The Arduino Nano ESP32 is Much More for a Little Bit Less

After releasing the two brand-new UNO R4 boards only a few weeks ago, today Arduino launches yet another board: the Nano ESP32. Based on the ESP32-S3 from Espressif, the new board features 2.4 GHz, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and long-range Bluetooth 5 (LE) connectivity in a Nano form factor.

ESP32-S3 in Nano Formfactor

The Nano ESP32 is not the first Arduino board sporting a processor from Espressif, but this time it is the main act instead of just a wireless communication module supporting another MCU. The Nano ESP32 is the ESP32-S3 (albeit hidden inside a u-blox NORA-W106-10B module). There are no sensors or other MCUs on board, only a 16 MB SPI Flash memory IC and a USB-C port with voltage regulator were allowed.

AIoT and IoT

The ESP32-S3 combines a dual-core XTensa LX7 MCU running at up to 240 MHz with 512 KB of SRAM and, of course, wireless connectivity. It is more powerful than the ESP32. The MCU also has support for vector instructions providing acceleration for neural network computing and signal processing, making it a great device for AIoT and IoT applications.

Arduino Goes MicroPython

Even though the MCU offers all this power, Arduino appears to target mainly MicroPython with the Arduino Lab for MicroPython and a special MicroPython setup tool. Of course, classic Arduino programming is possible too. The Arduino IDE 2 offers plug-and-play support and even debugging without requiring external hardware. The official ESP32 core for Arduino can be used too, and the board is compatible with the Arduino IoT Cloud.

Replace Your Old Nano by a Nano ESP32

The new Arduino Nano board is also one of the cheapest Nano boards, only the Nano Every is cheaper. Retailing at less than €22, this means that the Nano ESP32 offers an interesting upgrade path for systems based on the classic Nano, adding USB-C, a wider input voltage range, wireless capabilities, and, of course, waaaaay more processing power.