Flipper Zero — Tamagochi for Hackers

[mairo]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flipper-devices/flipper-zero-tamagochi-for-hackers?ref=4xrw9t&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyJn5BRDrARIsADZ9ykHnGhZfukwW2-vCIgIH48JVvoKcn9MZzpD56raqDj0PVgmRT-pbQtEaAsRQEALw_wcB

Something different at the crowd source arena

(not related with the sale)

[firewalker]

Cool gadget. 1,3 millions in 4 days!

Alexander.

[mairo]

I bet the majority of the backers are not EEs, or electronics hobbyists 

[Berni]

Yeah im guessing it did so well because average joes seen this as a modern lockpick for electronic security. Lots of people learn lockpicking for fun, so why not electronic lockpicking.

[Kean]

Unsurprisingly with the large number of backers, they've announced manufacturing delays
They do seem to have things under control, are being open about areas of difficulty, and providing lots of detail for those interested in the process

https://blog.flipperzero.one/review-and-producing-plan/

Comments on the Kickstarter are generally positive
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flipper-devices/flipper-zero-tamagochi-for-hackers/posts/3079319

Only thing that surprised me is that they make a big deal about beta testers potentially getting faulty units, and that is the risk they take.  With only 50 beta units out of 40,000+ units I'm surprised they wouldn't just offer to ship out replacement units to beta backers if a serious design/manufacturing fault is found prior to mass production.  I suspect that is what they will do anyway, they just don't want to commit to it without a bunch of caveats.

[ebastler]

Seems to me that the "beta tester" disclaimer essentially cautions the early users to expect to buggy firmware. And of course firmware updates are fully exptected and will be user-installable.

But I am surprised that they still don't even have samples of the injection-molded enclosure, but still use milled parts for the latest prototype. That's where they were in August already, it appears. Will they start to ramp up production in February? Maybe...

[Syntax Error]

"Flipper turns hacking into a game, reminding you that hacking always should be fun." Tell that one to the state prosecutor when you're arrested for 'pen testing' with a cloned RFID tag.

There's a replay attack feature for 433Mhz traffic, but most of the 'interesting' stuff is on other ISM bands. As for the STM32 processor, I hope the world hasn't run out of chips already... or there will be some dissapointed early birds.

Flipper Zero is, "Arduino IDE compatible." I thought this was meant to be a *fun* toy?

[fmkit]

ChipCon CC1101 is 18y/o,  they could use pair of SI4432  for same cost, newer chip tunes contionusly 240-930MHz  and 0.1w RF power makes rolljam somewhat easy.