Digital Home Thoughts: VIA Offers Low Cost Android Board

"VIA Technologies' small -- but not bite-sized -- Neo-ITX-based barebones Android PC is now up for pre-order. Folks willing to plunk down $49 now will be among the first to play with the APC's version of Gingerbread that's been modified for use with a mouse and keyboard."

Tiny computing boards have been around for a while. Mini, micro and nano-itx based systems have seen uses as light use PCs in living rooms, offices and cars. The race for extremely low cost general purpose computers continues with VIA's entry. At $49, it is slightly more expensive than the popular Raspberry Pi board, but offers different strengths. Whatever platform you go with, what I think is most important when it comes to these devices is developer support. Tiny computers such as the Gumstix and Arduino are great old school devices, but I suspect that they have not taken off as much partly because of the amount of tinkering needed. It looks like we are approaching a point where it is accessible to more people and should see these devices or things based on these devices becoming much more popular.