#001: The future of Bluetooth connectivity with Blecon Founder, Simon Ford

In today’s Coredump Session, we unpack the full story of Bluetooth—from its PDA-era beginnings to its rising role in cloud-connected devices. With insights from Memfault’s Chris Coleman and François Baldassari, along with Blecon’s Simon Ford, this wide-ranging conversation explores how Bluetooth Low Energy has evolved, where it thrives (and doesn’t), and why it’s often the right tool, even if it’s not a perfect one. Expect history, hot takes, and practical guidance for building better Bluetooth-powered products.Key Takeaways:Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Bluetooth Classic are fundamentally different—and BLE was never just a “lite” version.BLE's strength lies in its low power consumption and quick connection setup, making it ideal for peripheral devices that sleep most of the time.Use cases like audio, asset tracking, and cloud sync continue to shape BLE’s evolution, and new specs like LE Audio and PAwR are expanding its reach.Bluetooth wins not because it’s perfect—but because it’s practical: globally adopted, low-cost, and well-supported.Debugging Bluetooth at scale requires collecting connection parameters, analyzing retries, and understanding phone ecosystem quirks.BLE Mesh adoption has been underwhelming, with real-world complexity often outweighing its theoretical benefits.Expect to see BLE turn up in more places, including MEMS sensors and energy-harvesting devices, not just consumer gadgets.Designers should understand trade-offs in connection intervals, latency, and power draw when choosing Bluetooth for cloud or local connectivity.Chapters:00:00 Episode Teasers & Intro01:10 Meet the Guests: Bluetooth Roots at Pebble, Fitbit, and Blecon06:51 BLE’s Breakthrough: The iPhone 4S Moment10:22 BLE vs Classic: Why It Took Off14:39 Specs That Shifted Everything: Packet Length, Coded PHY & LE Audio21:41 Is BLE Still Interoperable? And Does It Matter?28:22 The BLE Cloud Puzzle: Gateways, Phones & Golden Gate38:40 BLE’s Sweet Spot: Power, Latency & When It Just Works47:12 Operating BLE Devices in the Wild: What to Track & Why57:40 Mesh Ambitions vs Reality⁠⁠Join the Interrupt SlackWatch this episode on YouTube⁠Suggest a Guest⁠Follow Memfault⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠Other ways to listen:⁠⁠Apple PodcastsiHeartRadio⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon MusicGoodPodsCastbox⁠⁠⁠⁠Visit our website

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.