The Wio Terminal is finally here and it’s not perfect but I think it definitely has
a lot of potential. In this video, we are going to take a closer look at the product,
learn how to get started using it and we are also going to take a quick look inside. Firstly,
this is a thirty-dollar device so we need to keep that in mind when taking it a look
at the specs and the product itself. With that being said, it is time to begin.
I must say that the packaging is the best I’ve seen in a while, for a DIY product
like this. And what makes the Wio Terminal special is that it contains almost everything
you need to create projects. Starting with a very capable micro controller that can be
clocked at up to 200 Mega hertz. It also has both 2.4GHZ as well as 5GHz WiFi connectivity
along with Bluetooth wireless connectivity which is definitely a bonus. You also have
the LCD itself along with sensors and multiple input buttons – all in one nice little package.
There is also room for expansion which we will get to in a minute.
Inside the box, you have the main Wio Terminal itself that has a protective covering along
with the USB-C cable and booklet that sits underneath. For some reason, I was expecting
the display to be bigger but as we will see, this is a decent size as well. Here’s an
Arduino Nano Every for-size comparison. The booklet is a quick getting started guide which
also includes some QR codes, a visual representation of the PCB and also the pin put which will
be useful for development. It was nice to see a USB-C cable included in the packaging
which is needed to power the unit and also upload code to it.
The actual terminal itself has a very good finish and on the front side, we have a 5-way
switch which can be used for navigating menus. We’ve already seen the USB type C port on
the bottom along with two other ports that can be used for further expansion. These ports
allow you to interface different sensors to the module and these are all part of the Grove
family. On the top side we have three additional buttons that can be used as a user interface
and to the side we have a port that I’m guessing can be used for further expansion
or perhaps to interface a camera as it simply has an FPC marking. The left side contains
a microSD card slot along with a three-way power switch. And finally, to the rear of
the unit we have a transparent panel that is needed for the onboard light sensor and
the IR emitter. We also have the 40-pin Raspberry Pi connector which can also be used to interface
sensors and modules directly to the board.
This is a hardware overview contained on the website and the unit also contains a three-axis
accelerometer, microphone and buzzer along with the other modules that we’ve already
spoken about. At first, it looked like the glass was scratched but then I quickly realized
that it had a protective covering that needed to be removed. Once this was done, it was
time to power it ON and test it. Here’s what the power ON switch configuration looks
like and you need to slide it to the middle position to switch it ON. I decided to use
a different USB cable as I need a much longer one for my setup.
Upon powering it ON, I was surprised to see a simple game that was preloaded onto the
unit. Apparently, this was part of the initial factory test which allowed the assemblers
to make sure everything was working before packing the units. Now that it seems to be
working, the next step was to try to program the board. The easiest way is by using the
Arduino IDE though you can also use MicroPython or ArduPy – which is a cross between Arduino
and MicroPython. I have not used these yet, but if you are interested in learning about
them then do leave a comment and I’ll be happy to make introductory videos to cover
the basics. One thing I must say is that they have included a very good guide to getting
started. You have detailed instructions along with various examples as well. The only thing
I found odd was that the left scroll is independent of the main page so keep a note of that.
I’m not going to get into the step by step instructions as everything is well documented
here. All you need to do is add the URL to the additional boards manager section and
then search for Wio Terminal in the boards manager. You then need to install the package
that shows up. This step does take a bit of time and once done; you will be able to view
all the different examples that have been compiled for this board. Make sure that you
select the 320 x 420 resolution LCD examples as that’s the resolution of the display.
One more thing to keep in mind is that the microcontroller used here is from the same
family that is used in Adafruit’s PyPortal. The screen resolution is also the same so
I’m not sure if it is the exact same module. However, this means that you can make use
of their libraries as well if needed. The first test was to upload the blink sketch
and all I had to do was select the board settings seen here, followed by the COM port and then
hit the upload button to watch it do its thing. The user LED is the Blue one at the bottom
as seen here. I then decided to try out some LCD examples and this is where things got
a little tricky as it failed to upload and gave me an error. The COM port disappeared
as well which was a little worrying at first. Power cycling the board didn’t work as well
so if this happens to you then you need to enter the bootloader mode by using the reset
switch. You need to do this fairly quickly enough so if you don’t get it the first
time, then just try again. There’s also a support forum which looks to be active if
you have further issues. Once this was done, the board showed up as normal and I could
continue uploading sketches to it. This is the cellular automata example which is also
called the game of life. Here I have the digital clock example. The module does not have a
real time clock but the sketch simply stores the time at which it was uploaded into memory.
This means that when you power cycle it, it will restart to that time.
Here I have another graphics example, and a starfield example as well. There’s a lot
more that you can do, from displaying messages sent from the serial terminal to displaying
pie charts, meters and even a simulation of pong. These are all example sketches which
show you some of the possibilities. There’s nothing stopping you from using them as the
starting point to create interesting projects.
I wanted to test out the buzzer so I copied the example sketch from the website and uploaded
it. Here’s how it sounds. Not too fancy but not too bad either. Some of the other
demos include displaying sensor readings from the accelerometer, displaying photos, emoji
faces, displaying thermal imaging data, and interfacing it with a raspberry pi which is
something I will be trying out in the future. You can also carry out a bit of machine learning
using TensorFlow lite which can be useful.
The next thing was to try and take it apart just to see what’s inside. Two screws hold
the unit together and once they were removed, the back panel simply slides away to reveal
most of the electronics. The rear panel does contain a total of 4 magnets which allows
you to stick this to a fridge, too bad it doesn’t contain a built-in battery. It looks
like we have all the expected chips and modules as seen in the illustration. These are the
two LEDs that are spaced away from the opening and are top mounted which is why they are
not that bright. I couldn’t take out the PCB further to reveal the LCD and I didn’t
want to break it to I left it in place. Now that we’ve taken a look at the Wio Terminal
what exactly can you use this for?
And the answer according to me is a lot of things. It is not as powerful as a Raspberry
Pi, but on the hand, it doesn’t consume as much current as well.
The thing that I like the most is that you have a standalone device that you can interact
with by providing inputs, viewing the results and so on. It is powerful enough to carry
out basic machine learning while also giving you the flexibility to interface different
modules to it. All this for thirty dollars.
One example would be an interface for home automation. This would allow you to view the
status of things around your home as well as allowing you to interact with and control
them. So that is a quick look at the Wio Terminal. I will try to use this in some future projects
so do subscribe to stay updated. Thank you for watching and I will see you, in the next
one!