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How to use Bluetooth GPS module in an app?

How do I start with building a prototype of my idea?

  • I am looking forward to start a hardware startup with a product which will basically have GPS, GSM, Bluetooth and Accelerometer module and will communicate with an android app. I am a Software person and i have a co-founder who is suggesting me to go for a top down approach - Get a android phone, tear down the phone and add the functionality which i want on top of that. Is it a good way to develop the prototype or should we start from scratch?

  • Answer:

    You start building a prototype by, well, building something. It doesn't matter whether you learn all the individual components independently and then glue them together later, or if you start with what you know and add-on each new component: you just need to get started. The longer you wait to do so, the less likely you are to ever get it done. Make sure you get people who aren't just The Idea Guys to work with you, but ones who already know (or want to learn fast) how to help/do what you're trying to do If this is going to be successful, and it's going to involve hardware, you're likely going to need to get custom PCBs, enclosures, etc made - starting with something that's 80% of the way to what you want (eg a pair of smart phones that'll communicate - which is what it sounds like you're trying to build, though I'm sure there's more than that) could be a lot quicker. But you're going to need to design your hardware eventually - and that's not [generally] comfortably inside the bailiwick of a self-described "Software person".

Warren Myers at Quora Visit the source

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I think you are pretty awesome co-founders. One is mining for the best possible solution, the other has instinctively chosen it. Keep together! There's nothing like having technology in place for trying out your concept. It's the cheapest, easiest and surest way to see whether the tech you imagined can be implemented. Pull apart those smart phones if you need to. Don't fret that people will say there's nothing extraordinary you have done - this ain't college. Your efforts can only pay you through sale and scale, never by brownie points scored. Prove the concept. Show it to your friends, take feedback. You will most likely be thinking of more/less things to implement. If your iterated prototype (however ugly or sluggish or raw) solves a pain point faced by many, don't look back.

Tapan Mittal

As rightly said by Warren " You build something by start working on it." First you need to work on idea and have a clear picture of what you exactly want. Then you need to do some brainstorming and develop your strategies on your plan of action and start working on them as soon as possible. You keep improving your plan as you face roadblock. If you are taking top down approach, first you need to develop basic application and then keep adding functionality as per your need. Developing a hardware is little tough, if you are not expert in that, then you need to have a person in team to help you with the hardware. Good luck !!!!

Deepak Yadav

Essentially you will require an industrial design engineer, which is my profession. We are skilled in problem solving, storytelling by visually demonstrating design developments and both physical and virtual modelling of the product, which is eventually used for prettying and manufacture. Happy to discuss, Jack

Jack Michael

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