For the same price of $35 as its predecessor, the Raspberry Pi 3 has added wireless features like Wi-Fi of 802.11n as well as Bluetooth 4.1. The credit-card-sized computer also improved its speed up to 60 percent than the previous version.
The added features now make the device able to reach for wireless connections and let behind the need for an Ethernet port as the main connection for Internet access. Bluetooth integration means that users now can connect wireless keyboard or mouse to control the Pi 3 and communicate wirelessly with sensors and other devices, as reported by CNET.
For those not familiar with the low-cost device, the Raspberry Pi is a small motherboard outfitted with a CPU, graphics cards, memory and other components. It is basicly a low cost basic computer that can expand the reach for technology to those who cannot actually afford it or encourage interest in technology among children at a young age.
But actually, the real focus of the Pi is to encourage people to tinker with the device to develop projects and to interest students in computer science by teaching them how to solve problems through application design.
“The two main things that people do with their Pi are use it as a PC replacement or use it as an embedded computer,” Raspberry Pi Foundation co-founder Eben Upton told the BBC. “The Pi 3 is doubling down on both those things rather than going looking for new things to do.”
What are the new things users can do with the upgraded device?
About 200,000 Pi 3 computers will be available starting today at its launch, buyers will get the devices in a few days, said Upton. But with those incredible numbers what exactly is new with the Pi 3?
Pi 3 has developed a broader set of innovations when it comes to the cloud, said Upton. This upgrade in the technology could bring much brighter innovations to the table.
The wireless features will allow users to build rudimentary smart homes by connecting the computer to Bluetooth-based appliances, the functions it could have go from the control of simple lighting to more complex air-conditioning systems, according to PCWorld.
Information from devices could be hauled to cloud services for analysis via wireless. For instance, a cloud service could tell a Raspberry Pi to turn an air conditioning system on or off based on data collected from smart meters, which could ultimately save money from the user’s electric bill.
Home security systems or “health hubs” could be developed with the Pi 3 as well, where data is collected from health monitoring devices and sent to the cloud, the co-founder added. It is much like Fitbit, which sends health information from smartwatches to the cloud, where the data is tracked and compiled to recommend diets and workouts.
Source: PC World