it's easier, and cheaper, and more accesible to play around with a RS-232 cable... I've like 4 USB-RS232 adapters, and it's very easy to implement the protocol even on the dirtiest and cheaper chips...
You're comparing one component to a complete product.
At a minimum you'd need to add a TTL-to-RS232 converter, wiring, connectors, and I believe a proprietary "MFi" chip from Apple is required to use protocols other than the ones blessed by Apple (and surprise, the serial port profile isn't one of them)
Plus the prices I'm seeing right now show the cable is $59.00 and the Bluetooth chip is $59.95.
don't you realize that your chip is an bluetooth-serial interface?
at the end, you'll have to implement RS-232 on your microcontroller to get access from that bluetooth chip...
> Fully configurable UART
> Press the 'A' character from a terminal program on your computer and an 'A' will be pushed out the TX pin of the Bluetooth module.
Yes, they are talking about THAT terminal and THAT TX pin...
