New Argon module topic specific

Connectivity BLE // NFC
21

Good point – forgot to add that to my previous post (I will do that now). We absolutely plan to take advantage of that feature.

The Nordic nRF52840 has FPU support as well as accelerated hardware crypto which, as you identified, should help with the heavy lifting.

5 Likes
22

Since Argon is WiFi + Mesh + BLE at US$19, does this mean Photon will go away?

I know that Photon has a couple of years in place to get where it is (very happy place) so I suppose not… Likewise (and not to impugn Particle) it will likely take a year or more to get the new devices to the Photon’s level.

So, do you guys then plan to drop the price of the Photon? The economics suggest that most would opt into the new platform with more on-board capability (at the same price).

It is sort of a stupid question, because no sane manager would say “We plan to lower our price on that product in one month.”

23

This is clearly answered in the FAQ thread

24

I dont think they can afford to drop the Photon. The Argon runs at 1/2 the speed.

1 Like
25

Bigger isn't always better. If you insist on needing more power, then why not switch to a full-fledged computer?
Different use-cases for different folks. One might not need the higher speed of the Photon, but rather the BLE/Mesh/low power of the Argon.

26

The Photon is and for me has been pretty rock solid reliable. If you don’t need BLE then the Photon is a killer device.

27

Do you have it out for me or what? I was just simply stating that it runs at 1/2 the speed. I have no issues with the new products at all. Just stating that if someone is using a Photon say for neo pixels. and tried to do the same withe the Argon, don't be surprised that it will run slower, thus the reason they wont get rid of the Photon.

1 Like
28

Mesh allows for offloading and running 10 Xenons parallel will give you "virtually" 640MHz (or a 10 core 64MHz)

29

The point I was trying to make was that a lower clock speed shouldn’t mean it’s less capable. It’s also not the reason why the Photon is being maintained.
The reason to keep the Photon in the portfolio, as far as I’m aware, has to do with the fact that it’s a really capable and refined piece on its own. Moreover, it’s to provide commercial users a sense of security in knowing that the product will be updated, maintained and more importantly, available for the foreseeable future. Shouldn’t have anything to do with it’s clockspeed.

1 Like
30

@seulater 's response to all you guys :slight_smile:

1 Like
31

Really? then make it 25mhz and see how many people will pick it up. Clock speed is everything. Every gen phone, computer , cpu gets faster and faster. there is a reason for this, because you can do more in less time. If you have a standard product that is say 240Mhz, you can make it do slower things, but if you have a 64MHZ part you cannot make it do faster things. So its best to be on the fast edge than the slower. Of course, you would not need a 240MHZ for say making a watch, but you could.

Edit, now this example here I am NOT saying the Argon will be slow in what it does. It has it own niche and its built for that.

1 Like
32

Always cont on you to lighten the mood :wink:
Moors7 seems to always be out for blood with me for whatever reason

33

That is most certainly not the case. I don't really appreciate you implying that I am, but that's your good right.

Though technology advanced and allows people to make more powerful devices, that isn't always necessary. That's like saying nobody would buy a Macbook with a 'flimsy' Core M processor when there are Alienwares available with over-clocked i7s and double graphics cards.

There most definitely is a place for devices where low power is more important than increased processing power. IoT happens to be one of those industries where that's more and more important. Wasn't the general idea to offload heavy tasks to the cloud, so your device could be lightweight?

34

I think we are getting off topic here - we are all happy to see the new children of the Particle gang and hope they’ll grow up as nicely as their older siblings and who knows how this family will keep on growing in the future.
Maybe there will be a ESP64 quad core with 1.3GHz a 1GB flash and 16MB RAM :crazy_face: (but no bantering then!!! :wink: )

1 Like
35

I agree that I would prefer 120Mhz vs 64Mhz if I had the choice between the two options.

But I’m also pretty sure 64Mhz will work for most of what I will ever want to do.

I can see why an ultra-low power Bluetooth chip would use a middle of the road clock speed.

But when I test various new sensors on my trusty Arduino Uno board I still amazed at how quickly it processes data when it runs at like 8 or 16 Mhz. So 64Mhz should be just fine for most applications but of course may be less than ideal for others.

I’m happy the new boards will have 3MB memory and 256k flash.

1 Like
36

Then stop being negative towards me, no one else does it. Nor should you.
If you need a low power device then odds are your not going to be doing anything intensive like updating a LCD or communicating to a sensor farm via SPI or RS485. Therefore you dont need clock speed to save on power. My point was that if you need to do much more only the Photon will cut it. The Argon is meant for a different application, and that is not a bad thing just a different one.

1 Like
37

Thanks for the contribution @seulater – I absolutely understand the point you’re making, and it was an internal conversation we had as a team when considering the nRF52840 as the host processor as well. We arrived at a similar conclusion – in an ideal world we would have preferred a slightly higher clock rate, but with FPU and accelerated hardware crypto we believe it will be sufficient for most of the use cases for which customers are already choosing Particle.

The Photon at 120MHz definitely fits the bill for applications that require the highest clock speed possible.

Something for everything :slight_smile:

5 Likes
38

I agree with your guy's choice. These new products fill a niche in the market that has be needing a facelift for some time now, and I am sure these products will do a great job at it! It's just unfortunate for me I just happen to be heading in a different direction which require more flash and speed. No big deal, I was just so looking forward to getting it from you guys is all. I mean no negativism towards the new product line.

1 Like
39

congrats to the team on the new product, I’m sure a lot of effort has gone into it.

good points:

  • Digging through the ESP32-S0WD documentation they don’t spell out that its 40Mhz wifi compatible, best I can do is correlate that 150Mbps is the typical 802.11n speed of a single 40Mhz channel. This is a win for customer satisfaction because P1 shouldn’t have seen the light of day with outdated 20Mhz only operation.

not great:

  • I was expecting the ESP32 as the main processor and ‘do everything’. I thought Particle was going to be taking the relatively decent ESP32 arduino maturity to the next step and leading the way. From a cost perspective it makes me cringe that it hasn’t been done.

surprisingly disappointing:

  • I’m curious what other folk who aren’t just tinkering at home think about it being a dev board form factor. I need it in P1 form factor (and price point) as a SMT part so this announcement is largely irrelevant so I’m stuck with P1 that doesn’t have BT and makes customers sad when it doesn’t work on their modern wifi routers that operate at 40mhz and drop the particle offline.

…so i’m left sitting here wondering who will fill the dual core ESP32 gap in the market

1 Like
40

Coming this fall (or whatever it's called for q3) :slight_smile:

1 Like