The Raspberry Pi Pico released in January 2021 is a tiny SBC (single board computer) at the equally tiny price of $4. Since its release, nearly two million Pico cards have been sold.
And here today, the Pico receives a much-requested feature: Wi-Fi. And the price is still as tiny, since the new card costs less than 7 euros. Still, not much has changed with the Pico W, compared to the classic Pico, except for wireless network access.
The processor
Raspberry Pi Pico W: RP2040 Arm Cortex M0+ Dual Core 133MHz
Raspberry Pi Pico: RP2040 Arm Cortex M0+ Dual Core 133MHz
RAM
Raspberry Pi Pico W: 264KB SRAM
Raspberry Pi Pico: 264KB SRAM
Storage
Raspberry Pi Pico W: 2MB Flash
Raspberry Pi Pico: 2MB Flash
Wireless connectivity
Raspberry Pi Pico W: Infineon CYW43439 supporting 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n
Raspberry Pi Pico: N / A
Feed
Raspberry Pi Pico W: micro USB
Raspberry Pi Pico: micro USB
GPIO system (General Purpose Input/Output)
Raspberry Pi Pico W: 40-pin GPIO / 26 multi-function pins / 23 digital I/O / 3 analog inputs / 2 UART / 2 I2C / 2 SPI / 1 Arm Serial Wire Debug (SWD)
Raspberry Pi Pico: 40-pin GPIO / 26 multi-function pins / 23 digital I/O / 3 analog inputs / 2 UART / 2 I2C / 2 SPI / 1 Arm Serial Wire Debug (SWD)
Dimensions
Raspberry Pi Pico W: 51 x 21mm
Raspberry Pi Pico: 51 x 21mm
Price
Raspberry Pi Pico W: 7 euros
Raspberry Pi Pico: 5 euros
Pico or Pico W?
The RP2040 microcontroller remains unchanged and still features a 133 MHz dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ chip, 264 KB of SRAM and 2 MB of QSPI flash memory. And it all fits on a card measuring 21mm x 51mm. This means that if you have projects that use the Pico, but could benefit from Wi-Fi, the Pico W can serve you right away.
But eagle-eyed will not fail to notice a metallic square on the map. This is where the Infineon CYW43439 chip is located which supports 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. This chip also supports Bluetooth 5.2, but at launch only Wi-Fi is supported.
The real question is whether the Wi-Fi is worth the extra 2 euros required to acquire this new card. The jump from $5 to $7 is a heck of a financial leap, but if you need wireless, it’s worth using this built-in solution.
Pico H and WH
Another novelty presented recently is a Pico with pre-soldered header pins, called the Pico H, for 6 euros.
The Pico WH, a Wi-Fi version with header pins, will be available in August and will cost 8 euros.
Source: ZDNet.com