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Ask Slashdot: Why Buy a Raspberry Pi When I Have a Perfectly Good Cellphone?

Posted by samzenpus on from the expensive-knock-off dept.

scorp1us writes "I've been looking into getting a Raspberry Pi, but I end up needing a case, a display, and some way to power it, and wanting some degree of portability. It seems to me that even the most outdated cellphone has far superior features (screen, touch screen, Wifi, 3g/4g camera(s), battery etc) in a much better form factor. The only thing that is missing are the digital/analog in/out pins. So why not flip it around and make a USB or bluetooth peripheral board with just the pins? I've been looking for this and can't find any, but does anyone know of any in the corners of the internet? I don't care what phone platform."

5 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Arduino Uno by rwa2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Done in one (pun intended)

    Solid, lots of add-on modules, vibrant hacker community. And it has its own programmable processor so if your application permits you don't even have to have it attached to your PC to collect and process data.

    1. Re:Arduino Uno by SQLGuru · · Score: 5, Informative

      With an Android phone, you just need this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_On-The-Go

      Buy one here: http://hakshop.myshopify.com/products/micro-to-micro-otg (site might be blocked at some work locations as they might think it's hacking related)

  2. Android development kit by Tim+the+Gecko · · Score: 5, Informative

    How about this? - http://www.adafruit.com/products/885 - IOIO Mint - Portable Android Development Kit

  3. Better choices than a Raspberry Pi. by hamster_nz · · Score: 4, Informative

    You should look at the other ARM boards out there e.g. pcDuino. More memory, more I/O, onboard flash, Linux or Android.

    However there are some things that you can do with a micro-controller that can not be done with a full OS - e.g. bit-banging I/O to one-wire temperature sensors. I've even used a full USB 1.1. HID driver implemented completely in software, which would be impossible with an full OS running!

  4. Re:Received an iPhone as a gift by Microlith · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sell it and buy something they can use as they see fit? I hear Apple fans gibber on constantly about the resale value of their devices, so you should be able to get a good price I suppose.