Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by tpmx 1399 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?
2 comments
PeterisP 1399 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 1399 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 1399 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