[curisama] developed The Badge, a wearable device with a small circular screen. The project is built around the Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-AMOLED-1.75C, which combines a 466×466 circular display, a machined aluminum enclosure, and an ESP32-S3. A touchpad, additional buttons, a clock, and games were added to custom software originally developed for an air mouse. The device can record up to 52 minutes of audio in WAV format. It also features a water simulation containing a small boat. Optimizations increased the animation frame rate from 3 FPS to 18 fps. The CONFIG_PM_ENABLE option and other adjustments extended standby time from 11.9 hours to 19.6 hours. The software can be installed through a browser.
Why it matters
The project shows that an off-the-shelf ESP32-S3-based display module can be turned into a wearable, multifunctional device. While the increase in frame rate demonstrates that the user experience on limited hardware depends not only on component selection but also on software optimization, the gains in power management provide a tangible benefit for portable use. The ability to install software through a browser lowers the technical barrier for developers with similar hardware to try and modify the project, while combining a touch interface, recording, and games on the same platform opens the door to different use cases. However, because the stated duration covers standby conditions only, it is unclear how long the battery will last while the screen, animations, or audio recording are active, and how practical the device will remain in daily use.
Background
AMOLED is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: in the past 90 days, we published 2 articles mentioning this name, the most recent dated September 11, 2026.