Hardkernel and its community Odroid project have announced an open-hardware single board computer based on Samsung’s quad-core 1.7GHz Exynos 4412 Prime SoC.

The Odroid-U3 is claimed to be “100 percent software compatible” with the Odroid-U2 that began shipping in Dec. 2012 and is now being discontinued. As with other Odroid SBCs, the U3 runs a variety of Linux OSes including Android, and is supported with discussion forums, schematics, source code, and documentation available at the Odroid open hardware community website.

Odroid-U3 with/without its heatsink
(click images to enlarge)

In comparison to the older Odroid-U2, the Odroid-U3 SBC offers three, rather than two, USB Host ports. It also adds a small 8-pin I/O header with UART, IRQ, I2C, and GPIO signals, plus DC power. The new I/O header lets the Odroid-U3 stack with like-sized I/O expansion boards, such as the Odroid-U3 I/O Shield shown below.

Odroid U3 I/O Shield shown mounted on the Odroid-U3 SBC
(click image to enlarge)

Other ways the Odroid-U3 differs from the older Odroid-U2 include the addition of a battery-backed real-time clock function, improved power-related circuitry for protection from damage due to reverse- and over/under-voltage (up to +/- 28V DC) or ESD, and prevention against damage to USB devices from power-down leakage currents.

Odroid-U3 edge views
(click images to enlarge)

The new board also adds an on-board power button, and costs nearly a third less than its predecessor. Plus, it occupies about half the volume of the -U2, thanks to a slightly larger footprint combined with a substantially lower profile.

The Odroid-U3’s front and back details and block diagram are shown below.

Odroid-U3 board details and block diagram
(click images to enlarge)

Summary of specs

Hardkernel lists these specifications for the Odroid-U3:

• Processor — Samsung Exynos 4412 Prime SoC:
  • CPU — Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9, clocked at 1.7GHz
  • GPU — 3D accelerator Mali-400 Quad Core 440MHz
• RAM — 2GB LP-DDR2 SDRAM
• Storage:
  • MicroSD card socket
  • eMMC module socket
• HDMI video interface:
  • Supports 1080p (H.264+AAC based MP4 container format)
    
  • micro HDMI connector
• Audio — 3.5mm headphone jack
• LAN — 10/100Mb Ethernet (RJ-45 Jack)
• USB:
  • 3x USB2.0 Host ports (standard A type connectors)
  • 1x USB2.0 OTG Device port (Micro USB)
• 8-pin I/O expansion header — UART, IRQ, I2C, GPIO, power
• Power — 5VDC @ 2A
• Operating system — Xubuntu 13.10; U-Boot 2010.12; Linux kernel 3.0.x; Android 4.x
• Dimensions — 83 x 48 x 22mm (with heatsink)
• Weight — 48g (with heatsink)

Incidentally, Hardkernel says it benchmarked the $59 Odroid-U3 against the $25 Raspberry Pi, and came up with the CPU performance comparison data shown below.

Odroid-U3 vs. Raspberry benchmark comparison
(source: Hardkernel; click image to enlarge)

Further information

The Odroid-U3 is available for pre-order now for $59 at Hardkernel’s website, and is expected to begin shipping in mid-January. The board’s “normal” price is listed as $65, but registered members of the Odroid Forum are eligible for the $6 discount, according to the company’s website. Further details about the Odroid-U3 and other Odroid community boards may be found here.