OTA Firmware Updates is becoming the main firmware updates method for all Vercon smart mirrors.
An overview of Vercon OTA updates.
OTA Firmware Updates means Over-The-Air firmware updates. It’s also called FOTA which is a wireless delivery of new smart mirror software, firmware, or other data to Vercon smart mirrors. In a wifi or 4G/5G connection, the magic mirror device will download the newest firmware automatically. All the actions a smart mirror user needs to do is wait for an update notice to pop up and then click to launch the updates.
Related content: Software Upgradation K Series
A smart mirror user doesn’t need to call the local reseller or distributor for spot maintenance support in case of any system fault or firmware updates. It saves tons of time to maintain the device for both users and sellers.
When to make OTA updates? Its differences from general Software updates and App updates?
Basically, not like frequent app updates and general software updates, OTA firmware updates are not frequent in a year. Firmware is the base software for hardware.
Firmware is the software that performs the most basic and bottom-level work of a system. In hardware devices, firmware is the soul of hardware devices. The firmware determines the function and performance of hardware devices. In some hardware devices, there are even no other software components except firmware.
The Wikipedia introduction to firmware
Most people understand more about software than firmware. Firmware is a type of software essentially, but it’s much different from regular software.
The word “Firm” in “Firmware” reveals its characteristics. Firmware is a kind of software embedded in a hardware device. It is mostly designed and embedded in a certain type of embedded device. In firmware, we can build the necessary software and apps. Compared to software, its update frequency is much lower. Firmware usually cannot be directly modified by users.
Generally speaking, to software, its antonym is hardware. Let’s take computer software as an example. It’s a series of computer data and instructions organized in a specific order. It is an intangible part of the computer that can be modified, deleted, and copied. Many software can run across platforms, such as the working software ” Windows Office”, and the chat software “WhatsApp”.
The Firmware upgrade is a software method that works on the entire device. Generally, software upgrades cannot solve these: Adding new functions to the device, improving system fluency, or clearing known bugs, but firmware upgrades can achieve it.
Till now, we know what is firmware. This will be very helpful for us to furtherly understand the differences between traditional firmware updates and OTA firmware updates.
It’s very necessary to explain why Vercon decided to take OTA updates for the smart mirrors we produced. It reflects a comprehensive consideration of both technology and user experience.
Technology development is pushing us
A few years ago, firmware updates required CDs or floppy disks or point-to-point transmission. However, as network speeds have increased, OTA (over the air) has become the preferred option for delivering updates. Manual updates is still a reserved option. It’s even preferred in some cases such as updating the firmware in airplanes or large medical equipment. But OTA firmware updates is the trend for most devices, especially IoT hardware devices.
Most IoT devices will benefit from an OTA firmware updates delivery system. This system has become standard for the vast majority of devices. The great benefit is that we can continually add new features, fix bugs and improve product performance even when the device is in the hands of the end user. We can even help our clients try some experimental features through A/B testing, sending different versions to different user groups.
From the very beginning of the magic mirror manufacturing career, we obtained a prominent hardware superiority as the group had manufactured touch screens for years.
After a decade of development, our development is speeding up by merging new technology into smart mirror products.
Nowadays, we went further into the motherboard and firmware supported by newly raised technology solutions. Currently, we are mainly using Rockchip chips to develop dedicated motherboards for various series of smart mirrors including smart bathroom mirrors, interactive workout mirrors, smart home touchscreen control panels, etc.
Take our Android 11 backlit smart bathroom mirror for instance, we are using the dedicated A99 motherboard. For our smart mirror TV bathroom, we are using a dedicated motherboard taking Rockchip 3568.
Since we developed our own dedicated motherboard for smart mirrors, we can quickly update the firmware in our cloud server for our clients and users to download and update it via the OTA way securely.
We need to save cost and time on maintaining the sold devices for our clients
OTA firmware updates also often save costs for our clients and ourselves. We can manage firmware across our fleet of devices from one seamless, unified interface. Generally speaking, the more devices that need to be updated, the more benefits we can get from OTA. Manually updating dozens of smart mirrors is not too much trouble, but imagine manually updating hundreds or thousands of devices – The cost will be incredible!
Build IoT Ecology for users
Technology is changing all things. It’s important to keep the compatibility with other IoT devices in the users’ houses. Do you want your IoT devices to be so powerful that they have to update their firmware to work with other software? This active upgrade may not be practical for manual updates.
