Last Nov 2015, Raspberry Pi surprised its core following by introducing the new Raspberry Pi Zero board with a mere cost of just $5. Fast forward three months later Raspberry Pi has released yet another board that is gaining much attention,one that's faster in processor speed with a bump up in features.
Today we have the new launching of the Raspberry Pi 3 and like its early gen board it keeps its same cheap price at $35. The Pi 3 will more than likely replace its brethren the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B instantly becoming the board of choice amongst electronic geeks.
About those specs
Its safe to say that the new Raspberry Pi 3 is a big upgrade from its previous gen board, starting with a much faster processor measuring 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex A53. That's 10 times faster than the original Raspberry Pi, definitely 35% faster than the Pi 2 Model B which is by the way 900MHz quad-core ARMv7 chip. The VideoCore also gets a bump up in speed its clocked at 400MHz versus 250MHz and then we have 3D graphics processor measuring at 300MHz versus 250MHz. Its important for me to emphasize that is indeed a 64-bit chip, with the previous models being 32-bit.
Other improvements are is an added WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1 standard. The WiFi chip in detail will offer up 802.11b/g/n support which means there is no need for using a adapter or rely heavily on an Ethernet cable for Internet connection. User will will be able to add storage with its added on Micro SD slot. The noticeable spring loaded on the previous gen models is replaced with the Micro SD slot,this means the hardware will be less prone to damage.
Thew Raspberry Pi 3 will be backwards compatible, with only changes to software being 64-bit operating system. The boards form factor will remain the same, this means all preexisting hardware accessories will be able to operate. One minor difficulty users might face is WiFi and required antenna LEDs will have a change in location, it will now sit on the other side of the SD card slot.
In terms of selling, existing Pi boards will continue to be sold according to industrial customers needs,but if you're looking for a upgrade in hardware and change in features you might want to looking towards purchasing the Raspberry Pi 3.
For more on the new Raspberry Pi 3, take a look at the video below.