We all agree the Raspberry Pi needs a leap in specifications. The problem is that could alter its price too much, breaking its (supposed) low cost profile. Our best option is to look for alternatives, and one of the most striking is the Banana Pi BPI-M4, which besides being compatible with (almost) all the HATs of the Raspberry Pi 3, includes built-in storage and 4K playback support, ideal for turning it into a TV Box.
If we have to highlight one advantage of the Raspberry Pi over other mini computers, it's the state of its software ecosystem. The amount of compatible code and applications is impressive, and it guarantees its flexibility when creating new projects. However, there are many users who are already challenging the limits of the hardware on the Raspberry Pi, and are asking for a revision of its specifications.
What does the competition do? Starting from the other end, offering superior hardware or additional features for the same price, hoping that the community will accept it and develop software. That's the direction the Banana Pi project folks are heading, with their "brand new" Banana Pi BPI-M4:
Banana Pi BPI-M4: hardware and features
I say "brand new" because the images and the demo have been circulating since February. The Banana Pi BPI-M4 uses a Realtek RTD1395 SoC, based on four Cortex-A53 cores at a maximum frequency of 1.6 GHz. On the integrated GPU side we find a Mali-470, and with this combination 4K playback support is confirmed, as well as hardware decoding of the most important codecs.
The base configuration of the Banana Pi BPI-M4 includes 1 GB of DDR4 RAM (an interesting detail, since the RTD1395 can use DDR3L), 8 GB of solid-state storage, WiFi n and Bluetooth 4.2, four standard USB 2.0 ports, a USB 2.0 Type-C port for power, HDMI and analog audio output, 100 Mbps Ethernet port, and an M.2 slot with E key (mainly for WiFi or 4G modules, although there are other adapters). The GPIO pinout is compatible with Raspberry Pi 3 HATs, and one of the photos shows it with the PoE module.
At the time of writing, the price of the Banana Pi BPI-M4 is $38 on AliExpress (maybe you need an account to see the listing), but its shipping cost to Spain borders on astronomical ($28 via EMS), so it is likely that our Latin American readers will have better luck here. As for software, patience. Android and other Linux flavors will be in the recipe, though we must wait.
Source: Liliputing
