Seeed Studio's New ePaper Kits Make Electrophoretic Display Development a Breeze

Embedded and hobbyist electronics specialist Seeed Studio has launched a pair of development kits designed for those looking to experiment with ePaper displays — one powered by an Espressif ESP32-S3, and the other by a Nordic Semi nRF52840.

"Picture this: You want to build a custom project, but you're limited by pre-built devices with fixed sizes, components, and enclosures. Or maybe you're juggling multiple driver boards just to support different display sizes," says Seeed's Liora Chen in support of the company's latest product launch. "If this sounds familiar, our new ePaper DIY Kits are exactly what you need! Creation should be easy and flexible! With our new ePaper DIY Kits, you can build unique display projects your way, without limitations, just endless possibilities. The kit includes ePaper driver boards and a variety of ePaper displays for you to choose from, making it easier than ever to bring your ideas to life."

Both boards kits are effectively identical in layout, featuring 24- and 50-pin outputs for connection to electrophoretic ePaper displays — panels that require energy only when changing states, offering a paper-like viewing experience and great power efficiency for infrequently-changing content. The difference is in which XIAO development board is included in the bundle: the EE04 kit variant comes with the XIAO ESP32-S3 Plus board, and the EN04 variant with the XIAO nRF52840 Plus.

Chen explains that the two kits are tweaked for different project requirements: the EN04 variant offers higher energy efficiency and support for Near-Field Communication (NFC), while the EE04 version delivers more processing power and "seamless internet connectivity" for projects where power efficiency is less of a priority. Both can be programmed using the Arduino IDE and PlatformIO or flashed with ESPHome, the company says, while the EE04 with its Espressif ESP32-S3 chip also offers support for Seeed's in-house SenseCraft HMI platform for no-code human-machine interface development.

The XIAO ePaper DIY Kit EE04 and XIAO ePaper DIY Kit EN04 are now available on the Seeed store, both priced at $9.90; compatible displays are available starting at $5.85 for a 1.52" monochrome display and rising to $45 for a six-color 7.3" E-Ink Spectra panel.