World's Smallest Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A9 Module?

Posted by timothy on Thursday June 13, 2013 @10:21AM from the stick-it-in-your-ear dept.

DeviceGuru writes "Variscite has unveiled what it claims is the world's tiniest Cortex-A9 system-on-module, measuring 52 x 17mm. The Linux- and Android-compatible DART-4460 board is based on a 1.5GHz dual-core TI OMAP4460 SoC, is available with up to 1GB of DDR2 RAM and 8GB eMMC flash, and can run at 400MHz on just 44mA. The module provides interfaces for display (HDMI, RGB, DSI), wireless (Bluetooth, WiFi), audio, camera, USB, and more, and it consumes as little as 5mA in suspend and 44mA while running from a 3.7V battery at 400 MHz, according to Variscite. And in case you were wondering, the iconic Gumstix form-factor is 12 percent larger, at 58 x 17mm."

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Small until you try to use it by BobboBrown · 2013-06-13 11:26 · Score: 4, Insightful

Boards in that sort of arrangement are common as muck and have been for a long time. Then when you want to use it, first you need a baseboard which is beyond the construction capabilities of most hackers (Variscite don't show you the back of the board which will have several specialised, very fine-pitch header connectors) and once you break out the "real-world" connectors, you've got a much larger beast.
If you want something to hack around with, go for a SOM like an RPi, or a Wandboard, or an ODroid, or a BeagleBone, or a Cubieboard, or an OLinuXino, or any of a huge number of other products.