Review - Raspberry Pi Meets its Killer... the Odroid C1

Raspberry Pi had taken the education and DIY world by storm. The notion which created the hype was simple:

• The lowest cost computer ever built
• Can be used for DIY projects
• Can be used to teach kids programming or robotics

The reality is that Pi is not the cheapest computer you can get if you factor in the cost of all the accessories you will need to run this as a fully functional computer, i.e., cables, keyboard, case, memory, monitor etc. Secondly, you will have to most likely find a local dealer if you want to save the shipping costs. These dealers will never sell it for $35 because they will have to accommodate their stocking costs too.

One of the biggest drawbacks of Raspberry Pi was its weak processor. You would be better off running a basic application on it and avoid multi-tasking or running resource hungry applications on it like XBMC. I have abandoned using my Raspberry Pi only because of this reason and also that I have gotten its bigger brother Odroid U3.

The shortcomings of Raspberry Pi architecture which gave birth to Odroid series of product from HardKernel; a much more versatile and powerful piece of hardware but slightly more expensive. Until recently, based on so many requests from community, HardKernel finally came up with a very robust product called Odroid C1. Luckily, its available in Canada through Corpshadow from where I got it. 

This little beast has 1.5 Ghz of processor with 4 cores and with 1 GB of Ram. To see full specification, check out HardKernel's site. The best thing I like about Odroid C1 is that it has a built in IR sensor on board. Which means after I am done with testing this board I will be using it as a media center as I have already gotten a remote control for it.

So far I have used it with Android and the only thing I can say right now is that this little piece of hardware packs a lot of power. Check out the following videos to see for yourself.