The ESP32-S3 LCD development board is a combination of high-resolution touch screen and powerful wireless capabilities in a small size platform. Designed to support handheld devices, smart panels, and IoT dashboards, it is a combination of a large LCD screen, audio, motion, and battery-supported devices that provide the developers with the means to create responsive interfaces and smart applications easily.
The board is simply the ESP32-S3R8 dual-core MCU (maximum frequency of 240 MHz) with a 3.49-inch capacitive touchscreen based on the IPS series. The 640 x 172 screen provides extensive aspect ratio applicable in smart meters, small-sized control panel or media display. The design also incorporates sensors, audio I/O, storage and wireless capabilities in addition to the visual, to make the board a full human-machine interface (HMI) solution, not a mere screen controller.
ESP32-S3 3.49inch Touch LCD Development Board Specifications:
- Wireless MCU: Espressif ESP32-S3R8, dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz, vector instructions for AI acceleration
- Memory and Storage:
- 512 KB SRAM, 384 KB ROM
- 8 MB PSRAM
- 16 MB QSPI NOR flash
- MicroSD card slot
- Display:
- 3.49-inch IPS LCD with capacitive touch
- 640 x 172 resolution, 16.7M colors
- 1200:1 contrast ratio, 178° viewing angle
- AXS15231B display driver (QSPI interface)
- I2C-based touch controller
- Display active area: 84.00 x 22.58 mm
- Display window: 92.69 x 28.99 mm
- Connectivity: 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth 5.0 LE with long-range, 2 Mbps data rate, mesh networking
- Audio:
- ES7210 ADC: multi-mic audio decoding
- ES8311 DAC: low-power audio output
- Dual digital microphone array with echo cancellation & noise reduction
- MX1.25 2-pin header for external speaker
- USB: USB Type-C port for programming, and power.
- Expansion:
- 22-pin 2.54 mm through-hole expansion pads
- 15-pin 1 mm pitch header with 7× GPIO, 1× I2C, 1× UART, VBUS, 3.3 V, GND
- 2 pads for USB 2.0 (IO19 & IO20)
- Sensors and RTC:
- QMI8658 6-axis IMU (3-axis accelerometer + 3-axis gyroscope)
- PCF85063 RTC chip
- TCA9554PWR 8-bit I²C GPIO expander
- Miscellaneous:
- PWR, BOOT, and Reset buttons on back
- Onboard PCB antenna and IPEX connector for external antenna
- Power
- 5 V via USB-C
- 3.7 V Li-ion battery (MX1.25 header or 18650 holder, depending on case)
- Power management IC for charging/discharging
- Dimensions
- Case A (18650 version): 98.50 x 34.80 x 31.80 mm (82.11 x 17.30 mm battery housing)
- Case B (Li-Po version): 98.50 x 34.80 x 22.80 mm
Developers can program the ESP32-S3 LCD development board with ESP-IDF or the Arduino IDE. Waveshare offers SDKs and demo projects covering LVGL (v8/v9) for GUI design, along with examples for Wi-Fi, BLE, audio, IMU, RTC, and battery management. The board also works with SquareLine Studio for rapid UI prototyping. For voice applications, it supports both offline voice control and integration with online large language model platforms. More details available on wiki page.
The ESP32-S3 3.49-inch IPS LCD development board is available from multiple sources. On AliExpress, it sells for $40.59 without a battery and $42.87 with a polymer battery. On Amazon, the board is listed at $42.99. The most affordable option comes directly from the Waveshare store, priced at $29.99 without a battery and $31.99 with a battery.
Dimensions of Case A and Case B
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