5 ms·

An Android-x86 powered Gaming Console

18 points by mariuz 13y ago

egeozcan 13y ago
What's its selling point, price\performance?
- rwg 13y ago
  Size? The motherboard appears to be smaller than Mini-ITX. I'm also guessing it's based on one of Intel's upcoming "Silvermont" Atom CPUs. That makes me very unlikely to support this project since I'd imagine the market's going to be flooded with similar products well before this project's estimated ship date.
  - zokier 13y ago
    It's almost certainly "Celeron J1850". The specs line up perfectly (10W TDP, 2.0 GHz clockspeed, 4 cores).
    - sireat 13y ago
      That chip is about $80 in quantity pricing if the early price leaks are to be believed. That is not much leeway for the rest of the device.
ma2xd 13y ago
Why have VGA?
- jamesjguthrie 13y ago
  Lots of people still have VGA monitors + they're cheap as second monitors.
lucian1900 13y ago
Meh. It would make a lot more sense if it had a Wine port, perhaps even ship with support from Crossovers or similar.
Nekorosu 13y ago
Everything on the campaign page is so poorly executed it looks like scam. And the goal is... $1,490,000. Is it some kind of a joke?
- unwind 13y ago
  The cheapest funding level which actually gives you the hardware is $149, and they say their factory requires a minimum order of 10,000 units. That seems to be the $1,490,000 right there. :) Also, the title here is kind of misleading, it's not very powerfully branded as a "gaming console", it's just a "computing device". Also known, I guess, as "a computer". No idea how big Android is for x86, are most apps even available cross-compiled?
  - James_Duval 13y ago
    > The cheapest funding level which actually gives you the hardware is $149, and they say their factory requires a minimum order of 10,000 units. That seems to be the $1,490,000 right there. That seems tight. How do you think they are they covering the 4-7% (9-12% if you don't reach goal) cut taken by indiegogo and credit card companies?
    - unwind 13y ago
      I am of course just guessing, but those numbers kind of stood up. Perhaps they're hoping for enough takers on the other funding levels to make up for the overhead. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it? But I haven't had my afternoon coffee yet, so it's a bit "numbers, schmumbers" at this point.
    - zanny 13y ago
      It is a fixed funding campaign, they don't get anything if they don't reach the goal.
jamesjguthrie 13y ago
I don't know if I missed something but what's the point in this? Couldn't I just build a little x86 machine and stick x86 Android on it, for cheaper than the reward levels in this listing? Maybe it's not intended to be unique and it's just a system builder using indiegogo to get some orders.
- zokier 13y ago
  $149 for the base model seems quite affordable. I seriously doubt you could build something comparable yourself for less. The quoted MSRP are bit on the high side, but on the other hand the casework looks nice and compact, so I wouldn't call them unreasonable either.
- brokenparser 13y ago
  I'd like to see how you'd do just that. Show me a cheap quad-core PoE box running Scientific Linux with at least the same level of performance. Never mind Android, I need something that runs Eclipse and the emulator reasonably well. 3D performance isn't that important, if it runs AlienArena, Nexuiz and Sauerbraten it's good enough.
- dagw 13y ago
  Just a halfway decent mini-itx htpc case plus power supply can easily set you back $100 or more. You're going to have a hard time building something like this for $150. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I have a hard time seeing it.
zokier 13y ago
HN title policy continues to confuse. I'd argue that the title "An Android-x86 powered Gaming Console" is bit misleading as the device is not really marketed as gaming console.
kabdib 13y ago
It's a PC. Serious ho-hum. If this has anything to do with gaming, it sure escapes me. Where's the controller (do NOT tell me you're going to use a cell phone...).
ParadisoShlee 13y ago
I want one.... but looks too good to be true. We will see.
DanBC 13y ago
The motherboard seems to be a Wibtek device. (http://www.wibtek.com/products/MotherBoard/show/?pid=1000077 http://www.wibtek.com/products/MotherBoard/show/?pid=1000077)
- zokier 13y ago
  I believe that this is the exact model: http://www.wibtek.com/products/MotherBoard/show/?pid=1000113 http://www.wibtek.com/products/MotherBoard/show/?pid=1000113
marcelocamanho 13y ago
Come on, didn't people learn from the OUYA fiasco?
ahnda 13y ago
ARM Android consoles are already barren enough, content-wise. Making an x86 variant specifically targeting an ndk-heavy sector of the app store seems... a strange choice.

