An Android* phone or tablet running Android and has Bluetooth. Connect your Intel® Edison board to a Wi-Fi* network, see Get started with Intel® Edison technology.

To control the Arduino he’s using ArduDroid with a Bluetooth module. The app lets you trigger the various digital and analog outputs, and send and receive data.

A USB host shield for the Arduino is needed to connect to an Android hand set. You’ll be able to send and receive strings via the terminal, with support for carriage return and life feed characters.

Well tech tinkerer Joe Desbonnet has whipped up what he dubs "poor man's NFC" using an Arduino, some magnet wire, and any compass-equipped Android smartphone (which is almost all of them).