Most ARM based mini PCs sell because they are cheap, low power and come in a small form factor. At about $600, Mi World PCS (Portable Computer System) is not cheap, but thanks to its battery it’s fully portable, and it has specifications similar to the latest flagship smartphones with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad core processor, 2 GB RAM, wireless charging support, and more.
Mi World PCS specifications:
- SoC – Qualcommon Snapdragon 800 (8074) quad core Krait processor up to 2.4 GHz with Adreno 330 GPU, Hexagon QDSP6 DSP
- System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 memory
- Storage – 64 to 512 GB hot swappable SD RAID storage
- Video Output – Micro-HDMI for output in displays up to 4k
- Connectivity – Wi-Fi (802.11 AC), Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS IZat location technology
- USB – USB 3.0
- Battery – Capacity N/A, up to 30 hour battery life
- Dimensions – N/A
- Weight – N/A
I could not clearly find which connectors are provided from the specs and the few pictures available. Mi World PCS is apparently based on the same Intrinsic Open-Q8074 Qseven SoM as the one found in DragonBoard 8074 development board. The device will first ship with Android, and a “Myth” Linux firmware will be available via OTA at a later stage.
Myth Innovation, the company behind the project, explains their computer has multiple uses including “supercomputer”, media server, hot spot, personal cloud, and media streaming solution. It can be used a some sort of portable cloud storage, which allows you to access your music, videos, games, applications, files, pictures, etc… on the go with or without Internet access. It can support up to 10 devices, and all processing is apparently done in the box or/and other computers in the network, with devices acting as thin clients. This is made possible thanks to the company’s Wireless Ecosystem Technology (W.E.T) that leverages every device on the network to maximize processing power. Any Wi-Fi enabled device is apparently supported be it, desktop workstations, laptops, tablets, smartphones, cameras, smartwatches, printers, even Google Glass or Vusix M100. The advantage to have processing done in Mi World is that it can extend battery life of your smartphone or Google Glass for example, on CPU intensive tasks. There will also be an SDK, but very few details are available.
The company is currently looking for $100,000 via Indiegogo to complete development and start manufacturing. The lowest available pledge still available is $599 which should get you a Mi World PCS with a 64GB SD card, an inductive charging cradle, and an “It’s Mi World” T-shirt including shipping to the US, with an extra $29 needed to anywhere else. The first 1,000 should ship in June 2014, and the rest in Fall 2014. Other pledges use an 128 GB SD card, and give early access to W.E.T SDK.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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Looks fine but consider buying for less then $100 a Radxa Rock, got also Quadcore and other nice likewise futures.
I was so excited about this one but then I saw the price, no thanks. You can get fanless mini-PCs with SSD and Intel Celeron @ 1.8 or something from Aliexpress for about half the price. And that’s an Ivy Bridge Celeron which I think will be more than a match for this one.
Besides there’s also Linux support where Intel HW wipes the floor with pretty much everything else so while something interesting I’m not even going to think about buying this.
The name says it all. Myth.
Something really fishy about this. Their site makes lots of pretty incredible claims without much to back it up.
A June release date seems highly unlikely too. Just 3 months to go and nothing to show for it.
Myth indeed.
Last week I bought a second-hand Lenovo x200 laptop (with P9600 CPU, Intel X4500 MHD GPU) for 120$. I think the performance per $ is considerably higher than this 600$ machine, and the power consumption is very reasonable when I turn off the screen.
The price is ridiculous. And I still don’t exactly understand what it actually is supposed to be (suspecting its a scam of sort).
Thanks for the comments on Mi World and Myth Innovations. We have built a new form factor for the personal computer and are working hard to get it into the hands of tech innovators to put it to the test. Myth Innovations has developed additional hardware with which the APQ8074 connects to via the Q7 connector. It is not just an APQ8074. MiWorld utilizes SD memory, not SSD. – Jacob – We tested the ARM A8 (RK3188) in prototyping. It got very hot in the pocket. Yes we are a little more expensive but we are cooler, have more on-board… Read more »
@Myth Innovations
Thanks for the comment. I’ve corrected the post about SSD vs SD. I must have been confused with the up to “512 GB” thing, which I now assume can be achieved with four 128 GB SD cards.
How come they don’t have a demo unit or prototype? just a boring advertisement from their founder, saying this can do that and that. If they can show an actual working unit, they can easily hit $100k. Although it is interesting, difficult to invest without an actual unit. No offense