Android Mini Pc

moorlander · 2 Dec 2012 at 21:14

Recently been looking at Android tablets that i can hook up to a TV in the spare room to be able to browse and view stuff over the internet and have come across "Android dual core mini pcs" that are just a bit bigger than a USB drive. Will Overclockers be looking to stock such devices and has anyone any experience of these? :cool:

Rusty! · 2 Dec 2012 at 22:21

I've had brief experience with one.

It's was a crap overlay on the stock ICS setup, and was controlled with a mouse/keyboard. It basically turned the TV into a ginormous tablet.

godinman · 3 Dec 2012 at 08:01

I've looked into it a bit, a good one looks like the justop tv box.

mrgubby · 3 Dec 2012 at 08:41

There is a thread about these in the small form factor forum.

I'll be getting one to play with over Christmas

twe · 3 Dec 2012 at 15:42

Slightly different but maybe look at the OUYA boxes?
Yes it's meant for gaming but it will be officially supported by XBMC and that makes it a big thing compared to cheap generic boxes....

doodah · 3 Dec 2012 at 15:59

Already a thread about these in the Small Form Factor sub forum. Glaucus seems to know a bit about them and I think one of the better dual core ones is the UG802/8 which he has been testing. Hiapad have just made a quad core device but I believe reports suggest it is slower core for core. Whilst most come with Android - it seems many can be buggy. Unsure which to get until this morning:

Hardkernel’s $129 ODROID-X is a powerful little development board, but the price tag might be a little off-putting for some. Now the company’s offering two new models at price points that are little bit closer to Raspberry Pi territory: the ODROID-U and ODROID-U2.

The base model sells for just $69, and it features the same quad-core 1.4GHz Samsung Exynos 4412 processor found in some Galaxy S3 variants. It’s got 1GB of RAM, an eMMC connector and microSD slot for storage, two USB 2.0 ports, integrated 10/100 Ethernet, a micro HDMI port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It measures about two inches square, making the ODROID-U series about half the width of the Raspberry Pi.

For an extra $20 you can step up to the ODROID-U2 (insert your own geeky Bono joke here). It’s got a speedier processor — the Galaxy Note 2?s Exynos Prime 4412 clocked at 1.7GHz — 2GB of RAM, a 10% faster Mali-400 GPU, and a 3.5mm audio input jack.

Both prices include worldwide shipping and one other nice little bonus. The industrial-chic aluminum heatsink pictured above (which doubles as an semi-open case for the ODROID-U) is included, too. On the firmware side of the equation, Hardkernel is providing downloadable images of both Android and Ubuntu.

The ODROID-U2 and ODROID-U will begin shipping on December 21 and January 16 respectively. They’re available for pre-order now, as is an upgraded version of the ODROID-X.

Hardkernel is also getting ready to ship the ODROID-X2 with an Exynos Prime 4412, and it’s been priced at $135. It’ll start shipping on December 10.

moorlander · 3 Dec 2012 at 18:39

Wow - these things have come on leaps and bounds this year. Talk about having a pc anywhere and real OS's too.
Personally I like the idea of the USB stick or small box format that I can plug into a TV and use the usb from the TV to power the unit - presumably this is something that could be done with the Ordroid.
Effectively you take turn any lcd tv with a hdmi input into not just a smart TV but a fully functional PC.