Other than that, it’s very similar in design to the previous Inky Frame models, with a seven-colour e-ink display with five tactile user buttons underneath. It’s based around a standard Raspberry Pi Pico W board pre-soldered to the rear of the board, so you can connect it to a computer via USB for programming, as usual. The rear also features two Qwiic/STEMMA QT ports (for attaching breakouts) and an extension header (including six GPIOs), along with a reset button, microSD card slot (extra storage for images etc.), and JST battery connector.

Slow but ultra-efficient

Like other e-ink displays, the Inky Frame 7.3˝ takes a while to refresh the screen: typically 25–30 seconds – a little longer if rendering JPG images. The big advantage is its ultra-low power drain: e-paper only uses power while refreshing. As well as keeping time, the on-board real-time clock can place Pico into an ultra-deep sleep mode that uses a tiny 20 μA until woken.

Software-wise, it’s preloaded with Pimoroni’s MicroPython firmware, including the PicoGraphics display library and several code examples. To connect Pico W to your wireless network, just fill in the SSID and password in the secrets.py file – see the Getting Started guide for more details.

Verdict

9/10

All the low-power advantages of colour e-ink combined with larger screen estate makes this a formidable display.

Specs

Display: 7.3-inch e-ink, 800×480 pixels, seven colours

Features: Pico W, 5 × user buttons, reset button, LEDs, microSD card slot, breakout header, 2 × Qwiic/STEMMA QT ports, 2 × metal legs

Dimensions: 176.2 × 139.2 mm