Second Amlogic S905X3 based Banana Pi revealed

Second Amlogic S905X3 based Banana Pi revealed

Mar 5, 2021 — by Eric Brown

— 427 views

SinoVoip has posted specs for a 63 x 63mm, community-backed “Banana Pi BPI-M2 Pro” SBC with a quad -A55 Amlogic S905X3, 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, GbE, WiFi/BT, and 40-pin GPIO.

SinoVoip’s Banana Pi project has unveiled its second Amlogic S905X3 based SBC after the Banana Pi BPI-M5. The similarly open-spec, but feature-reduced Banana Pi BPI-M2 Pro should cost less than the BPI-M5, which was announced last September, shipped in December, and is now selling for $63 at AliExpress with 4GB LPDDR4 and 16GB eMMC.

BPI-M2 Pro (left) and BPI-M5
(click images to enlarge)
The Banana Pi BPI-M2 Pro is smaller than the BPI-M5 and follows in a line of BPI-M2 boards such as the Allwinner V40-based Banana Pi BPI-M2 Berry and earlier, Allwinner H3 powered Banana Pi BPI-M2+. The SBC has the same 65 x 65mm form factor as the BPI-M2+ and can use the same accessories, including a metal enclosure.

The 12nm fabricated Amlogic S905X3 is equipped with 4x, up to 2GHz Cortex-A55 cores and a Mali-G31 GPU. Other Amlogic-based boards include the $50 Khadas Vim3L with a similarly quad-core, Cortex-A55 based Amlogic S905D3 and the higher-end Odroid-N2-Plus with a hexa-core Amlogic S922X. There is also the Khadas Vim3 with hexa-core Amlogic A311D.

The BPI-M2 Pro is supported with Android 9 and Linux flavors including Ubuntu, Debian, and CoreELEC. As noted by the CNXSoft post that alerted us to the BPI-M2 Pro, the Banana Pi project has often struggled with software support. However, with its new flagship BPI-M5 tapping the same S905X3 SoC, support will likely be better than on some of the less commonly adopted SunPlus, RealTek and MediaTek chips and arcane Allwinner variants found on some Banana Pi boards. (The Banana Pi product family can be explored in our Jan. 7 catalog of 150 Linux hacker boards.)

The BPI-M2 Pro has half the RAM of the BPI-M5 at 2GB but supplies the same 16GB to 64GB eMMC and a microSD slot. The SBC also lacks the BPI-M5’s audio jack and is limited to 2x USB 2.0 ports instead of 4x.

BPI-M2 Pro detail views
(click image to enlarge)
On the plus side compared to the BPI-M5, the new SBC adds a WiFi/BT module. Instead of the Type-C port for power input, there is a DC jack and micro-USB port

Specifications listed for the Banana Pi BPI-M2 Pro include:

• Processor — Amlogic S905X3 (4x Cortex-A55 @ up to 2GHz); 12nm fab; Mali-G31 GPU @ up to 650MHz
• Memory/storage:
  • 2GB LPDDR4 RAM
  • 16GB eMMC with optional up to 64GB
  • MicroSD slot for up to 256GB
• Networking:
  • Gigabit Ethernet port
  • 802.11 b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.2 (Realtek RTL8821CU)
• Other I/O:
  • HDMI 2.0 port for up to 4K@60Hz with audio, HDR, CEC, EDID
  • 2x USB 3.0 host ports
  • Micro-USB port
  • Serial debug header
  • 40-pin GPIO header (28x GPIO with support for UART, I2C, SPI or PWM plus 5V, 3.3V, GND)
• Other features — IR receiver; 2x LEDs; SW key
• Power — 5V/3 DC input jack; power, reset, and boot switches
• Dimensions – 63 x 63mm
• Weight — 58 g
• Operating system — Android, Linux

Further information

No pricing or availability information was provided for the Banana Pi BPI-M2 Pro. More information may be found on Sinovoip’s wiki.