ESP32 2.8 inch Smart Display V3 WiFi & Bluetooth, USB-C, ST7789, Arduino & LVGL

Compact ESP32 Smart Display with 2.8 inch TFT touchscreen, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB-C connection and ST7789 display driver. Ideal for IoT dashboards, control panels, measurement displays, smart home projects and Arduino or LVGL applications.

Version V3

ESP32 Smart Display for IoT, control and visualization

This ESP32 development board combines a powerful ESP32 microcontroller with a 2.8 inch TFT touch display in a compact module. The board is ideal for projects in which measured values, status displays, menus or control interfaces are to be shown directly on a display. Thanks to the integrated WiFi and Bluetooth function, the module is particularly interesting for IoT applications, smart home projects, wireless control systems and custom control panels.

The board is also known as the "Cheap Yellow Display" and is often used for Arduino, ESP32 and LVGL projects. It provides a practical basis for implementing graphical user interfaces, sensor data displays, WLAN-based controls or small touchscreen applications.

2.8 inch TFT touch display with ST7789 driver

The integrated 2.8-inch TFT display offers a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels and enables a clear display of texts, symbols, measured values and graphical user interfaces. The current article was tested practically with the TFT_eSPI library and could be controlled cleanly with the ST7789 display driver.

This makes the board particularly suitable for projects with a graphical interface, such as temperature displays, WLAN status monitors, sensor dashboards, simple touch menus or small user interfaces for microcontroller projects.

ESP32 with WiFi and Bluetooth

The integrated ESP32 microcontroller offers high computing power for compact embedded projects. The dual-core processor with up to 240 MHz allows display output, sensor processing and wireless communication to be combined in a single project. The integrated WLAN and Bluetooth function enables connection to networks, smartphones, web servers, MQTT systems or other microcontroller platforms.

Ideal for Arduino and LVGL

The board can be programmed with the Arduino IDE and is also suitable for projects with LVGL. This makes it much easier to create graphical user interfaces than with simple text displays. Libraries such as TFT_eSPI can be used to flexibly implement display output, colors, shapes, texts and graphic elements.

The board can be used as a stand-alone smart display for simple Arduino projects. Advanced users can implement more complex user interfaces, menus, buttons and visualizations with LVGL.

Typical areas of application

• IoT dashboards for sensor values and status displays
• Smart home controls and WLAN operating panels
• Touchscreen menus for ESP32 projects
• Measured value displays for temperature, humidity, light or power consumption
• MQTT, web server and network projects
• Arduino and LVGL learning projects
• Compact control interfaces for maker projects
• Prototypes for operating devices and small HMI applications
• Practical USB-C connection

The current article has a USB-C socket. The board can be programmed and supplied with power via this. The USB-C interface simplifies the connection compared to older variants with micro USB and makes the board convenient for development, testing and repeated programming.

For makers, education and prototyping

The combination of ESP32, touch display, wireless connection and compact design makes the Smart Display ideal for makers, educational institutions and prototyping. It offers a quick introduction to graphical microcontroller projects and enables illustrative applications that combine programming, electronics and user interfaces.

Note on software configuration

For use with the Arduino IDE, "ESP32 Dev Module" can generally be used as the board profile. The current article has been successfully tested with the ST7789 driver for display control with TFT_eSPI.

Exemplary TFT_eSPI driver selection:

#define ST7789_DRIVER

Depending on the library, sample code or project environment used, further settings may be required for display size, SPI pins, touch function and backlight.

Scope of delivery

1 x ESP32 development board with 2.8 inch TFT touch display