We are proud to announce that the live release of emteria.OS for Raspberry Pi 4B is finally here. We have tested the beta extensively, collected feedback from the emteria community and optimized continuously. The live release convinces through increased overall performance, support of all emteria functionality and, having Android 11 as its core, with the latest Android user experience. The live release is accompanied by a new beta version for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 IO Board.
Overall performance optimization
Compared to former releases by emteria, the combination of Android 11 for Raspberry Pi 4B is superior in several ways. On the one hand, Raspberry Pi upgraded its hardware component, which leads to a very noticeable performance increase. On the other hand, however, emteria integrated a new Linux kernel into this live release of emteria.OS. By using the latest long-term release (5.13), emteria’s Android 11 distribution is the only one in the market that uses it, making it faster and better performant.
Availability of the known emteria feature set
Part of the extended beta phase was the adaption and optimization of the proprietary emteria Android extensions. With the live release, all well-known emteria features that supplement Android’s best-in-class user experience can be used on Raspberry Pi 4B. For example, the Kiosk App that locks an Android device with a password so that, selectively, users can only access certain apps or a single website, is available with the live release. Root access, which was usually granted by the emteria SuperUser App, is now part of the new SuShell App. Besides the change of its name, the SuShell App improves by better integration and more functionality in the future. Also, the known RPiSettings App is on board again, making it easier to configure a Raspberry Pi from the Android interface. As the focus was on functionality first, all emteria apps will continuously be optimized to meet highest usability standards in the upcoming weeks.
Made for UI-based solutions
Android, the natural operating system choice for products and solutions with a user interface (UI), is now enriched by an important component. The Raspberry Pi 4B makes the combination of Android and Raspberry Pi a competitive option for embedded product solutions that rely on visual and physical interaction with its users. Even more important for professional users is that emteria also supports the Compute Module 4. If the plan is to develop and produce a smart fitness device, ticketing and vending machines, point-of-sale and kiosk terminals, or simple to use devices for a manufacturing environment, Raspberry Pi offers a reasonable and reliable possibility. In combination with emteria.OS’ enterprise-focused features, time-to-market of any solutions will be reduced and fleet operation becomes way easier.
Start easy, scale fast, and operate cost-effective
To enable an easy and flexible start, emteria offers its OS in a familiar way as an evaluation version for free. This is also the case for the live release of Android 11 on the Raspberry Pi 4B. Simply register on the emteria website, download the emteria installer and flash emteria.OS to an SD card. When done with evaluating the software, decide on one of emteria’s plans to scale and operate your fleet of devices with emteria Device Hub. Choose from helpful features like Device Provisioning which helps to mass deploy a specific device configuration, e.g., by automatically pre-installing apps or setting custom options. Mobile Device Management (MDM) for emteria.OS devices ensures the cost-effective long-term operation of your Android device fleet.
If you have a question or special requests during evaluation and afterward, please reach out to the emteria team at any time. Support and customer service are guaranteed and an integral part of emteria’s objective to make Android available for industrial applications and professional, UI-based devices. Please be aware that emteria does not yet support the official Raspberry Pi touchscreen and camera. Support for both peripherals will be added with the highest priority in the upcoming weeks. Have fun with that live release, do not forget to tell your friends, and leave us your feedback in the discussion forum or via sales@emteria.com.