ESP8266 alternatives

[xevious]

I've been comparing microcontrollers, not for any specific purpose - just to explore and learn. I just ordered a few ESP8266 boards, which seem to have a pretty amazing set of features for the price. Is there anything similar that I should check out? Low power and wireless communications are preferred, and I usually end up using ADC and PWM in my projects.

[macboy]

It is hard to beat a 160 MHz 32-bit micro with WiFi for $3. Unless you want low power. Or lots of I/O, ...

Look at Cypress PSOC 4. For $4 you can get a little breadboard friendly dev board with the micro and supporting circuitry, and with a breakaway USB programmer/debugger/UART/SPI/I2C board. Google "CY8CKIT-049".

Arduino clones are also reasonably attractive. Their popularity means competition so high availability and low prices. I especially like the small form factor of the Nano. Obviously you don't need to use the Arduino IDE; they all have a ICSP header on board so you can use any toolchain for the micro on board.

TI makes quite a few low cost dev boards for their MSP430. Google "TI launchpad".

ESP8266 and MSP430 can be programmed with Arduino tools for an easy start.

[ade]

There aren't many WiFi-enabled alternatives in the same feature/price range.

EMW3165 might be the closest.  It is similar to the ESP8266 but based on a mainstream STM32 ARM controller instead of Tensilica Xtensa.  However it is not as ubiquitous as the ESP8266 so the price/module is also higher (around $8 per module), and the physical form factor is a bit harder to work with.  Compared to the ESP8266, the EMW3165 has more flash, RAM, and more GPIO lines.  Maybe a little bit faster vs ESP8266 at defaut speeds.

NL6621 is another competitor new to the market.  It is also based on ARM, with a Cortex M3 MCU (160 MHz native speed).  There's very little community info about this module.  Pricing should be in the $3 to $5 range qty. 1 from sellers on AliExpress.

TI has a couple WiFI ARM MCU/modules (CC33xx series) but they are priced 10x more expensive than the ESP8266.  The CC3200MOD starts at $25 qty.1 so they are obviously targeted for a different market.

Atmel also has a couple WiFi modules like the ATWINC1500.  Like the first ESP8266 modules, the ATWINC1500 is not meant to be a standalone chip but rather to supplement a host MCU.  They are almost as pricey as the TI modules so they're no longer popular for hobby use after the ESP8266 came out.

[ebclr]

Conclusion

ESP 8266 is a winner

[captbill]

Conclusion

ESP 8266 is a winner

Actually...there is the new ESP8266 killer out:

The ESP8285:

https://youtu.be/2aHfd6WhCjw

[kripton2035]

the esp8285 is a lower spec esp8266. it's not a replacement
it is usefull in the way we don't sometimes need the flash of the 8266, but out of that it is the same chip for me.
we will see it's price range when it's available widely. if it's $1.5 compared to the $3 of the 8266 they will sure sell more of them.

[Rasz]

I think esp8285 doesnt expose SPI at all = you can make stuff that is hard to clone = will be very popular

[Frost]

Actually...there is the new ESP8266 killer out:

The ESP8285:

The new ESP killer is the ESP32

[captbill]

the esp8285 is a lower spec esp8266. it's not a replacement
it is usefull in the way we don't sometimes need the flash of the 8266, but out of that it is the same chip for me.
we will see it's price range when it's available widely. if it's $1.5 compared to the $3 of the 8266 they will sure sell more of them.

Yeah I was goofing when I said that. This is the ESP8266 with the sram on-chip, greatly simplifying designs.
Also has low-power improvements. A good compliment to the ESP82xx line.

This could make a neat FTDI alternative for board design. Simply flash the chip with ESP-link or similar "Wi-fi to serial bridge" software and you have a nice "over the air" flashing. What I like is that it acts like AvrDude+FTDI, fully replacing both.

[captbill]

http://www.espressif.com/sites/default/files/0a-esp8285_datasheet_en_v1.0_20160422.pdf

Very impressive looking, for sure.

[cezar]

I recently received something called AI6060H  IOT module
http://www.acsip.com.tw/product_ii.html?gID=63

it is based on SSV6060P chip inside the module.
you can purchase it on banggood:
http://www.banggood.com/Wireless-WIFI-IOT-Development-Board-Based-On-ACSIP-AI6060H-Module-Better-Than-ESP8266-NodeMCU-p-1055439.html

it has got
UART
5 GPIOs
SPI
LDO power input

I've got the SDK , tools, Firmwares, Developer guide and some other stuff I didn't have a chance looking in that yet

[ebclr]

"I've got the SDK , tools, Firmwares, Developer guide and some other stuff I didn't have a chance looking in that yet"

From where did you get that ?

[cezar]

"I've got the SDK , tools, Firmwares, Developer guide and some other stuff I didn't have a chance looking in that yet"

From where did you get that ?

I emailed the distributor and they have politely sent it to me 
Will try to hang it somewhere in public (although it is watermarked as confidential) 

[baoshi]

I received a 1gb+ package with a VM, some utilities "Windows exe", SDK (based on Contiki).  Some libraries are binary blob. It is based in a arm7 core

[ebclr]

Can you share ?

[cezar]

Just copy and paste from the dev guide. I hope you know what to do with these

ftp://AI6060H@ftp2.acsip.com.tw:2121
?? =ftp2.acsip.com.tw
?? = 2121
?? = AI6060H
?? = bKNNc79A

[baoshi]

RTL8710 too

[cezar]

Also
Linkit Smart  and  Linkit Smart Duo - much more powerful and of course more expensive.

http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/LinkIt_Smart_7688_Duo