The unPhone Puts a Hackable, Educational, ESP32-S3-Powered LoRaWAN Gadget in Everyone's Hands
Developed by Pimoroni and the University of Sheffield, the unPhone delivers a license-free hackable platform for IoT experimentation.
Sheffield-based hobbyist electronics specialist Pimoroni has announced a new educational Internet of Things (IoT) gadget, powered by an Espressif ESP32-S3 and developed in partnership with the University of Sheffield: the LoRaWAN-capable unPhone.
"Phones. They’re miraculous! But: they use up scarce minerals that are often mined in peril. The server clouds they connect to use thousands of times more energy than bitcoin. And they steal our attention, leak our data, compromise our privacy," the company explains of its latest hardware design. "Perhaps we don't need a miracle in our pockets every minute of the day? unPhone isn't a phone alternative but it has the potential to replace some of the sledgehammers we currently crack nuts with (and keep more of your data under your own control)."
The unPhone, developed in partnership with the University of Sheffield and Gareth Coleman, puts a 3.5" 320×480 touchscreen display above an Espressif ESP32-S3 microcontroller module with 8MB of pseudo-static RAM (PSRAM) and 8MB of flash memory. In addition to the ESP32-S3's integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radios, the non-cellular device also includes a LoRa radio designed for license-free wireless communication over LoRaWAN.
Elsewhere on the device, which is designed to be programmed in either CircuitPython or C++, is a vibration motor for haptic notifications, accelerometer and magnetometer sensors, SD Card storage expansion, infrared LEDs — "for surreptitiously switching the cafe TV off," the company jokes — and a 1.2Ah lithium-polymer battery chargeable over the gadget's USB Type-C connection. A bundled expansion board, meanwhile, provides two FeatherWing-compatible sockets for additional hardware and a small prototyping area.
While Pimoroni has only now made the device available for general purchase, the unPhone isn't a new design: the University of Sheffield has been using it for several years, and Hamish Cunningham, professor in the University's department of computer science, has developed an open-license 300-page textbook around the hardware.
Elsewhere on the device, which is designed to be programmed in either CircuitPython or C++, is a vibration motor for haptic notifications, accelerometer and magnetometer sensors, SD Card storage expansion, infrared LEDs — "for surreptitiously switching the cafe TV off," the company jokes — and a 1.2Ah lithium-polymer battery chargeable over the gadget's USB Type-C connection. A bundled expansion board, meanwhile, provides two Feathering-compatible sockets for additional hardware and a small prototyping area.
More information is available on the unPhone website.