Dialog 50¢ SoC Targets Disposable Bluetooth Market | Hacker News Reader

Dialog 50¢ SoC Targets Disposable Bluetooth Market

eetimes.com

27 pointsJoachimS15 comments

Considering there's a finite punt of resources on this planet, disposable things really rub me the wrong way. I love the price point but the irresponsibility of marketing things like this as disposable irks me.

If it’s mostly made out of silicon and metals, it is not much different from natural rocks, just at a lower level of entropy. If the energy source is renewable and the supply chain sustainable, it is not that bad. Like clay tea cups in Asia, disposable isn’t always bad.

This isnt a new price point, Chinese companies have been selling $1 Free International Shipping Bluetooth Buttons for a good while now, powered by unnamed Chinese homegrown silicon (Unisoc if its "hiend", freqchip if you like newcomers https://github.com/qdfreqchip/FR801x-SDK). Same way audio BT dongles are $2.

I really hope these use randomized EUI-48 addresses... that number space is not infinite.

Or we could just use cheep, reliable, very secure in comparison hardlines between the earbuds and the mobile and not worry about carrying around and keeping many computing packages powered via battery and somehow synchronized.

Edit: None of the other mentioned things //should// be disposable, which is why my mind went directly to cheep crap you buy on vacation because you forgot or broke the real thing.

This is incredible. Even considering costs of certifications, hardware for antenna, etc, we could have BLE chipsets for as low as 2 - 3$.

To be noted that though the title suggests disposable, these could be used in hardware designs that allow for distributed control and sensing, removing need for wires.

For example, I could have them in a building automation system with, each light having an independent bluetooth hardware.

$2-3 was an end product price point 4 years ago for BLE powered HID device.

The 50 cent cost is typically never the deal breaker, it's BLE certification/regulatory compliance testing for FCC and friends of the end product which is prohibitive for small/medium businesses.

If you ever plan on using a BLE in a cell phone accessory, regulatory costs may break the $1M mark by 2020. That's cost to certify the accessory for use in various territories

That sounds crazy. What sort of certifications get anywhere near that? FCC testing is only in the tens of thousands range.

Cell Phone accessory with BLE, for certification across geos (US/FCC, EU, APAC,etc). Think Mophie case with BLE

That’s still under $100,000 and you can use the same test results for some. Canada and a few other places may also require absorbed radiation tests which are a nuisance.

Certification is maybe couple of $K in Chinese lab.

Bluetooth desperately needs advancing. The range is just too poor.

A good BT antenna can get to 50+ meters in open air. (Source: Saw it happen during testing.)

Best case scenario and all that. :)

For something that is designed for a personal area network, the range suffices.

The problem comes in with poorly designed products, cheap antenna designs, or just space limitations. BT Earbuds don't exactly have a lot of space in them.

Where I can buy these chips?

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