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770 points ananddtyagi | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.4s | source
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sardine5 ◴[] No.44486454[source]
A bit different, as it's mainly for voice - but I made an app 'Murmur : Bluetooth Group Calls' - that lets you hold group voice calls and message via a mesh of Bluetooth LE connections. It's available on Android and iOS. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/murmur-bluetooth-group-calls/i...

Doesn't really get any downloads, so not sure there's much demand for this - but I use it with some shokz bone conducting headphones for talking to my wife when we're cycling (also for wrangling our two small girls)

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roshin ◴[] No.44486801[source]
Cool technology, but what is the usecase? I can imagine traveling abroad without a sim and using it as described. But is it any better than using the cellular network (when you have access to it)?
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kaiken1987 ◴[] No.44492916[source]
Cardo uses a similar tech for a dynamic mesh network, using Bluetooth I think, in their helmet comms. So if you are out on motorcycles or ATVs you can still talk without needing a cellular network. It makes things a lot more stable and not use any data. In these scenarios you'd struggle to talk face to face wearing helmets without some sort of comm. So if you can remove the need to buy a specialized comm device to do it, sounds great.
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1. subscribed ◴[] No.44500028[source]
You can't. Smartphones are Class 2 devices (weak), and you must use radio the way firmware let's you.

Purpose-built hardware is Class 1 (much stronger, 100 mW/20dBm vs 2.4mW/4dBm), and they can use sophisticated protocols to keep the connection stable. And that's Bluetooth.

If they're not playing Bluetooth but go general ISM, they can emit whole 1W on 2.4GHz or 915 MHz.

They're not really alike.