The Raspberry Pi project is bringing Android 4.0 to its tiny bare board computer. Android on
Raspberry Pi could be a much better media player than Google's odd little orb called Nexus Q. The Raspberry Pi is a fascinating little device capable of running a home media center at 1080p video quality. Its model A sells for $25, the upgraded model B is $35 and includes an ethernet port. The project describes it as:
... a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. We want to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming.
And for those interested in running Android:
... those of you looking to play with Android on Pi in advance of our source code release might want to check out the community Razdroid project, which last month produced its first non-accelerated port of Gingerbread on top of the publicly released VideoCore binary.
Raspberry Pi's website doesn't mention any plans to join the Android Compatibility Program, which is required to gain access to Google Play from an Android device. Without Google Play, Raspberry Pi users running Ice Cream Sandwich will only have access to non-market apps acquired directly from developers or from the Amazon Android App Marketplace. Still Android 4.0 and Raspberry Pi will be a win for the device's fans. I'm wondering what different uses hobbyists and developers will dream up for the new software-device combo.
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