Playing with a TI CC3200 launchpad

I recently got a new TI CC3200 launchpad from Newark. This weekend, I finally had the chance to play with it. One word - WOW.

Alright, so the demo that ships with the board isn't really impressive. What is impressive, however, is the CC3200 IC on the board. This chip costs about $9 in 1k quantities and contains everything you need to build a wifi connected embedded system. If you're familiar with the previous CC3000 wifi module, this IC is very similar, except it comes as a 64 pin QFN and includes an ARM Cortex-M4 applications processor.

I haven't had the chance to get Energia up and running with the CC3200 yet; I'm holding off until they ship a stable version with CC3200 support.

Since I haven't actually worked with this chip, I can't really give it a recommendation. Still, if you're designing a cost sensitive product that needs wifi connectivity, you would be crazy to leave this chip out of your evaluation list.