PICS and smart devices (beginners question)

Hello everybody. I would like to ask a beginners question and I would appreciate your helpful responses

I have worked with PIC18F in the past. They were quite useful, I worked with A/D and USB capabilities. Also a little bit with PWM.

Now my question is much more general and does not necessarily has to do with PIC18s but with any kind of PICs

Lets say that I have developed a device that does something (say control a motor) using a PIC microcontroller. I want this device to be communicated with a smart device( android smart phone, tablet, ipod, ipad etc)

My questions are two

1) What function should I be looking into to realize this? Wifi? Bluetooth? any other? I dont think USB will be that useful since it would lost the portability quality of the smart device...(*)

2) About the function asked in 1) , what devices support it? PIC18s? PIC32s? any particular recommendation? Should I buy an additional device apart from the micro?

I am sorry for the generality of the question but I am just starting with this idea from today. I suppose I will read tons of literature now so a quick couple of pointers of where to read would be very much appreciated

Thanks a lot in advance

Kansai


(*) I read that Microchip provides some android beginner test that has to be connected through the USB of the micro... well... as last resource maybe I will look into this but I am guessing perhaps Bluetooth is better...what do you guys think?

Hi,

If you want to interface controller with your andriod then you have to go for Bluetooth, WIFI. for communicating with the smart device you also need the module at the controller end like a bluetooth or WIFI module interfaced to controller.

If you want to go for add on modules then you get bluetooth as a serial port device that can be connected to UART, and similarly some external interface has to be sorted out or check what interface the modules offer to be interfaced to controller. then you have to see if that feature is supported by controller...

Maybe that is the procedure to select a controller and its add on modules for interfacing with smart phones or devices...