The MaTouch ESP32-S3 2.1 Rotary TFT with Touch by MakerFabs mounts an ESP32-S3 along with a 2.1” round touch screen, surrounded by a rotary encoder.
Clearly inspired by smart thermostats like the Google Nest, the strong points of this device are its 2.1” round screen and rotary encoder, in a device that we can program as we wish.
And let’s admit it, round screens have a certain “je ne sais quoi” that catches the eye. 😍
The MaTouch ESP32-S3 2.1” is equipped with the ESP32-S3 controller, which we already know perfectly well on the blog and saw in more detail, for example, in this post ESP32-S3.
The MaTouch ESP32-S3 2.1” has 512KB SDRAM, accompanied by 8MB PSRAM and 16MB SPI Flash. It does not incorporate a microSD card. But, even so, we should have enough memory for our projects.
On the other hand, as is usual in devices that integrate ESP32, the MaTouch ESP32-S3 2.1” from Markerlabs has Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 5 wireless connectivity.
The 2.1-inch round TFT LCD screen is the most striking feature of the device. It has a resolution of 480x480 and a color palette of 65,000. The RGB565 interface and the SPI interface, making it possible to exceed 60fps.
The capacitive touch panel with the CST826 controller allows you to interact intuitively with the screen with detection of up to 5 points.
On the other hand, we have the rotary encoder, which we activate by rotating the case of the MaTouch ESP32-S3 2.1”. It is a continuous 360º encoder of … ? … I haven’t found anywhere how many steps it has.
{ “CPU and Memory”: [ { “label”: “MCU”, “value”: “Espressif Systems ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 Dual-Core 32-bit Xtensa LX7 @240MHz” }, { “label”: “Memory”, “value”: [“512KB SRAM”, “16MB FLASH”, “8MB PSRAM”] } ], “Connectivity”: [ { “label”: “WiFi”, “value”: “2.4 GHz, 802.11 b/g/n” }, { “label”: “Bluetooth”, “value”: “5 (BLE)” } ], “Devices”: [ { “label”: “Display”, “value”: “Round TFT LCD 2.1 in. 480x480 px ST7701S” }, { “label”: “Touch Panel”, “value”: “Capacitive CST826 5 points” }, { “label”: “Connectors”, “value”: “1.25 mm 4 pins for I2C and UART” }, { “label”: “USB to UART”, “value”: “No” } ], “Power and Dimensions”: [ { “label”: “Power”, “value”: “USB Type-C 5.0V (4.0V to 5.25V)” }, { “label”: “Dimensions”, “value”: “71.27 x 71.27 mm” } ] }
On the back we find two 4-pin 1.25mm connectors to connect the I2C and UART interfaces. It also has a USB-C port but only for power, it does not have a UART converter.
Of course, the MaTouch ESP32-S3 2.1” is compatible with the Arduino IDE environment. As well as with LVGL, which allows you to create advanced graphical interfaces.
The documentation and examples… just enough, but sufficient. At the end, I’ll put some links to the project’s Wiki and Github.
The device has a price of $44 on the manufacturer’s website. Which is very much in line, or even a little below, similar products with a 2.1” round screen.
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