A 2 inches Mini PC that runs ANDROID 4.4 KITKAT like a phone

[simpex]

A 2 inches $120 - $150 Mini PC powered by ANDROID 4.4 KITKAT, like a smartphone, and capable to run applications from Google Store (https://play.google.com/store/apps?hl=en)

"The CuBox-i is compatible with Android and currently runs Android 4.4 KitKat. It is one of the official firmwares that you can download ... The Android experience is pretty good and for the most part you get the same experience as you would from a smartphone or a tablet, sans the touch screen. ... the CuBox-i version of Android includes Google apps, so you get access to the Play Store as well as other Google services like Gmail, G+, YouTube and so on."
Source: http://www.androidauthority.com/cubox-review-587011/

"1. Optical S/PDIF audio out
2. Power connector
3. Ethernet port
4. HDMI port
5. Micro SD card slot1
6. Upper USB port
7. Lower USB port
8. eSATA port
9. Micro USB to RS232 port"


See also:
http://www.solid-run.com/products/cubox ... fications/
http://www.solid-run.com/products/cubox ... k-diagram/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7M4BL6nLTY

[jdb]

Moved to off-topic.

[ybastan]

That's really great.

[PiGraham]

It seems a bit expensive compared to other comparable Android TV products.

[simpex]

Tronsmart MK908 quad-core Android stick, $90

Source: http://liliputing.com/2013/04/tronsmart ... video.html

[simpex]

"Intel's Compute Stick is an entire PC in a $149 HDMI dongle"

"The Compute Stick is an entire PC crammed into a small-ish HDMI dongle. Inside you'll find a quad-core Bay Trail Atom processor, 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of onboard NAND storage. There's also Wi-Fi 802.11n support, as well a Bluetooth and expandable microSD card storage.
As HDMI doesn't really provide enough power to run anything powerful, the Compute Stick needs to be powered by micro-USB. One day Intel hopes that sticks like this could be powered solely by HDMI, but the current HDMI spec doesn't allow this. As the micro-USB port is used for charging, Intel has also included a full-sized USB port on the dongle for accessories and the like.
The version of the Compute Stick that comes with Windows 8.1 with Bing will set you back $149, making it a very affordable option for light computing tasks. A Linux version of the stick will come in at just $89, though the internal hardware has been downgraded to just 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage.
For those that want to buy the Compute Stick, Intel will release it on the market at the end of Q1 2015."
Source:
- http://www.techspot.com/news/59324-inte ... ongle.html
- http://iq.intel.co.uk/this-compute-stic ... 8-machine/

[66h]

I have to say that last Intel-based one has got me interested.

[PiGraham]

• Amlogic S802 Quad-Core Cortex-A9 2.0GHz CPU + ARM Mali-450MP Octa-Core GPU
• 2GB DDR3 RAM + 8GB Nand flash ROM (max. support 32GB)
• 802.11 a / b / g / n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless connectivity with Android 4.4 OS
• Support 2K / 4K ultra HD video play back
• Pre-installed XBMC, Miracast, DLNA, AirPlay

41.25 GBP

[toxibunny]

Tronsmart MK908 quad-core Android stick, $90

Source: http://liliputing.com/2013/04/tronsmart ... video.html

got a dual-core mk808 clone off of ebay for 16 quid. very impressed, considering the price.

Had pi 2 not come out, I'd be getting another one for messing about with...

[Bruny]

One day Intel hopes that sticks like this could be powered solely by HDMI, but the current HDMI spec doesn't allow this. As the micro-USB port is used for charging, Intel has also included a full-sized USB port on the dongle for accessories and the like.

or by MHL enabled HDMI input

[chris11114]

Why should I buy a second product if I could use the Pi instead? Only because Android is a consumer system? What's OpenElec? A system made to fulfil an educative purpose? Seems for me kind of restrictive and pointless!

[dan3008]

What's OpenElec?

