Remix Mini Android PC review: Android is eating the world
By Osarumen Osamuyi
The Remix Mini is the world’s first true Android PC. Or at least, that’s what its creators at Jide Technology1 have christened it. After raising more than $1.5 million on Kickstarter (when they were only seeking $50,000), Jeremy Chau, Ben Luk and David Ko, three Xooglers have taken what most of us know as an open sourced mobile operating system, Android, and turned it on its head, into a full-fledged desktop OS, and put it in a little black computer called the Remix Mini.
First impressions
The Remix Mini came in a beige2 box, with the inscription “The world’s first true Android PC” etched on it. When you open it, you’ll see the PC itself (which I think looks like a black bar of soap) sitting in a cardboard cot. When you take it out, you’ll find 2 more boxes underneath, which contain a HDMI cable, a power cord and a 3-pin DC adapter.
While the front face of the Remix Mini is as minimalist as minimalist gets, there are a bunch of ports on the back. Seven, to be exact. There’s a port for the DC power adapter, two USB 2.03 ports, one HDMI for video (and audio) output, a 3.5mm headphone jack (which can be used as both an audio input and output port), a mini-SD port and an ethernet doodad.
Thinking about it a second time…the body looks like a miniature matte-black flying saucer – if Tesla was to make one in 2016. Absolutely no buttons. Or clumsy seams. Or rough edges. Because of that, I can see how easy it is to miss the power button. That’s because there’s none. Well, not exactly. The Remix logo on the front face doubles as a capacitive touchpad, and I only know that because I saw promo pictures before meeting the device for the first time. It connects wirelessly to the internet via 802.11b/g/n Wifi and to other devices/peripherals via Bluetooth 4.0.
Unless you happen to have these peripherals – a desktop monitor, a mouse and a keyboard lying around, then it doesn’t look as much of a steal as you had thought. I found a Havit wireless keyboard and mouse combo for N5800 on Konga, as well as some 20 – 24-inch LG monitors for between N34,000 – N64,800. This brings the cost of owning this PC to around N70,000 – N100,000, since it retails for N29,999. Even at that price, it looks very well-built.
>> Click here (to read more)…