Click on images to enlarge them

Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Working with Eddystone -- Bluetooth Low-Energy Beacon

I finally got around to trying Eddystone, the Google alternative to Apple's iBeacon.  I have to say I am impressed by what I have seen so far.  From the technology point, it appears to be a better beaconing solution than iBeacon.  Of course, iBeacons have a much larger install base, due to Apple's  initial lead in this area.

I have a Eddystone github project which I am able to experiment and play with this type of beacon.
The cool thing is that Google has provided several mobile-side apps which allow firmware developers to works with non-trivial apps.

On the Android there is an app, "Physical Web" which scans and lists any Eddystone beacons in the area.

On the iOS side, Google's Chrome browser has extended into the "Today" applet to list PhysicalWeb devices which include Eddystone.