Expensive hardware

The evolution of the internet gave us an opportunity to reach almost any person on the planet and for a long period of time, many companies focused on developing software solutions as a way of trying to get as many users for their products and services as possible. Entrance to the hardware market was much more challenging and not everyone could gather funds and know-how to start competing with already established players.

Internet of Things

Until now, even if you developed your hardware products using developer boards like Raspberry Pi, your cost of production had to be higher because you had to implement whole developer board in your final product. Recently, more companies are producing developer boards using System-On-Module or shorter – SoM, which enables you to use the core part of that board in your final device and that way get a lower price and, if that matters to your products, the smaller size of the final product.

At the same time, Google came up with a new operating system for the Internet of Things devices – Android Things. The best part of this is that you actually use Android Studio for writing code, almost making no difference if you develop certain actions to happen when you press a button in your application or a real button on your hardware device. Of course, you can connect cameras, sensors, wifi antennas, displays, and all sorts of other parts.

Google works with few partners to build Android Things certified development boards that contain SoMs. SoMs integrate the SoC, RAM, Flash Storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, and other components onto a single board, but what is more important they come with all of the necessary FCC certifications.

That way you also don’t have to worry about certificates for your devices, which is a big relief.

Completely connected

The best part of this story is that it is very easy to connect your hardware device with a whole range of services some of which our apps use for years and some which are still in development. Firebase for storage and notifications, Tensor Flow for Machine Intelligence, Google Assistant for voice commands, possibilities are endless. You want to make a device that will recognize and tell kids what animal to draw or you want to get a notification every time your postman delivers the package to your home – no problem.