New Games, LoRa Mesh (Meshtastic) Compatibility, and More!

Officially concluding the PolyCast5 multi-tool remote Kickstarter, I want to give another huge thanks to everyone for supporting the project! It has been super exciting, and I want everyone to know that delivery is still on schedule.

In the meantime, a bunch of cool new features have been added (which all delivered units will have), so let's check them out!

For those who don't know, Meshtastic is an open-source, off-grid communication system that allows users to send secure text messages across long distances without cell towers, Wi-Fi, or internet. Here's how it works:

PolyCast5 can now join this network natively!

Standalone Meshtastic nodes usually cost around $40-60 each, so it's super cool that this is basically a free-to-add feature of PolyCast5. Especially considering everything else it can do.

To use it, you can simply activate the new option under the 'LoRa' menu.

From there, you can connect it to your phone's keyboard (for user input only - phones don't have LoRa) while sending/receiving everything through your PolyCast5. It's just like texting, only exclusive to other mesh-ers and without the need for any cell towers, Wi-Fi, or internet.

Needless to say, it's great for hiking, disaster preparedness, emergency comms, remote IoT, sensor range extension, or just curious techies. You could definitely also create your own private mesh network to run an individual offline communication system. The >your_name< net!

This is also something that would be really cool to extend using cheap PolyPlugs in the future.

An entire new 'Games' category has also been added to PolyCast5, including DOOM, Flappy Bird, T-Rex Runner, and Tetris (with more to come)!

I've actually been super impressed with the quality of running DOOM (port), since it is a pretty complex game handling 3D space and lighting. Zero lag!

*(Buttons will be dark blue like in the Kickstarter.)

Also cool is that levels are randomly generated each time and difficulty scales infinitely, so you could literally play forever on all of these games if you wanted to.

Many hardware improvements were also made, now that all the stretch goals have been hit in preparation for the final optimized hardware design.

There will be a separate update on this soon explaining production progress, but for now I'll just point out that all units will have additional battery discharge protection to keep the built-in battery healthier over time. (Though it does only take ~10min to replace it completely if needed.)

Additionally, the LoRa crystal was upgraded to a TCXO oscillator to allow for more consistent range and performance over various temperatures/conditions. This also unlocks SF10-12 (spreading factors) to allow for even crazier LoRa range should you need it.

Regarding shipping surveys, you will receive an email mid-August asking for your shipping address. As promised, all the code will also be open-sourced then so you can dive in before your unit arrives. Keep an eye out for it!

If you haven't yet backed for a PolyCast5 multi-tool remote but are interested, you can still pledge late on the campaign, so check out the homepage and Kickstarter here.

Thanks so much to everyone for supporting PolyCast5. More updates soon!