strong candidate for becoming the interaction device that bridges the physical and virtual worlds. Standard networking techniques, such as TCP/IP, are great for heavy-duty communication over long distances. However, the last five meters between the phone and its physical surroundings are better handled with a lighter approach. In this range, Bluetooth is the dominant means of communication.

Lots of interesting things happen within that five-meter radius. You can use Bluetooth for social interaction by connecting to other phones and their users near to you. You can use it to interact with physical objects, such as public screens, GPS receivers, sensors, robotic vacuum cleaners and even shop windows. Naturally, Bluetooth also connects you to nearby PCs.

In this chapter, we explore most of these scenarios. We show how to send photos to and chat with other phones in Section 7.3. Then we get you started with phone-to-PC communication, which really becomes fun once you can also build applications on the PC side. For example, we show how to control your Apple Mac with your phone using AppleScript. In Section 7.5, we connect to an external GPS receiver and later, in Chapter 11, we connect to a sensor board. This might be of interest, for instance, to projects dealing with art installations, sensor networks and physical and wearable computing or smart fashion.

At the end of this chapter, we take a quick look at the ...