It doesnt appear there is an option to buy the Boron either without headers, or in other configurations. I am looking into the platform and I read that the layout is the same as the Adafruit Feather, so I would love to add a screen to it, using one of the FeatherWing addons.
How would you use/connect one?
Side note: didn't want to make two threads. Is there any talk of an updated board coming? I'd love to see USB-C.
There cannot be a no-header version of the Boron because there are components on the bottom.
It is however, completely Adafruit Feather compatible. You can just plug it into a doubler, tripler, or FeatherWing. See Feather.
There won't be a BRN404X with a USB-C connector. Future boards would likely have a USB-C instead of a USB Micro-B, however.
@rickkas7, Is Particle planning to phase out the Boron404X and replace it with a Photon 2 / Quectel modem soon or within a year? The recent trends in the Boron discounts seem to suggest it.
If so, hopefully Particle will continue to support the Boron402/404X for a long time.
@techsquidtv, the Feather doubler and/or tripler work very well with the Boron, Argon, Photon 2, Adafruit Featherwings, and Xenon boards.
There is no plan to discontinue to the BRN404X. However, there is uncertainty about the availability of the u-blox SARA-R510 cellular modem long-term, so it could be a different modem if that occurs. And the future device could be based on the nRF52840, just with a different modem, not necessarily based on the RTL872x like the Photon 2, though that is also a possibility.
Thanks. Very glad to hear.
Personally, I’d like to see Particle adopt the nRF9151. There won’t be any issues at all regarding long time processor or modem availability. We’ve seen nRF91xx series to be excellent for low power. The nRF9151 will shortly have NTN firmware support for use cases that require satellite connectivity.
Given the path Particle has already taken with Gen 4 devices, I suspect a Photon 2 derivative is probably more likely.