OpenElec is Open Embeded Linux Entertainment System...

[Joe Schmoe]

Some people think Android is the cat's meow.

Other people think of it as a dumbed down, consumer-oriented, extremely crippled version of Linux.

It is unlikely that these two camps will ever see eye-to-eye, or manage to convince each other of the rightness of their position.

[DougieLawson]

The difference between OpenELEC & Android is that OpenELEC needed very little change to run on a RPi and cost precisely zero for the Raspberry Pi Foundation. All the new code was written by open source volunteers.

Android needs a modified firmware blob and lots of new code from the RPF (& from Broadcom) that's not going to be free, or give any return on investment and there's no educational value in spending that money just to satisfy a tiny number of folks who might be remotely interested in Android.

If Android had ever been possible on the RPi don't you think Google would have pushed it forwards.

The RPi1 was an old out of date cellphone chip with an unsupported video core. The RPi2 is a slightly newer (but still out of date) 32bit cellphone chip with the same unsupported video core (for compatibility with the RPi1). It's never going to run Android on the current hardware.

Perhaps RPi3 will go 64bit with a new VC, then it may be possible, especially if the VC they choose has Android support. Wait a couple of years and see what happens.

[mikronauts]

+1

Personally, I've never had a hankering to run Android on the RPi, and I don't need it on the RPi2

When I want to use Android, I pick up my phone, or my fantastic Samsung Pro 8.4 - both provide a far better Android experience than SBC's due to high resolution multi-point touch displays, small form factor and low weight.

If I really want to run Android on an SBC, Android runs on an ODROID C1, MIPS Creator CI20, and many A20 based SBC (BPi's and others).

The Pi's are fantastic at what they have been designed for - education (and many other uses) - the RPF cannot be expected to cater to every possible potential use.

[chris11114]

What's OpenElec?

OpenElec is Open Embeded Linux Entertainment System...

Seriously? Obviously I know what OpenElec is. That was IRONY (a shame that I have to explain it...).

[hippy]

If Android had ever been possible on the RPi don't you think Google would have pushed it forwards.

It certainly seemed at one point that Android was not only possible on a Pi but well on its way to arriving. As Eben wrote ...

http://www.raspberrypi.org/android-4-0-is-coming

Android 4.0 is coming!

Hardware-accelerated graphics and video have been up and running smoothly for some time; AudioFlinger support is the only major missing piece at the moment.

This implementation uses a different kernel and VideoCore binary image from the one available on GitHub, which is why we’ve been keeping quiet about it so far. We’re investigating the feasibility of converging the two code lines to produce a single common platform as soon as we can, at which point we hope to release the sources for you to play with.

I understand that neither the Foundation or Broadcom are interested in developing Android for the Pi but I can equally understand why some people get quite frustrated when they are told that Android never has, never would, could not, will not, and never ever will, run on a Pi.

[fruitoftheloom]

I understand that neither the Foundation or Broadcom are interested in developing Android for the Pi but I can equally understand why some people get quite frustrated when they are told that Android never has, never would, could not, will not, and never ever will, run on a Pi.

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/android-rpi

[chris11114]

The difference between OpenELEC & Android is that OpenELEC needed very little change to run on a RPi and cost precisely zero for the Raspberry Pi Foundation. All the new code was written by open source volunteers.

Android needs a modified firmware blob and lots of new code from the RPF (& from Broadcom) that's not going to be free, or give any return on investment and there's no educational value in spending that money just to satisfy a tiny number of folks who might be remotely interested in Android.

If Android had ever been possible on the RPi don't you think Google would have pushed it forwards.

The RPi1 was an old out of date cellphone chip with an unsupported video core. The RPi2 is a slightly newer (but still out of date) 32bit cellphone chip with the same unsupported video core (for compatibility with the RPi1). It's never going to run Android on the current hardware.

Perhaps RPi3 will go 64bit with a new VC, then it may be possible, especially if the VC they choose has Android support. Wait a couple of years and see what happens.

