[bArray]

Sure I agree, but the WiFi functionality is a killer feature. As mentioned in another comment, it means a smart watch stops being a smart phone addition and can actually operate as a stand-alone device.

Years ago I had a "smart" watch that had a sim card and was a full mobile phone within its own right, I think it was just 10 years or so too early.

[the__alchemist]

Concur. With nRF, you have to bolt on a separate 70002 Wi-Fi Chip.

And this chip isn't a normal QSPI chip where you read the datasheet. You have to use NRF connect, and Zephyr.

So, this brings up the obvious question: What if I don't want my whole firmware to be Zephyr nRF-connect, just for a Wi-Fi chip?

[bArray]

Manufacturer lock-in can be quite a problem. I'm not saying the ESP32 solves this fully, but you can mix and match as you like, and it's highly encouraged. I think with the ESP32 most build upon Free RTOS but I'm not aware of a strict requirement.

[the__alchemist]

Of note, you can just pull in a lib to use Wi-Fi and BLE on an ESP32 (C-3 at least). I've done it. It doesn't imply any changes to your firmware architecture. That's the part that bothers me about Nordic's approach.

[mrheosuper]

pretty sure you can use 7002 with any MCUs and vice versa. I dont know what would be the technical limitation