Google To Bring Official Android Support To the Raspberry Pi 3 (arstechnica.com) 59
An anonymous reader shares an Ars Technica report: The Raspberry Pi 3 is not hurting for operating system choices. The tiny ARM computer is supported by several Linux distributions and even has a version of Windows 10 IoT core available. Now, it looks like the Pi is about to get official support for one of the most popular operating systems out there: Android. In Google's Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository, a new device tree recently popped up for the Raspberry Pi 3. The AOSP device tree contains mostly Nexus devices with the occasional "generic" entry or developer board tossed into the mix. It's rare to see a non-Google device in AOSP, so it seems Google has taken quite a shine to the tiny computer. With officially supported source code, it should be much easier for hackers to get Android up and running on the Pi 3. And once that's done, you should be able to sideload more than 1.5 million apps onto the Pi to make the device do whatever you want.
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If I had any mod points I'd give them all to you
Re: LOL ANDROID (Score:2, Offtopic)
That's the point. The RPI can use externally controlled sensors, rather than true phone sensors.
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I think Android Auto on a Raspberry Pi for my car would be amazing.
More choice (Score:2, Insightful)
More choice for what is essentially a "hackers" device. It isn't a bad thing!
Sideload? (Score:1)
Surely if Google support it then you just download then in a sane fashion from the play store. And this should be pretty awesome since the Pi could run YouTube, Netflix, Kodi, pretty much anything that Android supports.
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You are able to side load on a firestick.
That's fine if the app's publisher makes an APK available. A lot of applications are available only through Google Play Store.
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It's not that hard to get the APK off a rooted phone that already has the app.
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Let me rephrase so as not to be "Offtopic": Has Google clarified whether "Official Android Support" for RPi includes Google Play Store or is only AOSP?
Keep platforms up to date...or support Pi makers? (Score:2)
>> Google Steps Up Pressure on Partners Tardy in Updating Android
OK, Google. Which is it? (Because I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of Pi "makers" who never touch a thing once they get their shoestring operations working.)
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RPi boots from an SD-Card. Anyone can download and upgrade, without any help from the manufacturer.
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What's cool is that you can just swap the SD card to run a different OS, so you can have a wallet of SD cards with different OSes to run.
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If the makers never touch a thing and upgrade to the latest version, that's on the makers not Google. Google just needs to provide the long term support to allow makers to upgrade if they choose.
The 2nd article you mention is for OEMs and carriers that abandon support for a phone about 2 seconds after they launch the phone. Google publishes the updates, but it's up to the OEMs and carriers to integrate those fixes into their product lines.
My flagship Galaxy S4 for T-Mobile came with 4.2.2 JellyBean in mid 2
The HW may not be fast enough for a new OS (Score:2)
Wirth's law [wikipedia.org] may be blocking these devices from getting an upgrade to the next major version of Android if the device's RAM size or disk performance does not meet the minimum system requirements of the next major version. I can speak from experience that for some devices, though an update was issued, it never should have been. Android 4.4 "KitKat" on the Nexus 7 (2012) "grouper" tablet is fine; Android 5 "Lollipop" on the same hardware is a jank-fest, with the UI often freezing for five or ten seconds at a t
Re: The HW may not be fast enough for a new OS (Score:1)
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For some phones, I'd agree. For my Galaxy S4, I ran a debloated "Google Play Edition"-like custom firmware with Lolipop without any issues for a good portion of the time I owned it. Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T also had no problems releasing Lollipop for their branded S4, just the T-Mobile model that refused too. I don't think Wirth's Law will explain why 3 major carriers can run it fine with almost identical hardware while the 4th can't/won't.
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Great, But.... (Score:1)
Will the battery last very long on my Pi running Android?
Will there be support for any cellular devices so I can talk, text and/or run data any time soon?
Will it work outside when it's 110 in the shade?
Face it, the Pi is not much more than a toy, a cheap learning device used to teach in places where the cost of even a low end computer is too much. Great for teaching and learning, not so great as a basis of any kind of practical commercial hardware design.
