
IBOX - Another ARM Mini-PC

March 5, before the universal women's day, on the famous crowdsourcing resource Indiegogo , a campaign began to raise funds to create another miniature PC based on ARM. Under the cutter there is a small preliminary review of the device, plus a few thoughts on how it can turn out to be better than its many brothers.
About Campaign
No one obscure, young and promising is involved in the project, but ITEAD STUDIO, already well-known in narrow circles. In our COOLRF project , we already used ITEAD services when ordering printed circuit boards and wrote about the positive experience gained here and here . They are engaged not only in printed circuit boards. If you carefully study the ITEAD product range, it becomes clear that the company has not only good development experience, but also not a weak production base.
The amount collected for the iron project is purely symbolic. Only $ 2000 and there is no doubt that the money will be collected successfully. The price tag for the device for the first participants is $ 60, which looks more than reasonable for the indicated stuffing, enclosed in the case.
About the device
Inside: CPU Dual-core ARM Cortex-A7, GPU Mali 400 MP, DDR3 RAM 1Gbit, NAND FLASH 4Gbit. (The indicators are copied from the campaign site, with a memory there is clearly a typo and you should read Gb instead of Gbit). Also on board there is a receiver for an infrared remote control and a special 32-pin expansion connector, to the delight of self-made.
Connector pinout

Operating systems can be installed on both microsd and built-in flash. The availability of such varieties is promised:

Inside the “box” - one of the processor modules already seen somewhere, soldered on the “motherboard” with connectors:

What for?
The manufacturer is positioning its device for different types of applications. Including for managing a smart home:

When?
Delivery to the first customers is promised in April. You won’t have to wait for purchases for months. Given the good experience of the ITEAD manufacturer, you can easily believe in such terms. If regular sales after the end of the campaign go at the same price level of $ 60-70 with free delivery, and the assortment of operating systems with some kind of manufacturer support meets the promise, a very interesting and competitive product will be obtained.
UPD That's all, $ 2000 is collected. Sold out half of the sets for $ 60.
UPD2. All kits for $ 60 sold out. Remained for $ 70. Almost 5 kilobaxes were collected.