Android issues, not compatible with garmin connect

Main issue is I can't connect with my Android phone.

Yes I don't have a top of the range I phone, but I have an android 4.1+,

Which make and model? Which version of Android? What are the symptoms? What do you observe when you try to pair them?

surely Garmin should support these, it's not like they are ancient?

If Android 4.x is categorically not supported, we'd have heard about it by now. It's better to assume a more limited problem scope of you not yet being able to connect your watch with your handset for some reason, as opposed to there being a defect or general incompatibility.

<EDIT>
I just checked on the Google Play store.

Requires Android
4.0 and up

To use BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), you must be running at least Android 4.3 and have BT 4.x HW on the phone.

It's a special mode of BT that first became available in 4.3 SW and 4.0 HW.

A phone with pre-4.3 SW or pre 4.0 BT HW simply won't work for syncing.

With pre 4.3 you can run GCM to look at stuff, but you won't be able to do things like sync or get notifications. There are some watches that don't support BT (the VVF, fr10, fr15 for example) that can use GCM to look at data. I think that's what you see in the app store. You need 4.0 to run it at all...

Phone says it has android version 4.04... will this not be compatible then? Can I update my phone to this new bluetooth tech or is it firmware?

Thanks for your help.

As a separate issue, I don't seem to have any widgets on my phone, weather, etc. Do I need to connect my phone for these?

Bluetooth v2.1, A2DP, EDR apparently, means nothing to me!

It means you might be able to run GCM, but there is no way you can use your phone to sync or provide things like notifications to the watch. You have v2.1 of BT hardware and it needs v4.x of the BT hardware.

As a separate issue, I don't seem to have any widgets on my phone, weather, etc. Do I need to connect my phone for these?

Your device comes preloaded with widgets by Garmin that provide at-a-glance info

As a separate issue, I don't seem to have any widgets on my phone, weather, etc.

Your phone? Did you mean your watch? If you meant your FR235, what happens when you press the or button (repeatedly) from the watch face?

Do I need to connect my phone for these?

Your FR235 should come preloaded with built-in widgets developed by Garmin (which don't take up any of the 16 slots for Connect IQ apps), and you need not connect your phone for the widgets to be present on the watch. Some of the widgets require a connection to the Garmin Connect Mobile app running on a mobile device to function.

Your phone? Did you mean your watch? If you meant your FR235, what happens when you press the or button (repeatedly) from the watch face?

With these watchs I don't think you will see those widgets until you have a mobile paired to it as they all use the mobile device, and since he can't pair, he will never see them on the watch.

With these watchs I don't think you will see those widgets until you have a mobile paired to it as they all use the mobile device,

Oh, OK. I guess that would hold true for watches that have just had a factory reset, too?

Oh, OK. I guess that would hold true for watches that have just had a factory reset, too?

They won't show until you have a paired device is my guess, but I really don't want to try that if I don't have to! :)