A new Raspberry Pi Zero option with onboard wifi

For a few dollars more

Realising that the Raspberry Pi anniversary happened recently, I wasn't surprised to see an announcement that a new Pi was out.  This time it was an enhanced version of the Pi Zero - with added Wifi - the imaginatively-named Raspberry Pi Zero W!  As opposed to the last cost of £6 for a Pi Zero, the Zero W has gone up to around £9  (curiously similar to the CHIP! single board computer).

Mine arrived from the PiHut in their usual understated packaging:

I got this about a day after I had heard about the release - so I was pleased I didn't have to wait very long.

Physically the boards don't look much different.  Without laying them side-by-side I couldn't see a difference, other than a small silver box next to the main processor, which I later discovered was on the original one as well.  They are very clever, the Raspberry Pi designers, invisibly fitting the wifis secretly into this board.

Side-by-side. But which one is which?

When you look side by side - you can see that on the Zero W, the Pi Logo has gone from the top of the board - and a small chip now lives where that was.  I will assume (without research) that this is the wifi component.

There's not a lot I can do or say about this so far that hasn't been said, as it has taken me a while to write this.

However I have created a video of me ‘unboxing' the Pi and booting it with a card already configured to use wifi from one of my other PIs.

Having inbuilt Wifi to me is a real added value to these little boards.  As I struggled with getting a hub which would work with the onboard OTG port, I'm glad that I can now not have this worry if I want to use WIFI on one of them.  Now that I don't need to add a dongle either, it cuts down the cost and the physical space I need to make a project with these, so I can definitely see the benefit.

I don't know what I am going to use this for yet - but I have also got a camera module, so might have a go at creating a streaming camera application with this one, which I can hide away somewhere.

12-Mar-2017 Add comment