Cadence Sensor for Android Phones

[kunalraiker]

Question is: is there one?
I'am not talking of your Sony Xperia or HTC phones but the cool Android phones!

[Xplora]

Question is: is there one?
I'am not talking of your Sony Xperia or HTC phones but the cool Android phones!

No. There is not. Those phones you weren't interested in have the ANT+ connection available. You might be able to get some Bluetooth action with something, but you'll likely be extremely disappointed with the battery life. I personally do feel a bit hesitant to rely on my emergency contact device for my bike computer function, given how important they are. You'll be cranky if you're stuck roadside (or worse, trailside) because you needed to know your cadence.

[kunalraiker]

No. There is not. You'll be cranky if you're stuck roadside (or worse, trailside) because you needed to know your cadence.

You've made a fair point, I guess we'll just have to wait eh?

[Xplora]

No. There is not. You'll be cranky if you're stuck roadside (or worse, trailside) because you needed to know your cadence.

You've made a fair point, I guess we'll just have to wait eh?

I wish someone could do a bluetooth cadence sensor too, would make the decision much easier. I think if you're regularly riding, you will actually need something like the Garmin 500 just for the battery life. I can't get my head around how much riding I do (I'm certainly no pro) but I'd be doing 10 hours a week easily. Given that most smartphones have AWFUL battery life, I don't think the phone is the key. Bluetooth only works if you're using it sparingly and cadence isn't sparingly sadly enough.

Garmin 500 is on runout quite a bit right now.

[kunalraiker]

Garmin 500 is on runout quite a bit right now.

What is the runout and where?

[DoogleDave]

Take a look here...
http://www.highlytunedathletes.com.au/G ... Strap.html

Dave

[kunalraiker]

Take a look here...
http://www.highlytunedathletes.com.au/G ... Strap.html

Dave

Dave, its out of stock.

[kunalraiker]

There are companies working to get the cadence sensors working on Android currently, hopefully not far away before release!

[trainedmonkey]

I've been researching this myself recently and it seems that there are a small number of Android phones that come with built-in ANT capabilities. For those that don't there is the possibility of using an OTG cable and ANT USB key. Unfortunately it seems that most bike apps don't recognise the USB based ANT receivers, however I have seen some suggestion that its possible to modify the Endomondo app to get it to recognise USB ANT receivers. There is an app called IpBike that gets mentioned a lot and seems to explicitly support USB ANT receivers. There is a list of supported sensors for IpBike here.

Ultimately buying a Garmin or Bryton unit is going to be a much simpler way to go. There's a lot of different bits that you're going to need to make work if you're going with Android + USB + random sensors. There's also the question of how much battery the above setup will slurp from your phone. But if you're like me and enjoy a technological challenge, then go for it. I have all the bits and pieces on order, so I'll report back with my progress.

[DoogleDave]

Take a look here...
http://www.highlytunedathletes.com.au/G ... Strap.html

Dave

Dave, its out of stock.

Sorry!
That's a bit deceiving that their product page says "In Stock" but the shipping page says Out of Stock....

Dave

[kunalraiker]

I've been researching this myself recently and it seems that there are a small number of Android phones that come with built-in ANT capabilities. For those that don't there is the possibility of using an OTG cable and ANT USB key. Unfortunately it seems that most bike apps don't recognise the USB based ANT receivers, however I have seen some suggestion that its possible to modify the Endomondo app to get it to recognise USB ANT receivers. There is an app called IpBike that gets mentioned a lot and seems to explicitly support USB ANT receivers. There is a list of supported sensors for IpBike here.

Ultimately buying a Garmin or Bryton unit is going to be a much simpler way to go. There's a lot of different bits that you're going to need to make work if you're going with Android + USB + random sensors. There's also the question of how much battery the above setup will slurp from your phone. But if you're like me and enjoy a technological challenge, then go for it. I have all the bits and pieces on order, so I'll report back with my progress.

Mate, how did you go!

[trainedmonkey]

So, to follow up from my previous post. I have a Garmin speed and cadence sensor working with my Samsung Galaxy S2. It took a little bit of fiddling to get it working and ultimately it's probably not the most elegant solution, however it is workable as an alternative to buying a Garmin bike computer.

In addition to your phone you need:

HARDWARE:
Garmin ANT+ USB dongle
OTG Cable
Bike Mount for your phone - I bought a dodgy one off eBay
ANT+ Sensors

SOFTWARE:
IpBike
IpSensorMan
ANT Radio Service
ANT USB Service
SiyahKernel

GETTING IT TO WORK:
I went with the Garmin ANT+ dongle and the Garmin Speed/Cadence sensor. I figured that if I couldn't get them to work with the phone, then I could just buy a Garmin device and the bits that I already had would still be useful. An OTG cable is also a handy thing to have for your phone, since you can use it to connect to USB thumb drives and the like. Also, having a bike mount for the phone might be a handy thing to have as well.

Once you have all the hardware, the fun bit was getting it all working. I installed IpBike, IpSensorMan, ANT Radio Service and ANT USB Service but I couldn't get the default kernel to work with the USB ANT+ stick. I believe it's missing the necessary hardware support. So I had to root the phone and install the SiyahKernel. If you're going to do this I would recommend reading up on the process and ensuring that you have a backup of your stock ROM. There's always an outside chance that you could brick your phone - I accept no responsibility if you do so!

Once I had the phone updated and the software installed, it all pretty much just worked. It does rely on having Bluetooth enabled (or is it wifi?) so if you forget to enable it you won't be able to connect to your sensors. At least once I've set off on a ride and then noticed that there was no cadence display because I still had Bluetooth turned off.

HOW GOOD IS IT?
Well, as you can see from the photos below the Galaxy S2 is a big, chunky device when compared with a standard bike computer. The holder I have is slightly oversized and fits the phone even when it's still in a gel cover. The holder also isn't fully waterproof and the screen can be hard to read thanks to the reflective plastic. In bright sun it can be hard to really see the screen properly. Battery life has actually been a bit better than expected. After a few hour's there's still plenty of battery charge left. If battery life was a real concern then a larger capacity battery or a power pack could be an option.

The IpBike Man software feels a bit clunky at first, but once I got it set up and working I was happy enough with it. When I've finished a ride I IpBikeMan can upload it to Strava for me. I think there's a few other sites that it will upload to as well. Or I could download the GPX file to somewhere.

Some photos:


Big, chunky phone and reflective plastic.


OTG cable and Garmin ANT+ dongle zip tied to the stem.


Standard Garmin speed/cadence sensor.

CONCLUSION:
All in all I was happy that I was able to get ANT+ sensors working with my phone. There are some downsides, and I suspect that a Garmin Edge 500 might be on the cards now that they've dropped in price with the release of the 510. Plus I already have the sensor and a USB dongle to upload my rides.

[jimh]

Don't know how convenient it would be or how well they work but there are cadence apps for smart phones where you basically strap the phone to your thigh and counts the number of times your leg goes from horizontal to vertical.

It's probably not want you want as you wouldn't be able to see the screen but it would log your cadence and speed with the GPS.

It'd be easier to get a Garmin 500 though

cheers
Jim