Remix Mini, the PC desktop Android from $ 30 scoops of KickStarter

Last updated Aug 11, 2015 249

Jide Tech has presented a new project on Kickstarter for a PC based on Pico-Remix OS, its forked Android with support for applications in window.

After the moderate success of the Remix Tablet, which was nothing more than a clone of Surface complete with operating system Android customized by way of Windows 8, Jide Tech tries again with a product more interesting. Remix Mini is always based on Remix OS, but is a desktop system, in effect and costs only $ 30 in the standard version. It was proposed as a campaign on KickStarter, and had an instant success.

At the time of writing, Jide Tech has raised more than $ 200,000 on a goal of $ 50,000, and the whole thing in about 44 days from the end of the campaign. It looks like a pebble and promises to succeed in an enterprise attempted by many but actually brought to fruition a few: make a device based on Android usable when used as a traditional desktop operating system. Many have tried and many have failed miserably.

Android was created as a smartphone operating system, and is then transposed (with some difficulty breathing more) even on tablets. Simply install the Google code into a system and connect it to a monitor (many attempts above were more or less along the lines of this) it is not enough, and it leads to tricky and frustrating user experience. What should make different Remix Mini is its OS, or a customization of Android designed ad-hoc.

Remix OS adopts elements taken from traditional desktop operating systems, such as a bar for applications on the bottom of the screen, and naturally supports the display of applications in a window. All this is based on the latest version of Android available, Lollipop, with part of the characterization graphics that are repeated in the Material Design of Google. There remain some concerns integrated hardware, but considering the price at which it is proposed we cannot ask for much more.

Remix Mini is based on a quad-core 1.2 GHz Allwinner and support instruction set to 64-bits, and is available in two variants: the first entry-level with 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage built from the cost of $ 30, and the second with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of integrated storage that has a retail price of $ 40. The first deliveries of the pico-PC will be made in October 2015 (more information on the official Kickstarter page).