Bluetooth and Tesla

#1

The most recent update post from Waytools and their comment about Tesla made me think of this.

As a TREG user for a little over two years now I am genuinely impressed by the Textblade and I continue to use it as my primary keyboard every day. There’s no question that the concept, tech and execution is far ahead of the competition in many many ways.
However.
I also use a Logitech m720 bluetooth mouse and the bluetooth connection on that thing is rock solid. Not once have I had even the slightest hiccup with the connection. It connects instantly and works flawlessly every time.
I can’t say the same for the Textblade. After a recent firmware update on my laptop the Textblade refuses to reconnect after going to sleep. Have to re-pair each time. The Logitech mouse didn’t have any issue. So ended up going back to using the bluetooth dongle provided by Waytools (my previous laptop didn’t have bluetooth LE so had to use the dongle). Even with the dongle, there is a small delay in connecting and once in a while I have to power cycle the TextBlade to reconnect to the dongle. Before the firmware update when the Textblade did connect directly I still wouldn’t call it rock solid.

This parallels Tesla. Their platform tech is phenomenal. Batteries, chassis, motors, power management all phenomenal and just about everyone who drives one agrees.
However.
Their paint, interior fit and finish and panel alignment is just embarrassingly awful.
Just about every other manufacturer does a better job on these “basics”, even on their economy models.

Anyway, this is just a rant. I am certain that Waytools will resolve these issues and will be very successful just as I am sure that in time Tesla will resolve their assembly quality issues.

I just get annoyed when the basics get brushed over while gawking at the latest tech.
That’s it. Just wanted to rant a little bit.

#2

I suspect most of us have had BT issues. Based on reports I’ve seen over the years, that certain causes some TB problems. But then, I have an old Apple BT keyboard and I recall from time to time seeing an image appear on my Mac screen saying it had disconnected - though usually it would connect again moments later. So I guess it could be said to be better in this particular thing than the TB.

As, apparently, is your mouse.

But I wonder about two things. One would be whether or not, just being in a larger device allows a better antenna design?

The other would be, what KIND of BT? From what I’ve heard, BT-LE is more problematic than earlier versions. And my Apple keyboard doesn’t have BT-LE. Don’t know about your mouse, but would be worth knowing.

#3

S3rider - Apple and Logitech both use a version of Bluetooth that is typically one generation back, to try to have the lowest common denominator for compatibility with older host machines.

The older Bluetooth protocols broadcast more radio energy, but consume much more power and consequently have less battery life.

TextBlade uses Bluetooth LE, which is far more power efficient.

The implementation of BLE in host stacks is not always consistent in some platforms, since there is some lag before development teams get around to propagating all the latest updates to the BLE portion of their firmware stack.

One reason we did this major firmware infrastructure rewrite is that it lets us use the latest state-of-art Bluetooth 5.X stack.

We’ve noticed improvements in latency and link integrity in our testing of the advanced Bluetooth stack firmware.

In addition, the new infrastructure supports wired mode, which bypasses the entire Bluetooth stack altogether, which is handy for applications in noisy environments or when ultra-low latency is desirable.

So we think you’ll find that the new firmware noticeably enhances both wireless and wired connectivity for your TextBlade.

This topic is another good example of why we have invested in advancing the firmware for general release.

Bluetooth connectivity may seem like a commoditized spec, but as we’ve seen, even this definitely benefits from engineering follow-up work to insure that it takes advantage of the latest Bluetooth technology.

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#4

Can you elaborate on the bt5? I’m not likely to be so good at technical descriptions (though I love reading them since eventually it might sink in). I’m more of a bottom line guy.

With that in mind, let’s look at some scenarios. Suppose you are in a somewhat noisy environment but generally it works well enough. Maybe the occasional hiccup or, on a bad day, times when maybe it is usable but bad enough that you may opt to plug it in. The foregoing is based on the old system.

Now, same environment but with the new stuff: would those occasional hiccups probably disappeared? On the bad days, would they improve enough where they are no worse than the hiccup situation?

Or, does your data translate into being able to say BT problems are reduced by 50% (or whatever %)?

We have experienced different degrees of issues ranging from virtually none to, in certain specific noisy locations, possibly serious on occasion.

#5

I just changed the battery on my logitech mouse for the first time since I bought it which reminded me of this post. It’s just a standard AA alkaline battery and I never turn the mouse off, it just uses it’s own low power mode - powers up near as can tell instantly when I touch it.
So that’s 4 months of 5 days a week use, never turning it off on one AA battery. Pretty good.
Confirmed that it uses Bluetooth LE and the connection has been rock solid every single day.
My laptop has had another bluetooth update during this time, no issue for the mouse but still no luck fixing the repairing issue with the textblade.
Anyway, just a little update.
Like everyone else, hoping for more substantive news from Waytools.

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