LILYGO's T-Echo Is a Tiny, Battery-Powered ePaper Display with LoRa, Bluetooth, NFC, and GPS Radios
Designed for compact IoT projects, the T-Echo builds on the company's earlier T-Beam — and you can't fault it for connectivity options.
IoT specialist LILYGO has launched a highly-connected ePaper display, boasting the option to send the display data over LoRa, Bluetooth, or near-field communication (NFC) radio links: the LILYGO T-Echo.
The LILYGO T-Echo builds on the company's earlier T-Beam, a development board for LoRa long-range low-power wireless communication built around a dual-core Espressif ESP32 microcontroller. This time the company has chosen a Nordic nRF52840 part with Bluetooth 5, combined with a Semtech SX1262 LoRa transceiver.
That combination of hardware gives the T-Echo the option of sending and receiving data over Bluetooth, NFC, and LoRa — but the feature set doesn't end there. LILYGO has also given the part an integrated GPS receiver, a real-time clock, an RGB LED, a user-definable physical button and touch button, and a compact but clear 1.54" ePaper screen.
The key feature of electrophoretic ePaper displays is, of course, their low power draw and readability in sunlight. For nighttime use, though, they need a light source — and LILYGO has paired the display with an LED-based front-lighting system for round-the-clock readability.
The board is available with or without 3D-printed enclosure and bundled 850mAh battery for on-the-go use, and comes with antennas for the GPS, LoRa, and NFC radios, a touch cable, a two-pin JST battery cable, and a USB Type-C cable for power and data.
THe T-Echo is now available on the LILYGO Tindie store, priced at $48.65 or $58.17 with enclosure and battery; opting for an 868MHz or 915MHz variant over the default 433MHz adds $1.33 to the cost.