LightBlue Bean 

The LightBlue Bean by Punch Though Design is another board with  an ATmega328 and a CC2540 BLE radio, like the DFRobot BLuno, but in a very compact form.

The board comes into a match-box sized package and proudly claims Designed in California — Made in Korea.

If the app is installed on a iOS device, the LED goes on.

I've edited my initial review, as many irritating details have beed addressed by the Light Blue team.
Punch Through Design announced in June 2018 it stops selling the Bean boards.
The ATmega328P and the CC2540 BLE radio
The CR2032 coin battery

The board is powered by a CR2032 coin battery and features 8 GPIOs only. However, standard ports as SPI and I²C are available. 

The serial port is connected to the Bluetooth radio.
Official map from Punch Through Design

Out-of-the-Box with iOS device

The recommended out-of-the-box experience is with an iOS device with Bluetooth 4.0 or BLE implemented. 

The procedure is very easy and error-proof:
  • Download the app
  • Switch Bluetooth on
  • Launch the app and 
  • Select the Bean device.
The battery only lasted one week. I was really surprised, since I used it on a very episodic way. 

Sure, the ATmega328P is the low power version of the popular ATmega328, but this MCU still requires much more power --1.5mA at 4 MHz, 3V — than the MSP430 from Texas Instruments --230 μA at 1 MHz, 2.2 V.

Installation on Mac

Installation of the software on a Mac implies three steps:
  • Download and install the Arduino 1.0.5 IDE under the 
    /Applications folder. Other releases 1.5 or 1.6 don't work.
  • Download and install the Bean Loader App.
  • Run the Bean Loader App and call the menu Bean Loader > Associate, select the Arduino IDE.

Contrary to initial release, the installation was easy and fast.

The Bean Loader is available for Mac OS X and Windows, and even for iPhone and iPad on iOS.

Software

The IDE is the standard Arduino IDE version 1.0.

All the peripherals are managed through the Bean object. sleep() is recommended instead of wait().

accel = Bean.getAcceleration();
temp = Bean.getTemperature();
Bean.setLed(red, green, blue);
Bean.setLedGreen(green);
ledGreen = Bean.getLedGreen();
Bean.sleep(1000);

Once the sketch is ready, press Verify or Upload. The IDE compiles the sketch and then launches the uploader.

First Connect the device and then select Program Sketch to upload. Upload is done over-the-air through Bluetooth. A virtual serial /tmp/tty.LightBlue-Bean is also available through Bluetooth.

The Bean Loader App for OS X is actually is full app, unfortunately hidden deep inside the modified Arduino IDE. 

Conclusion

At USD30, the LightBlue Bean offers a nice introduction into the Internet of Things. The compact form factor and low-energy make it perfect for projects where size is key.

As always with the Internet of Things projects, the difficult part isn't programming the device but developing the application on the smartphone. Does the iOS app include a programming tool as the screen pictured on the right? I've found nowhere documentation about this feature. 

When the first review was conducted, software was only available for Mac OS X and iOS. Windows and Android were planned later on, according to the development schedule. The Windows version is now available with the Modern UI interface.

If the iOS app provides a great out-of-the-box experience, the IDE has been dramatically improved over the initial release. It is now fast and easy.

The main surprise I've experimented was the autonomy of the battery, one week only. Although the ATmega328P is a low power version of the ATmega328, more modern MCUs like the MSP430 from Texas Instruments offer ultra low power, with lower consumption and thus longer battery life.

The Light Blue team has done a great job on addressing the irritating details I mentioned on my initial review. The more spectacular improvement is programming the Light Blue from an iPad!

The LightBlue Bean has now an amazing extension with specific Node-RED modules. Read IoT with LightBlue Bean and Node-RED!

Pros

  • Nice iOS app
  • True plug-and-play 
  • Over-the-air upload and serial console
  • Mac OS X and Windows
  • iOS for iPhone and iPad

Cons

  • Still a 8-bit micro-controller
  • 8 GPIOs

Wrap-Up

  • Perfect to start with Bluetooth Low Energy
  • Requires Bluetooth BLE computer or device
  • Great improvements done by responsive team

Links

Posted:
Updated: Aug 28, 2018