I'm currently also doing a hardware project (also esp32-s3 based) after a stint in big tech, albeit in a completely different field.
For me, I'm finding that firmware development and app development is an absolute pain compared to mechanical design and PCB design. What was your experience like?
Without a doubt. I highly recommend Flutter though, it was a relative breeze!
For the firmware, I would have gone with Linux + a higher level language, probably Golang, because my iteration loop was almost 2 minutes w/ C & esp32. Way too long.
But at least it made the product very power efficient, and a bit cheaper.
also coming from linux + some bare-metal experience, esp-idf was absolutely horrifying.
fortunately it turned out that the s3 hardware (i've got a cardputer) isn't that crazy, and it is relatively easy, if almost completely untrodden, to program much of it from scratch (which is the familiar way to do embedded for me).
my iteration loop is ~30ms for a small program (i download directly to ram so as not to degrade flash).
people are now actively working on reverse engineering wifi, which so far has been the major reason to use espressif's software stack (their driver runs under freertos).
For the firmware, I would have stuck with Micropython if it weren't for its lack of dual core support (required in my case for simultaneous BT + fast sampling ADC).
About efficiency - ESP chugs gobs of power, comparatively (something like 50mA average, and that's with all the relevant power saving features enabled). By comparison, an nRF or an STM32W0 is single digit mA.
For me, I'm finding that firmware development and app development is an absolute pain compared to mechanical design and PCB design. What was your experience like?