Waveshare RP2350B-Plus-W is a development board that follows the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W form factor, but offers 41 GPIOs thanks to the RP2350B MCU, integrates 16 MB of flash, and includes a USB-C port.
So, in several ways, it’s an upgrade over the RP2350A-based official board, which offers only 26 GPIOs via two 13-pin GPIO headers, 4MB of flash, and a micro USB port. Since it’s the same size, where do the extra GPIOs come from? Answer: The company simply added 15 pads to the bottom of the board, not quite as convenient since it’s requires soldering, but it does the job.
Waveshare RP2350B-Plus-W specifications:
- SoC – Raspberry Pi RP2350B
- CPU
- Dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 @ 150 MHz with Arm Trustzone
- Dual-core RISC-V Hazard3 @ 150 MHz
- Only two cores can be used at any given time
- Memory – 520 KB on-chip SRAM
- Package – QFN-80
- CPU
- Memory – Footprint for PSRAM chip
- Storage – 16 MB on-board QSPI flash
- Wireless – 2.4GHz 802.11n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.2 via Raspberry Pi RM2
- USB – USB 1.1 Type-C host/device connector for power and programming
- Expansion
- 2x 20-pin GPIO headers with
- 26x GPIOs
- 2x UART
- 2x SPI controllers
- 2x I2C controllers
- 22x PWM channels
- 4x ADC
- 3x PIO blocks, 12x PIO (Programmable IO) state machines
- HSTX interface
- 15 solder pads with up to 15x GPIO, 2x SPI, 2x I2C, 3x ADC, 2x UART (many shared with the 20-pin headers)
- 2x 20-pin GPIO headers with
Debugging – SWD debug interface- Misc
- Reset and Boot buttons
- 2x user LEDs
- Power Supply – 5V DC via ME6217C33M5G regulator
- Dimensions – 51 x 21 mm excluding the PCB antenna (same size as Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W). With PCB antenna: 55.92 x 21 mm
- Temperature Range – -20°C to +70°C
Other changes include a footprint to solder a PSRAM chip, a Reset button, and one more LED. The only downside from a technical perspective is the removal of the SWD debug port. The Waveshare RP2350B-Plus-W is also a little longer than the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W once we take the PCB antenna from the RM2 module into account. It’s programmable with the Pico C/C++ SDK, MicroPython, and more, like other RP2350 boards, and Waveshare provides more technical details and instructions to get started in the wiki.
Somehow, it’s the first board that combines Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W form factor with RP2350B, and the closest competitor is probably the Olimex RP2350-PICO2, although it’s fairly longer. If you don’t care about the form factor, you’ll find many more RP2350B boards for all sorts of applications.
The board was introduced nearly a year ago, and when I first came across it, I skipped it since I assumed it was just a clone with a USB-C port. However, it was brought back to my attention when I thought I had found a new Made-in-Thailand board with the INEX Pico-2350W. It quickly became clear that the Thai edtech company just sourced the board from Waveshare. For better or worse, it’s a trend I’ve seen in Thailand, and which likely occurs in other countries. Some engineers and/or companies have the capabilities to develop their own board, but it takes time and effort to develop boards, and it’s just faster and usually cheaper to get a board from China instead. So it makes perfect sense to source the hardware from China and develop educational materials for the local market. The long-term repercussions can always be discussed…
If you live in Thailand, you can consider getting the board from INEX, but for everybody else, you’ll find the RP2350B-Plus-W board for $11.42 on AliExpress, $18.23 on Amazon, and $10.99 on the Waveshare shop.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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