An ESP32-Based Arduino Lookalike
Better known for their single-board computers, the folks at Banana Pi seem to be pretty keen on the ESP32 chip right at the moment, with a BBC Micro:bit clone called the BPI:bit, and now an Arduino Uno lookalike they’re calling the BPI:Uno32.
The board is based around the same ESP-WROOM-32 module as their BPI:bit, so of course supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE. However the crucial thing here is the “classic” Arduino-style GPIO headers which should be pin-compatible with the original Uno. The board is programmable using the Arduino development environment
This isn’t the first ESP32-based Arduino lookalike I’ve come across, while there are now several on the market, for instance the Espduino32. Although the first one I spotted was probably the Noduino Quantum, which I picked up on Taobao.
The Noduino board is also available on AliExpress, yet that increased convenience does comes at a hefty extra $10 cost over Taobao, with the board selling for $25.88 + $6.36 packing in single unit quantities — which is double the cost of the new Banana Pi board.
The Banana Pi BPI:Uno32 is available on AliExpress for $12.99 a piece with an additional $5.26 shipping to the United States—though the first 500 boards sold will be at a discounted price of $10.99. More information on the board is available on the Banana Pi Wiki and on GitHub.
