New £50 microcomputer to take on Raspberry Pi

The MIPS Creator CI20 is a tiny microcomputer that costs just £50 and can be used by students, enthusiasts and budding entrepreneurs to develop their own hardware and software.

The first product launched as part of Imagination Technology's Creator programme, the Creator CI20 board is capable of running both Android and Linux and enables users to create a wide range of projects at very little cost.

Manufacturer Imagination gave out 1,000 units to students and developers in a limited run in August 2014 and reports that it has been inundated with enquiries ever since.

So far the device has been used for a wide varity of projects including smart home technologies, gaming and wireless multimedia streaming.

Though not a household name, Imagaination is responsible for the hardware inside numerous popular gadgets including the iPhone and Google Glass, and is also the owner of Pure Digital - well known in the UK for its DAB radios and its wireless Jongo multiroom speakers.

Though Imagination makes it clear that it doesn't see itself as a rival to the likes of Raspberry Pi and Arduino, it's impossible not to be make comparisons with these existing affordable mini computers.

[ Meteorite from Mars ‘holds evidence of life’, researchers claim ]

The CI20 is more expensive than Raspberry Pi but it has more features. The spec list is impressive for such a low cost device, and includes a dual-core prorcessor with graphics chip, along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, 4GB flash memory, and dedicated video hardware for low power decoding of HD video.

[ NASA's Mars spacecraft is 'badly designed' says Apollo astronaut ]

The MIPS Creator CI20 is availble for pre-order now with a UK price tag of £50 and $65 for the US. Devices are due to ship in January 2015.