Cambridge Consultants Unveils the Cheapest Wi-Fi Radio

As Internet radios are more popular than ever nowadays, the demand for portable radios that can access the Internet via Wi-Fi and tune into the user's favorite radio stations has seriously increased. However, since most users are not willing to pay some huge amounts of money for such an item, the people over at Cambridge Consultants have come up with the Iona low-power Wi-Fi radio (developed and launched as CSR's RadioPro platform), which has a manufacturable eBOM of just $15, thus making it pretty much the lowest cost Wi-Fi radio available.

In addition to supporting over 10,000 radio stations through a dedicated portal, Cambridge Consultants' design has also enabled the RadioPro to have access to the latest software, receiving upgrades automatically via its Wi-Fi connection. The design's flexible architecture also allows full customization of the user interface and menus through a dedicated software development kit (SDK).

The platform is based on two low-power chips from CSR: UniFi, CSR's single-chip Wi-Fi solution and the Multimedia Application Processor (MAP), a highly integrated chip with Cambridge Consultants' XAP processor, a DSP and a stereo codec. The low-power design of RadioPro boasts up to 25 hours of active streaming time running on a 1500mAh battery, enabling truly portable internet radio products.

"The combination of our creative engineering and CSR's excellence in low-cost silicon systems has delivered a platform of great versatility," said Duncan Smith, head of consumer products for Cambridge Consultants. "It has the potential to be applied not only to internet radio but also to new categories of low-cost web-enabled products and services, opening up new markets and delighting next year's consumers."

According to the company's statement, the first radios based on the platform will be available in shops around Christmas, but pricing details are yet unknown.

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