ARMBRIX Zero dev board packs a Samsung Exynos 5 ARM Cortex-A15 CPU

Looking for a tiny ARM-based computer board with a little more power than the $35 Raspberry Pi or $49 VIA APC? The latest dev board from ARMBRIX features a Samsung Exynos 5250 dual core ARM Cortex-A15 processor.

That’s the same chip featured in the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook and Google Nexus 10 tablet, and as of January, 2013, it’s probably one of the most powerful ARM-based chips on the market.

Update: The ARMBRIX Zero dev board has been canceled.

The ARMBRIX Zero board is a $145 PC board featuring Mali T604 graphics, 2GB of DDR memory, and a microSD card for storage.

It has an HDMI port, 2 USB 20 ports, a USB 3.0 port, a micro USB port, an Ethernet jack, and a SATA connector. There are also audio jacks and 3 expansion headers.

The board can handle Android and other Linux-based operating systems, including Ubuntu. The whole thing measures just 3.7″ x 3.3″.

You can pick up the ARMBRIX Zero from HowChip for $145.

via CNX-Software and TechHive

Posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2013, 8:00 am by Brad Linder | 21 Comments

rformisa

Ubuntu runs very good in the Samsung Chromebook so for the first time we can get a Ubuntu mini desktop for less than $150. In a few months we are going to have an Android mini PC able to run Linux for less than a $100.
Bill Smith

So much more would you have to add to this to end up with a cell phone? Disregarding the form factor, of course.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Shawne-Beeson/100000728451467 Shawne Beeson

So do they make a case for this? Something like the appletv case, with Android Jellybean, this would make a kick ass TV box
Rico

- Remove the RJ45 + 2 USB “tower”,
+ Add a GSM module and antenna to one of the expansion headers, a rechargeable battery and voltage controller, and a touchscreen.

Make an outer shell out of plastic, hot glue, and some dremel work.

Sign up for a data/voice plan with a BYOD MVNO.

Altogether you’re looking at around $350 to $400 with off-the-shelf components.
miramesa_22

how would it compare against the odroid-u2?
renw0rp

how much for the shipping and what is the country of origin?
http://www.facebook.com/greg.huddleston Greg Huddleston

I like the ‘idea’ of the CuBox (pro)…
Bill Smith

Well, forget making it look like a phone — think about a device that can send and receive calls over a cellular network. That could have an RJ45 and some USB ports. It doesn’t need an outer shell of plastic, hot glue, dremel work, a rechargable battery, or a touch screen. So really it’s just the GSM module and antenna and a data/voice plan. Surely that’s not $350/400 of off the-shelf components.
John Morris

No, that is just a USB dongle and a plan. Good luck getting a carrier to let you have voice over one of those plans/devices. It is purely a market segmentation thing.
http://nortonpeabody.blogspot.com/ Norton Peabody

The “howchip” website displays the South Korean flag and only ships FedEx ..
icolea

First mini2440, then PandaBoard, BeagleBoard, Trim slice, Rasberry Pi, odroid and now this. I was waiting for such powerful board from 2000! Next step before I buy it will be to wait until they will port windows 8 RT (or even full version) which will take probably ~1 year from now. I would say that in 5 year you will be able to build you own customized tablet or e-reader that will be something worth building and using, probably what you had in 80′s when you could build you own customized PC cheaper then it’s on the market. Thanks to Rasberry Pi otherwise this board would cost like $300…
http://geekfun.com/ Erik S.

Why use a powerful, modern SoC to do what a cheap disposable phone can do?

There actually analog to cellular bridges available that have a cheap cell-phone board soldered in to them.
Tolga ERKUS

How would this compare to an Odroid-U2? Dual5250+T604 should be superior to Quad 4412+Mali 400, right?
Bill Smith

Yes, I think I can see why you would ask that. These days a smart phone is a small, powerful computer that just happens to be able to make cellular calls. My thought wasn’t so much, “Can I use this to replace my phone?” as it was, “What would it take to allow this device to communicate over the cellular network?” I wouldn’t want to hold this thing up to my ear to phone my brother in Houston, but it might want to use it to communicate with something over the cellular network.
Thomas Mischke

I think the LAN connector is 10/100 MBps only, isn’t it?
Thomas Mischke

47,4$ to germany.
sky770

Yes! After looking for an answer to the same question. I found that it (5250+T604 based SoC) is marginally faster v/s exynos 4412 prime (which the odroid-u2 has) Lets say around 5-10% faster in terms of raw CPU power.

You compare the graphics part.. Holy shit. T604? *The* fastest breed out there!
sky770

“Next step before I buy it will be to wait until they will port windows 8 RT (or even full version) which will take probably ~1 year from now.”

Are you kidding me?! Why in the Universe..would you want to have *Windows*?

No offence..but.. all these kind of boards are meant to be Open to the Community and I hope they continue to do so.
No M$ crap pls! :p
Andrew Dodd

A more appropriate question would be: What Android revision is this shipping with? Curiously, they go out of their way to NOT state what Android version this device is going to support. Development boards are supposed to be “cutting edge” – ahead of shipping handsets/tablets in software baseline due to not having to deal with carrier approvals, wireless interoperability certifications, or other things that typically delay “finished products” like handsets and tablets.

Yet, somehow, the Origenboard is more than one full Android revision behind Samsung Exynos 4412-based handsets and tablets and has been since October 2012, and is currently two major releases behind the current Android baseline.

The Origenboard’s baseline is so old that it predates any Samsung ICS release that showed up on a handset or tablet – the use of FIMC1 memory pools for video buffers has been obsolete since Gingerbread (or maybe Honeycomb), but the Origenboard “ICS” BSP still uses this legacy approach.

This device comes from the same people who brought you the eternally outdated Origenboard – so how out of date is this device’s software going to be?
Benmartin1974

I had been weighing up buying a Samsung Chromebook for a while. I read plenty of reviews and this one was quite useful http://search4reviews.net/ , I got my order last week and am very happy. I Would highly recommend to anyone still unsure:
Craig

I wish you fanboi turds would stop gushing about Ubuntu. It’s spyware-infested trash. All the good stuff comes from Red Hat, which Canonical then re-brand and tastelessly fuck up.

ARMBRIX Zero dev board packs a Samsung Exynos 5 ARM Cortex-A15 CPU

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