Inkplate 4 Tempera comes with 3.8-inch e-paper touchscreen display

16 October, 2023

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Soldered Electronics has announced another Inkplate embedded device, an open source and Arduino-compatible e-paper display module– Inkplate 4 Tempera. The Inkplate 4 TEMPERA features a 3.8-inch e-paper touchscreen with a resolution of 600×600 pixels. It comes with built-in front lighting, making it easy to view content in low-light conditions or at night.

The device is built around an ESP32 microcontroller with 8 MB flash memory and 4 MB random access memory. But the focus here is on the e-paper display, which can display images in 3-bit grayscale, which means it can show black, white, and six shades of gray. The screen is equipped with a multi-point touchscreen, which means it can detect and respond to touch input from multiple points simultaneously.

In 1-bit mode, which is suitable for simple updates, the screen can refresh partially in just 0.18 seconds. When performing a full-screen update in both 1-bit and 3-bit modes (which allows for grayscale), including cleanup, it takes approximately 0.86 seconds.

The Inkplate 4 Tempera includes a 1200-mAh battery and power-management circuitry, making it easy to charge and monitor the remaining battery life accurately. The device is designed to consume minimal power, especially in low-power mode, where it draws only 18 µA of current.

The device is equipped with various sensors, including a gyroscope, accelerometer, temperature, humidity, air quality, and gesture sensors, providing various data collection and interaction capabilities. In terms of external device connectivity, it can be connected using easyC connector, which is compatible with Qwiic and STEMMA QT connectors.

The device supports popular programming platforms like Arduino and MicroPython out of the box. It has community support for ESPHome, expanding its compatibility. The manufacturer has provided Arduino library, which includes many examples and project ideas.

Some of the other important components onboard include a USB-UART CH340 converter, which facilitates communication between the device and a computer through a USB connection. Another is the PCAL6416 GPIO expander, which can be used for connecting and controlling various external devices and sensors.