Adding Android to the stable of operating system
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So this is a win for the student and hobbyist, but not worth much beyond being a rapid prototype test bed for the commercial world.
Seeing as how the Pi is designed to democratize access to hardware for students and hobbyists, I'm not sure Google is too worried about that.
Somebody who wants a commercial run of units can have a machine custom-built in China for less than the Pi3 costs.
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Will they support "standard" IO hats, like the sense modules with accel, gyro, etc.?
I think not for a very long time - which makes many of the interesting apps not interesting at all.
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"Will the battery last very long on my Pi running Android?"
The Pi does not come with a battery so what are you talking about?
"Will there be support for any cellular devices so I can talk, text and/or run data any time soon?"
Huh??? Use a USB cellular modem and VOIP?
"Face it, the Pi is not much more than a toy, a cheap learning device used to teach in places where the cost of even a low end computer is too much. Great for teaching and learning, not so great as a basis of any kind of practical commercial hardw
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Not really. The Pi is purpose built as a way to train programmers and is not well suited for interfacing to the outside world. Sure, you can buy add on cards that do things like buffer the I/O pins and provide power and the like, but If you are a business concern, there are much better suited devices than the Pi to consider which are from manufacturers who are interested in the same issues you are. If you end up using the Pi, you will be stuck re-engineering the thing to do just about anything I can imag
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I did some testing on my Raspberry Pi running on a pair of 18650 Li-Ion batteries inside a generic USB charger and I got about 5.5 hours while the Raspberry Pi was mostly idle. With the Raspberry Pi running Quake 3 Demo loop, I was able to keep it running for about 4.5 hours. I don't think the Raspberry Pi supports really low power modes, or the operating system never puts it in low power like most phones do, because on a similar amount of battery power most phones would probably at least stay alive for an
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is a size of battery, like AA, AAA, etc, not the amount of power it has. They say they have 3000 mAh, but the cheaper ones tend to exaggerate on the rating from what I understand. They only run at 3.7 v so there is some inefficiency in converting it over to the 5v required by the Raspberry Pi. [amazon.com]
Pi lasts over 13 hours for me on battery... (Score:2)
With a Xiaomi 10000 mAh power bank attached to my Pi 2 Model B running Raspbian desktop (but idle, other than a script writing the uptime to a file every minute), I got 13 hours and 46 minutes before the power ran out. I wonder if the Pi port of Android will support the Pi 2 Model B too? It'll be annoying if it doesn't, because the Pi 3 wasn't a massive upgrade over the Pi 2 Model B.
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As of now, the Pi 3 is running the exact same kernel and binaries as the Pi 2 thanks to the Foundation deciding that 64bit support isn't relevant to their intended uses of the device. Until they or the community figures out a 64bit safe bootloader and ports a kernel, no 64bit love for you. If it'll run on the Pi 3 it'll run on the Pi 2 currently.
(Don't get overly jazzed about the 802.11n support, it's fed by a slightly hotted up serial connection so...)
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And yet three seriously weak points of the Pi 2, namely the 1GB RAM (I'd far rather have 2GB RAM than "faster" 1GB RAM, especially with a 64-bit CPU), 100 Mbit/sec Ethernet (ruling out the Pi as a fast fileserver - can't believe Gigabit costs much more) and the pitiful USB (2 - In this day and age ) weren't upgraded at all. If they fix these three, I'll be first in line for the Pi 4.
Media Codecs (Score:2)
Corrected headline: (Score:2)
Google To Surveil Raspberry Pi 3 Users Via Android Operating System
Or, alternately:
Google To Add Raspberry Pi 3 To It's Global Botnet
With 1GB, meh (Score:2)
Let me know when they have a Pi 3 with 2GB or more. With only 1GB, Android is awful. 1GB was OK until KitKat... now it isn't. 1GB is spacious with ICS, but not with LP...
Touchscreen display (Score:2)
Nobody cares about making cheap touchscreen displays. You can't manufacture a cheap consumer product out of the raspberry pi because adding a display increases to cost too much.