Friday Product Post: Simply Simblee!
A whole new line of BLE Internet of Things products are ripe for the picking!
Hey guys, it's Friday and you know that means new products! This is a very special Friday, because we're releasing a new line of Internet of Things products. So without further ado, we are pleased to present: Simblee!
Simblee is intended to make embedded devices using Bluetooth Low Energy connections easier for everyone: hardware hackers, app developers, students, makers, engineers, and anyone else who wants to leverage their smartphone via BLE. Unlike other BLE solutions, the Simblee requires no specialized app development skills to realize the phone-side interface: all the necessary coding is done in the Arduino IDE and then uploaded to a browser app on the phone.
First up is the SparkFun Simblee BLE Breakout board. This breakout is a programmable board that allows you to add mobile app functionality via Bluetooth Low Energy to your embedded projects. You get access to all the Simblee pins (with the module end compatible with RFDuino/Simblee shields!) as well as an FTDI header, a reset button, an LED and a user accessible button. This is a great development board to stick in a breadboard and start playing with. It is also small enough to fit inside many projects. The voltage regulator is extremely low current, so your low power applications won't suffer too much for it being included.
If you like your PCBs round, thin and purple the Lilypad Simblee BLE Board is for you. Our LilyPad line is designed for wearable electronics and includes pads big enough to sew into a project with conductive thread. If you prefer to solder to your boards, the LilyPad board does provide that option open as well. This board also comes complete with an FTDI header, voltage regulator, reset button, JST connector for a single cell Lipo and Lipo charger.
Similar to its predecessor, the RFduino Simblee DIP is a finger-tip sized, Arduino compatible, wireless enabled microcontroller. When used in conjunction with the RFduino USB shield, simply plug the RFduino into a USB port of any computer and use the Arduino IDE to load your Arduino sketch, which automatically begins running on the Simblee board. Then you can detach the RFduino USB shield and plug the Simblee directly into your project. It's that easy!
If you are looking to get into the worlds of RFduino and Simble you won't find an easier tool to use that the RFduino Simblee Starter Kit!. This is a great trio of products in one box to help you get you started with and teach you the basics of Simblee. Inside this kit you will find three boards, the Simblee DIP mainboard, the USB programming shield, and the RGB LED/Button shield.
Last up this week has to be the bare SMD Simblee RFD77101 Module. This little chip is only 10mm long and is featured on all of the new products you've seen today. The RFD77101 is a high performance, professional grade Bluetooth® Smart radio transceiver equipped with a built in ARM Cortex M0 microcontroller (with 128KB of Flash and 24KB of RAM, no EEPROM, running at 16MHz) that can be programmed using the simple-to-use Arduino IDE using Simblee extensions.
On top of all of these new products, you can also find at our learn.sparkfun.com page multiple resources about the Concepts of Simblee as well as hookup guides for both the breakout board and Lilypad board you see above! Be sure to check those out in case you need any help.
Well, that's it for this week folks. We really can't wait to see what you make with Simblee! If you do make something that you feel is awesome feel free to show it off to us, we really want to know! We'll see you back here next Friday with more new products. See you then!
Curious in how this compares to the blue fruit series by lady Ada, the pros versus their breakout, I'm in the iOS ecosystem and have like four or five BLE modules, red bear, two versions of adafruits break outs, etc. just curious as my next application I build will be structured around Core Bluetooth framework, ibeacon functionality, range, the amount of data transfer, ideal scenario for embedded electronic MVP. Thank you, love your company!
many of these use the same nRF51 chip from Nordic. Differences are with the libraries, bootloader, number of pins, etc. The most notable thing about Simblee in my opinion is the small, relatively easy to solder package and the fact all the pins seem to be available.
That's all you have for this week? Are you kidding me? That's awesome!!