Banana Pi developers, in this case SinoVoIP, and not LeMaker, are about to launch a new board: BPI-M3 powered by Allwinner A83T octa core Cortex A7 processor with 2GB RAM and 8GB eMMC.
Banana Pi M3 board specifications:
- SoC – Allwinner A83T octa-core ARM Cortex-A7 @ 2.0 GHz with PowerVR SGX544MP GPU supporting OpenGL ES 2.0/1.1, OpenCL 1.1, DX 9.3.
- System Memory – 2 GB LPDDR3
- Storage – 8 GB eMMC + SATA (via Genesys GL830 USB bridge, shared with 2 USB ports) + micro SD slot
- Display Interfaces / Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 1920×1200, MIPI DSI connector
- Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, microphone, HDMI audio
- Camera I/F – MIPI CSI and Parallel camera interfaces
- Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211E/D), 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 (AP 6212 module)
- USB – 2x USB 2.0 host port, 1x micro USB OTG
- Debugging – UART for console
- Headers – 40-pin mostly Raspberry Pi compatible header
- Misc – Power, reset and u-boot buttons, IR receiver
- Power Supply – 5V/2A via
power barrel ormicro USB port [Update Dec 2015: It seems only micro USB port is provided now] - Dimensions – 92 x 60mm
- Weight – 45 grams
The company claims the board supports Android 5.1, Debian linux, Ubuntu linux, Raspberry Pi images, and more. I have never had the opportunity to test a Banana Pi board myself before, but I can see quite a few complains about documentation and software support in their forums.
Despite being an octa-core processor, Allwinner A83T processor is not the fastest processor around, as when I tested an Allwinner A83T tablet last year, the system just got under 27,000 points with Antutu 5.3.
SinoVoiP has not provided any price yet, nor do we have any release date, but the company has already manufactured 100 pieces to complete development, so this should just take a few more weeks or a couple of months. More details can be found on the product page, and especially on the forum post announcing the board.
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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