Sparkfun does a great job of providing hardware support for the Particle Photon but I would like to address here is Particle's customer service. ( no reflection on Sparkfun) If you purchase a Photon and want to develop an IOS or Android mobile app and consider yourself a novice, the documentation available from Particle is lacking. Not only is the website documentation not kept current based on frequent changes to Apple's Swift language, but what is available is vague leaving anyone new to Swift programming completely frustrated when attempting a project.

In essence, have you ever tried to learn a programming concept by using a sample program provided by an organization only to find that the program compiles with multiple errors when ran - welcome to Particle! If you're like me the first thing you do is search for a solution and if one is not available you contact Tec support as a last ditch effort. These are the steps I took only to be told in an email that it could be days longer before they can finally get to me because they're a small company. Said another way their time is important mine isn't.

That said, if you understand the basics of MCUs and simply want to turn a relay on and off from a web application the documentation is sufficient. However, if you want to learn a more advanced application such as developing mobile apps utilizing Apple's Xcode environment, don't expect much from Particle's documentation because it's geared toward professional object oriented programmers who can deduce when there is a problem and quickly move on. Not so with the novice, when the instructions are wrong or incomplete the first thing that comes to mind is what did I do wrong? Hours or days later after searching the Internet for answers you finally realize it's not you but the documentation that's at fault, and when Tec support is called and there's no answer everything comes to a halt. Making matters worse Particle uses its own SDK with insufficient instructions as to how it integrates with Swift both conceptually and practically thereby creating another technical nightmare.

There is a halfhearted attempt by some to help beginners on Particle's site but unfortunately basic questions are ignored on the community boards or answered without the needed specificity to help. And as stated, the genesis of the discord is insufficient documentation leaving frustrating gaps when trying to follow along. The lack of support was so hindering at one point that a customer finally stepped in and developed instructions on how to build a "bridging" file and posted it on the message boards because Particle wouldn't take the time to author more explicit instructions. Ironically, they now refer questions about "bridging" to the customer's post.

Quite frankly I could understand Particle's disposition toward the novice if they stated up front that developing a mobile app requires a solid grasp of object orienting programming and that their documentation is geared toward the professional, but their advertisement implies that help is available for a novice from a number of sources if needed. And after initially and ignorantly looking at the available documentation one believes all the steps are there to indeed succeed, that is until you start the process. In other words, their advertisement touts the documentation and customer service so you buy the hardware but after that good luck!

I'm not a disgruntled person but do have an expectation of adequate customer service from a company when a problem surfaces that is clearly the fault of the organization. To be left hanging for days is very frustrating to say the least. Adding credence to my claims are the voices of others on Particle's community boards who expressed the same concerns only to have those concerns fall on deaf ears as well.

From my perspective, the Photon is a reasonably priced module and can be easily connected to Particle's cloud after some basic connections, but if you want to accomplish something useful subsequent to initializing you'll need to understand Particle's SDK object oriented programming concepts. Although redundantly stated, don't expect to learn these concepts from Particle's documentation for the above stated reasons, and don't expect much of anything from their customer service. On the other hand, if you're fluent in all the nuances of OOP you'll probably be able to muddle through.

In my opinion the focus appears to be on organizations that purchase large lots of Photons. In other words, the hobbyist stands on the bottom rung of the ladder. So before making the decision to use the Photon in a project make sure you consider your end state. If you're someone like me who needs thorough documentation as a springboard you'll probably be disappointed. It's too bad because the Photon is promising but trying to go cheap on customer service, ignoring needed updates when Apple switches gears in Swift, and not explaining in detail how to integrate their SDK will leave many scratching their heads. Realistically speaking they are not staffed to keep up with it all and with new IoT modules popping up frequently this could lead to their demise. Some other company understanding the importance of nurturing the novice will come along and fill the void.

Finally, I believe Particle started out of the right foot but it's now obvious that their early success got in front of them. I strongly recommend that they put the needed effort into shoring up its documentation with emphasis toward the novice. Hopefully, they come to realize that this part of the business is what builds a foundation and creates a loyal following. The other side of the coin is a degradation of loyalty and a slow migration to a more user friendly system.

For the record I am a fairly confident C programmer with some basic object oriented experience. I don't expect Particle to be responsible for teaching OOP to new customers. However, I do believe it's their charge to adequately explain how their SDK integrates into Swift along with the necessary examples to make it work. The emphasis needs to be on the lowest common denominator, hence the novice. For example, bridging files, dependencies, importing, file structure etc. These important concepts are the building blocks or springboard for the novice to start from. Without this foundation or put another way without complete knowledge of these basics frustration sets in. OOP concepts can be learned from many different sources but the mechanics of Particle's SDK can only be explained by Particle.

How does one disable the red power LED on the board? I like to use these in bedrooms and the red LED light is something I'd like to turn off. The RGB LED is Particle IDE configurable so I can either dim it really low or turn it off, but the red LED is somewhat annoying.

Am I crazy to want this to work with the Ardumoto - Motor Driver Shields? I don't the think the "11,12,13" pins on that board would work.

And as for the online IDE, that might be a plus for some folks.

Context: I'm a teacher/maker and having been building a new set of recommendations and ideas for some other teachers to use. For kids that only have access to Chomebooks the online IDE could be really nice. AND not needing wires in the classroom, even better!

Urban @UrbanAtWork

When will an SMD version, closer to the RedBoard, come out? I would like to know because I prefer SMD to PTH.

Let me second Member #679961's objection to cloud based software development. It simply adds another layer of things to encumber the development process with no discernible benefit. I don't get the fascination some people seem to have with moving essentially local tasks off of their computer and into the cloud. It is a bit like falling so in love with using wrenches that you start using them to drive nails. /rant mode off

Let's not loose perspective that the SparkFun Photon RedBoard is an advanced WiFi microcontroller with cloud capability built-in at a very attractive price. The best part is that I can update my firmware on the Photon, after it has already shipped, from across the country in a matter of seconds. Try and do that with your Arduino-based RedBoard. You're missing the bigger picture.

Just received one of these and I can't get it to connect to save my life. I tried using the USB port first (just blinking blue led), and then I tried the iPhone app (seems like everyone has been happy with that). The iPhone app always fails in the Claim Device step, then says that the Network credentials are wrong (which is bunk - I entered them into my Macbook and they work fine). I am at a loss as to what else to try. I'm going to try a couple more times, then this thing is back to SParFun for a refund. Not very happy with this at all...

I've tried both my Apple Airport network, and just for kicks tried another wireless AP - no joy whatsoever...

Should have posted this hours ago - after the iPhone app "fails", simply reset the board and I got the "breathing" cyan light and can ping it from my network. The initial setup instructions could use a complete overhaul - nowhere does it indicate that a reset of the board is required.

Is it whise, to breakout the Photon in the Arduino formfactor? Won't be most of the shields be usable? For instance the motorshields nead a lot of digit out pins the photon does not have?

The online IDE thing is a deal breaker. Is there a offline IDE for the Photon system? Also, all industrial equipment is 5 volts or greater and nobody is talking about 3.3 volt systems. Will there be a native 5 volt version or am I stringing extra Wire for conversion?

Will Arduino shields work with this?