Orange Pi 4G-IoT Development Board Launched for $45

Last year, Shenzhen Xunlong Software launched Orange Pi 2G-IoT board for just $9.90. Pricing was incredibly aggressive for a cellular board, but AFAIK the RDA Micro processor used in the design had never been used with Linux so for many people using the board was a challenge (and maybe still is), and some countries have already started to sunset 2G networks.

So it only made sense for the company to work on a 4G board, and that’s exactly what they have done with Orange Pi 4G-IoT now launched for $45 + shipping on Aliexpress.

Orange Pi 4G-IoT specifications:

SoC – Mediatek MT6737 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.1/1.3 GHz with Arm Mali-T720MP1 GPU
System Memory – 1GB DDR3
Storage – 8GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot
Video Output – HDMI, LCD display interface with touch panel support
Audio – 3.5mm earphone jack, built-in microphone
Cellular Connectivity
- nano SIM card slot
- “GSM” antenna + diversity antenna
- 2G – GSM @ 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- WCDMA – B1/B2/B4/B5/B8
- TD-CDMA
- CDMA2000
- LTE Cat 4 [Update May 2018: The bands listed below may not be fully correct, waiting for details]
  - FDD-LTE – B1/B2/B3/B4/B7/B107/B20
  - TDD-LTE – B38/40/41B
Connectivity – WiFi, Bluetooth, FM, and GPS with antenna
Camera – 25-pin ZIF connector for 13MP camera
USB – 3x USB host ports, 1x micro USB port (only for flashing firmware)
Sensors – Accelerometer, fingerprint (how?)
Expansion – 40-pin header with 2x SPI, 3x I2C, 2x UART, 1.8V
Misc – IR receiver, power key, power and status LEDs
Power Supply – 5V/2A via power barrel jack; battery support through “weld plate”
Dimensions – 85 x 55 mm

Mediatek MT6737 is a low cost LTE application processor for smartphone, so it’s no surprise the board can run Android 6.0, but for now at least there’s no word about Linux support. As usual, an Orange Pi board with a new processor (in dev boards) should only be suitable for the most adventurous among us 🙂

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

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.