Yeah, I can see your point, but I've coded for Android quite a bit and you can definetely use it to learn programming and so on... I just want to use the awesome Raspbian, but also would like to switch over from time to time to Android just to test out some programms or (shame on me) use some software, that is not supported by Linux (I know Android is based on Linux, but there are some programms out there just working on Android (e.g. Whatsapp)). But I can understand that it's too expensive in comparison to the value that you would get. What I can't understand that there are some people out there working on an Android-port and they have no support by the forum or even more: they aren't allowed to use it (look up the Android-section under Oses). It seems for me like the war between XOne and PS4: just pointless!

(If there are some mistakes in it I'm sorry. I have to use a PC with German autocorrection currently and obviously I am not a native speaker )

[fruitoftheloom]

The biggest issue with Android is the Graphics Stack, as alluded to above, the BCM2835/6 SoC was originally a VideoCore GPU which later had an ARMv6 CPU added, there are very few products which use this SoC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VideoCore

Though other boards have Android support they basically use the same components as one finds in Phones, Phablets, Tablets, TV Sticks etal

[eriktheitalian]

"Intel's Compute Stick is an entire PC in a $149 HDMI dongle"

"The Compute Stick is an entire PC crammed into a small-ish HDMI dongle. Inside you'll find a quad-core Bay Trail Atom processor, 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of onboard NAND storage. There's also Wi-Fi 802.11n support, as well a Bluetooth and expandable microSD card storage.
As HDMI doesn't really provide enough power to run anything powerful, the Compute Stick needs to be powered by micro-USB. One day Intel hopes that sticks like this could be powered solely by HDMI, but the current HDMI spec doesn't allow this. As the micro-USB port is used for charging, Intel has also included a full-sized USB port on the dongle for accessories and the like.
The version of the Compute Stick that comes with Windows 8.1 with Bing will set you back $149, making it a very affordable option for light computing tasks. A Linux version of the stick will come in at just $89, though the internal hardware has been downgraded to just 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage.
For those that want to buy the Compute Stick, Intel will release it on the market at the end of Q1 2015."
Source:
- http://www.techspot.com/news/59324-inte ... ongle.html
- http://iq.intel.co.uk/this-compute-stic ... 8-machine/

If intel cant dominate compute stick area then must dominate. In their dreams Lol

[jamesh]

The biggest issue with Android is the Graphics Stack, as alluded to above, the BCM2835/6 SoC was originally a VideoCore GPU which later had an ARMv6 CPU added, there are very few products which use this SoC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VideoCore

Though other boards have Android support they basically use the same components as one finds in Phones, Phablets, Tablets, TV Sticks etal

There were millions of Android devices sold with Videocore 4 GPU's. Samsung sold IIRC at least three different phones with it. I worked on them....with many a long day spent in SS offices in Suwon.

[dan3008]

What's OpenElec?

OpenElec is Open Embeded Linux Entertainment System...

Seriously? Obviously I know what OpenElec is. That was IRONY (a shame that I have to explain it...).

My apologies, being autistic I tend to take everything literally and at face value. Makes for some interesting debates on forums lol

[jamesh]

OpenElec is Open Embeded Linux Entertainment System...

Seriously? Obviously I know what OpenElec is. That was IRONY (a shame that I have to explain it...).

My apologies, being autistic I tend to take everything literally and at face value. Makes for some interesting debates on forums lol

Worth noting that irony and sarcasm don't often comes across when written down...

[Joe Schmoe]

Worth noting that irony and sarcasm don't often comes across when written down...

Jonathan Swift might disagree.

Or, come to think of it, he might actually agree.

Anyway, I think of it (irony/sarcasm) as a filter. If you (rhetorical "you", not, of course, referring any specific person or poster) don't get it, then I'm not interested in conversing with you, so it really doesn't matter (if you get it or not).