lilygo LoRa Pager
Distance Testing in Progress - check back soon!
The Lilygo LoRa pager, introduced in mid 2025, is fully assembled and pocket sized.
As a LoRa-based mesh communication device with plenty of flash space and PSRAM, it is capable of running the ChatterBox firmware, and I expect other systems will be targeting this device in the future.
It is quite developer-friendly, and with careful considerations during UI design, it can also be very user-friendly.
Who is the LilyGo Pager For?
Being able to communicate off-grid is something you may not realize you need, until the moment you actually need it. Of course, by that point, it’s too late.
If you ever wander beyond the range of cell towers, experience impaired cell service, or just want to be sure your communications are private, you may want to get a grid-independent comms system.
Lilygo’s T-Deck and Rokland’s T-Deck complete are both excellent devices that are made for these scenarios. The Lilygo Pager has those two beat in terms of size and ability to drop into your pocket. On the pager, the UI is entirely driven via keyboard and a scroll wheel, rather than a touchscreen / trackball.
build quality : Very Good
To fully test the Lilygo pager’s usability and mesh communication capabilities, I ported the ChatterBox off-grid mesh comms firmware over to this new device. You can download the firmware for free.
Form Factor
The form factor of the T-Deck Plus is excellent. The unit feels very solid with tight tolerances. The case designed by Lilygo is a perfect fit for the T-Deck. This is where the T-Deck Plus really stands out against other similar devices, even ones that are based on the T-Deck Platform.
Ports and Switches
The pager puts the reset & soft power button on the bottom, rather than on the side of the unit. It’s definitely less likely you’ll accidentally reset this thing as easily as you would with the T-Deck Plus. That’s definitely an improvement.
Developers have one button (the boot button in the middle) that is usable within your firmware. I use that one to power off with two taps. Unfortunately the Pager’s power button only handles power ON and does not do power off (at least I haven’t gotten that working yet).
Folding Antenna
The antenna can stay completely out of the way unless you want to “raise” it for better sensitivity.
If the pager is in your pocket, you can fold it down and it’s entirely out of the way, which is very nice
Usability : Bit of a Learning Curve
No Touch Screen
There is no touchscreen, which takes some getting used to. When porting the ChatterBox firmware, I went with the approach of relying heavily on the scroll bar, scroll bar clicks, and having keys on the keyboard correspond with buttons in the UI. Hopefully it will be easy to use, once you get the hang of it, but maybe there are better ideas.
Scroll Wheel
The scroll wheel works very well and allows for smooth control in the UI.
Keyboard
I think the pager is an improvement over the T-Deck keyboard. The backlight works very well and I use the keyboard backlight as an indicator of certain things, and also to help you type in the dark (of course).
My Test Setup
Coming Soon…
Results
Distance
Coming Soon…
Battery Life
16 Hours / Charge
Compared with a T-Deck+, the Pager does have a reduced battery life. I’m getting ~16 hours of usage per charge.
Durability
Solid Enclosure - Antenna TBD
I dropped the pager from about the level you’d be using it (4 feet / chest height) onto a concrete floor. It bounced a few times, and there was no damage.
How well the antenna holds up to being repeatedly folded, I can’t say yet. There is a screw and a wire connecting the antenna to the pager, so it appears replaceable.
I have not taken the unit apart yet, but I presume the battery is replaceable as with other Lilygo products. I will update here when I find that out.
Full Specs
Pager Specs
ESP32 S3 Platform
2.4 GHz Wifi + Bluetooth 5 (BLE)
16 MB of Flash, 8 MB PSRAM
2.33” 222x480 Color Screen
SX1262 LoRa Transceiver
Integrated keyboard and clickable rotary wheel
U-blox MIA-M10Q GPS
Various other components, some of which I haven’t made use of yet