18 points by mariuz 13y ago

egeozcan 13y ago

What's its selling point, price\performance?

rwg 13y ago
Size? The motherboard appears to be smaller than Mini-ITX. I'm also guessing it's based on one of Intel's upcoming "Silvermont" Atom CPUs. That makes me very unlikely to support this project since I'd imagine the market's going to be flooded with similar products well before this project's estimated ship date.
- zokier 13y ago
  It's almost certainly "Celeron J1850". The specs line up perfectly (10W TDP, 2.0 GHz clockspeed, 4 cores).
  - sireat 13y ago
    That chip is about $80 in quantity pricing if the early price leaks are to be believed. That is not much leeway for the rest of the device.

ma2xd 13y ago

Why have VGA?

jamesjguthrie 13y ago
Lots of people still have VGA monitors + they're cheap as second monitors.

lucian1900 13y ago

Meh. It would make a lot more sense if it had a Wine port, perhaps even ship with support from Crossovers or similar.

Nekorosu 13y ago

Everything on the campaign page is so poorly executed it looks like scam. And the goal is... $1,490,000. Is it some kind of a joke?

unwind 13y ago
The cheapest funding level which actually gives you the hardware is $149, and they say their factory requires a minimum order of 10,000 units. That seems to be the $1,490,000 right there. :) Also, the title here is kind of misleading, it's not very powerfully branded as a "gaming console", it's just a "computing device". Also known, I guess, as "a computer". No idea how big Android is for x86, are most apps even available cross-compiled?
- James_Duval 13y ago
  > The cheapest funding level which actually gives you the hardware is $149, and they say their factory requires a minimum order of 10,000 units. That seems to be the $1,490,000 right there. That seems tight. How do you think they are they covering the 4-7% (9-12% if you don't reach goal) cut taken by indiegogo and credit card companies?
  - unwind 13y ago
    I am of course just guessing, but those numbers kind of stood up. Perhaps they're hoping for enough takers on the other funding levels to make up for the overhead. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it? But I haven't had my afternoon coffee yet, so it's a bit "numbers, schmumbers" at this point.
  - zanny 13y ago
    It is a fixed funding campaign, they don't get anything if they don't reach the goal.

jamesjguthrie 13y ago

I don't know if I missed something but what's the point in this? Couldn't I just build a little x86 machine and stick x86 Android on it, for cheaper than the reward levels in this listing? Maybe it's not intended to be unique and it's just a system builder using indiegogo to get some orders.

zokier 13y ago
$149 for the base model seems quite affordable. I seriously doubt you could build something comparable yourself for less. The quoted MSRP are bit on the high side, but on the other hand the casework looks nice and compact, so I wouldn't call them unreasonable either.
brokenparser 13y ago
I'd like to see how you'd do just that. Show me a cheap quad-core PoE box running Scientific Linux with at least the same level of performance. Never mind Android, I need something that runs Eclipse and the emulator reasonably well. 3D performance isn't that important, if it runs AlienArena, Nexuiz and Sauerbraten it's good enough.
dagw 13y ago
Just a halfway decent mini-itx htpc case plus power supply can easily set you back $100 or more. You're going to have a hard time building something like this for $150. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I have a hard time seeing it.

zokier 13y ago

HN title policy continues to confuse. I'd argue that the title "An Android-x86 powered Gaming Console" is bit misleading as the device is not really marketed as gaming console.

kabdib 13y ago

It's a PC. Serious ho-hum. If this has anything to do with gaming, it sure escapes me. Where's the controller (do NOT tell me you're going to use a cell phone...).

ParadisoShlee 13y ago

I want one.... but looks too good to be true. We will see.

DanBC 13y ago

The motherboard seems to be a Wibtek device. (http://www.wibtek.com/products/MotherBoard/show/?pid=1000077 http://www.wibtek.com/products/MotherBoard/show/?pid=1000077)

zokier 13y ago
I believe that this is the exact model: http://www.wibtek.com/products/MotherBoard/show/?pid=1000113 http://www.wibtek.com/products/MotherBoard/show/?pid=1000113

marcelocamanho 13y ago

Come on, didn't people learn from the OUYA fiasco?

ahnda 13y ago

ARM Android consoles are already barren enough, content-wise. Making an x86 variant specifically targeting an ndk-heavy sector of the app store seems... a strange choice.