The 1.3" SHARP Memory LCD display is a cross between an eInk (e-paper) display and an LCD. It has the ultra-low power usage of eInk and the fast-refresh rates of an LCD. This model has a matt silver background, and pixels show up as little mirrors for a silver-reflective display, a really beautiful and unique look. It does not have a backlight, but it is daylight readable. For dark/night reading you may need to illuminate the LCD area with external LEDs.

The display is 3V powered and 3V logic, so we placed it on a fully assembled & tested breakout board with a 3V regulator and level shifting circuitry. The display slots into a ZIF socket on board and we use a piece of double-sided tape to adhere it onto one side. There are four mounting holes so you can easily attach it to a box.

The display is 'write only' which means that it only needs 3 pins to send data. The downside of a write-only display is that the entire memory must be buffered by the microcontroller driver.

If you have one of the older 96x96 pixel versions, then 96x96 bits = 1,152 bytes. On an Arduino Uno/Leonardo that's half the RAM available and so it might not be possible to run this display with other RAM-heavy libraries like SD interfacing.

If you have one of the newer 168x144 pixel versions, then 168x144 bits = 3,024 bytes. That won't fit on an Arduino Uno or Leonardo! You must use a chip with more RAM like a Metro or Feather M0 or ESP8266.

The Sharp Memory Display breakout board ships with optional headers for use in a breadboard.