Wondering if it's possible to use a bluetooth board to connect w/ android phone

Hi, I have a project in mind where I would like to be able to press a button that sends a message to an android phone via bluetooth. The hardware would need to send a simple text based message like "do command x" to the phone. Would this be possible to do with this board: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardBT?from=Main.ArduinoBoardBluetooth? I would need to integrate a simple button that would trigger the bluetooth signal being sent from the board to my android phone.

I think the Arduino Bluetooth board is no longer offered for sale.

However, there are other bluetooth options. Since you are using Android, most Android phones can use bluetooth 2.1 devices (Apple phones would only connect to bluetooth 4.0 low energy devices, which is more expensive).

Seeedstudios makes a bluetooth shield that fits on an Uno. Radio Shack used to sell this shield, and you might be able to find brick and mortar stores that still have it in stock (I picked one up for $9 a few months ago), but it is now longer listed online. There is a jumper that uses either pins 0/1 (which are used by the serial monitor) for hardware serial support, or you use Software Serial Support with pins 6 & 7. http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/bluetooth-shield-p-866.html?cPath=19_21

You can also get the HC-05 board and connect 4 pins (power, ground, and tx/rx). There are various sellers you can buy it from. I bought one from the ebay seller NY platform. I mostly use on my Teensy 3.0, but I think I've used it on the Uno a few times before I got the Seeed studios bluetooth shield: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HC-05-Bluetooth-Transceiver-Host-Slave-Master-Module-Wireless-Serial-6pin-/221303627009?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3386b95d01. If you are going this route, be sure to verify that it provides a serial port, and that it can run at 5v (a lot of bluetooth devices now only run at 3.3v or less, and you should look for a device that can handle the 5v most Arduinos (except Due) put out by default.

On the bluetooth side of things, there are various apps you can get that will allow you to send/receive bluetooth text messages. One of the apps I have installed is Bluetooth Controller, which allows you to define 9 buttons, that when pressed, sends a text string to the Arduino. Connection terminal also allows you to just send text back and forth.

Another option is xbee which includes an option for bluetooth, but I don't have any experience with it.

Here is the sample code for the Seeed studies shield:

/*
BluetoothShield Demo Code Slave.pde. This sketch could be used with
Master.pde to establish connection between two Arduino. It can also
be used for one slave bluetooth connected by the device(PC/Smart Phone)
with bluetooth function.
2011 Copyright (c) Seeed Technology Inc.  All right reserved.
 
Author: Steve Chang
 
This demo code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 
This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
Lesser General Public License for more details.
 
You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
 
For more details about the product please check http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/
 
*/
 
 
/* Upload this sketch into Seeeduino and press reset*/
 
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>   //Software Serial Port
#define RxD 6
#define TxD 7
 
#define DEBUG_ENABLED  1
 
SoftwareSerial blueToothSerial(RxD,TxD);
 
void setup() 
{ 
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(RxD, INPUT);
  pinMode(TxD, OUTPUT);
  setupBlueToothConnection();
 
} 
 
void loop() 
{ 
  char recvChar;
  while(1){
    if(blueToothSerial.available()){//check if there's any data sent from the remote bluetooth shield
      recvChar = blueToothSerial.read();
      Serial.print(recvChar);
    }
    if(Serial.available()){//check if there's any data sent from the local serial terminal, you can add the other applications here
      recvChar  = Serial.read();
      blueToothSerial.print(recvChar);
    }
  }
} 
 
void setupBlueToothConnection()
{
  blueToothSerial.begin(38400); //Set BluetoothBee BaudRate to default baud rate 38400
  blueToothSerial.print("\r\n+STWMOD=0\r\n"); //set the bluetooth work in slave mode
  blueToothSerial.print("\r\n+STNA=SeeedBTSlave\r\n"); //set the bluetooth name as "SeeedBTSlave"
  blueToothSerial.print("\r\n+STOAUT=1\r\n"); // Permit Paired device to connect me
  blueToothSerial.print("\r\n+STAUTO=0\r\n"); // Auto-connection should be forbidden here
  delay(2000); // This delay is required.
  blueToothSerial.print("\r\n+INQ=1\r\n"); //make the slave bluetooth inquirable 
  Serial.println("The slave bluetooth is inquirable!");
  delay(2000); // This delay is required.
  blueToothSerial.flush();
}