One of the biggest advantages of ESP32 development boards (without even counting the speed, flash size, WiFi, Bluetooth, and two cores) is that they come in a variety of shapes and sizes: bare boards, with OLED, with color LCD, with LoRa chipset, with GPS modem, etc., etc. And finally, you can get them with an e-paper display.

LILYGO T5 4.7-inch E-paper ESP32 development board

The LilyGo T5 4.7-inch E-paper ESP32 is an example of such a device. For slightly more than $27 (plus shipping) you will get:

  • ESP32 dual core MCU
  • 4.7-inch integrated e-paper display - 540x960 pixels, 16 gray levels
  • Allows usage of a touch screen
  • 16MB flash
  • 8MB PSRAM memory
  • USB-C port
  • built-in LiPo/Li-Ion battery charger
  • integrated 18650 Li-Ion battery holder
  • 3 general purpose buttons

LILYGO T5 4.7-inch E-paper ESP32 development board

The question is: what you can do with such a device? The obvious answer is: build a battery-operated, WiFi-enabled, internet-connected weather station that uses the Open Weather Map project to display weather data and forecast in your position. You even do not have to code it, as someone did that for you already. Just take a look at this awesome Open Source project on GitHub: https://github.com/DzikuVx/LilyGo-EPD-4-7-OWM-Weather-Display