RoadTest: Panasonic PAN1720 Kit
Author: hipcatcoolcap
Creation date:
Evaluation Type: Evaluation Boards
Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True
What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?:
What were the biggest problems encountered?: Documentation, documentation documentation...
Detailed Review:
I was disappointed in the support materials for this device. I requested access to blue radio forum and was denied. I tried emailing them a few times and was ignored. So I went with what I had.
The case was nice, not wife proof, but with my wife nothing really is. A small slip of paper telling you where the blue radios forum is (so that you can be promptly ignored) and to download a zip file. In the zipfile is a exe file, and a demo guide to run the file. The demo exe does a search for the other module, connects to it, allows you to send back and forth, and really that's about it. I at one point downloaded the wrong zip file for an Intel version. The demo boards looked identical for the most part. the zip file had a whole folder structure of different eeproms to load. Also programs that not only connected them but accessed their GPIO pins. Even a space to write and run scripts. Full documentation was there, everything. I highly recommend building a file set like that for this module. I had many ideas flood in when browsing through the Intel download, things I could do just with it right there.
Another thing I tried was tapping into the debug plug. I used the schematic someone was nice enough to leave for us in the roadtest comments. I tried a few different protocols (using a standard bus pirate and pirate-ship) I never could get anything. Not even garbage. I don't think it was outputting anything on those pins (but it was worth a try.) I'll likely pull this out again sometime and play with it more, but if I was developing a Bluetooth system and got this as a dev board I wouldn't waste my time with it.
