Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by swamp40 1401 days ago
I'm pretty sure Apple got some tweaks put into the Bluetooth chips they use to help out with some of the connection reliability issues. Put in at the bare metal level before the stack so as to avoid breaking the "standard".

Apple has also used out-of-band pairing mechanisms to enhance the customer experience. But again, there is only so much they can do.

There are many problems built into the standard and so there was only so much they could do.

Ironically, the standard itself is preventing better experiences.

It's been over 10 years now since BLE came out. Many companies have crashed and burned or abandoned products or just accepted poor user experiences in those 10 years.

The Bluetooth SIG is a monstrosity. I bet you would have to break off to fix the problems in under 10 years. And the SIG would probably sue to prevent that.
2 comments
tpmx 1401 days ago
I'm pretty sure Apple got some tweaks put into the Bluetooth chips they use to help out with some of the connection reliability issues. Put in at the bare metal level before the stack so as to avoid breaking the "standard".

I'm not a Bluetooth expert but that doesn't sound right. Surely the vast majority of BT complexity in a modern stack is in the software?

Also, if you're "breaking the standard" in a closed system like in an Apple product, who cares if you're doing it in software or hardware?

link
PeterisP 1401 days ago
> Surely the vast majority of BT complexity in a modern stack is in the software?

Depends on what you call software - of course it's code, but pretty much all of the complexity of the stack is in firmware code of the BT chip, not in software running on your main OS/CPU.

link
tpmx 1401 days ago
Is this still the basic division of work?

https://hearinghealthmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/...

Bottom layers beneath the HCI layer divider in HW, layers above software running in the "BT firmware chip" (I'm going to guess ARM-based)?

link
swamp40 1401 days ago
Look up Apple's H1 and W1 chips. They improved it while remaining "Bluetooth compatible".

Bluetooth has too big of a name recognition to just go your own way. Thousands of popular products.

link
swamp40 1401 days ago
Having said all that, BLE is an amazing technology and is improving slowly.

You can track your dog or purse or car anywhere in the world, all using a CR2032 coin cell battery that will last for years.

It provides your phone with an easy extension into the real world, which has thousands of use cases.

link