We are not scrapping ESP32 SoC. It is alone good for projects such as Glass Touch Switch With LED. When we need high end multimedia such as good camera, high resolution music then we need something like Sony Spresense. Sony Spresense is best for trying day to day high-quality DIY gizmos. The higher initial cost of Sony Spresense does give a good return. Now, the Sony Spresense device itself does not contain any on-board WiFi, GSM, or Ethernet capabilities. For most of the projects with Sony Spresense, you will need to buy the Main Board and Extension Board. Sony’s developers are actively submitting projects in various makers’ website, such as :
1 | https://www.hackster.io/walwode/alexa-tell-my-steak-to-be-medium-rare-25e044 |
Some 3D printed boxes will make the projects usable and also keep the board safe. To add WiFi to Sony Spresense you need to follow this guide :
1 | https://developer.sony.com/develop/spresense/tutorials-sample-projects/spresense-tutorials/how-to-equip-spresense-with-wifi-connectivity |
You can see that ESP32 or ESP8266 is a need for Sony Spresense. On the other hand, ESP32 or ESP8266 are not great themselves around multimedia capabilities. So, these are complementary to every two types of boards. Sony Spresense has ready to use AI capabilities. It is easy to create various kind of robots with Sony Spresense. They have some sample projects.
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Instead of buying Sony’s high-resolution music player, users like us can buy their kit and use for various purposes on need. You can use the kit as an action camera, dashcam. Not every one of us uses each of those devices every day and being programmable, hackable makes our day. The Spresense Arduino Library has a range of built-in examples.
Recently, IBM Watson team is working with AI-based precision system’s demo with Sony’s low-power Spresense development board. It is a good idea to combine both of them.
Sony Spresense uses CXD5602 microcontroller. The CXD5602 System on Chip (SoC) multi core processor with GNSS. ARM Cortex M4F × 6 cores. CXD5602 supports NuttX Real-Time Operating System. The extension board has 3.5 mm headphone jack, micro SD card slot, pads for speaker connections, extra USB port and multiple microphone pins.
Few features need to solder/de-solder SMD components to use the features like using the pads for speaker connections. I disliked this kind of odd idea. The board too much rely on the extension board and lacks WiFi.ROHM has the add-On board to add 3 types of sensors essential for motion sensing and Bluetooth LE add-on board.
Again, the board mainly for music and camera.
