LILYGO T5 E-Paper S3 Pro Lite

Overview

The LILYGO T5 E-Paper S3 Pro Lite is a compact, phone-sized development board built around the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 module and a high-resolution 4.7-inch E Ink display. With 960×540 pixels at 235 PPI and 16 grayscale levels, the display delivers crisp text and detailed graphics while consuming virtually zero power when static. The anti-glare glass coating reduces reflections under ambient lighting, and a warm-toned front light enables comfortable reading in low-light environments.

The Lite version strips away the LoRa transceiver and GPS module found in the full Pro variant, focusing on WiFi and BLE connectivity. This makes it an ideal platform for projects that need a beautiful low-power display without long-range radio — smart home dashboards, e-readers, weather displays, digital signage, and photo frames. The capacitive touchscreen with two-point touch via the GT911 controller enables intuitive user interaction.

Power management is handled by a dedicated trio of ICs: the TPS65185 manages the e-ink display's complex voltage rails with programmable VCOM, the BQ25896 provides 3A fast charging for the 1500mAh LiPo battery, and the BQ27220 fuel gauge tracks state-of-charge and battery health over I2C. The board supports both USB-C wired charging and MagSafe-compatible magnetic wireless charging. A PCF85063 RTC maintains accurate timekeeping during deep sleep, and the PCA9535PW I/O expander adds 16 extra GPIO pins for peripheral control.

Expansion options include a microSD card slot, two QWIIC/Stemma QT connectors for I2C peripherals, and several freed GPIO pins (from the absent LoRa/GPS modules) available for custom use. The board is supported by Arduino IDE, PlatformIO, and has an active community working on ESPHome integration for Home Assistant.