Rockchip's RK3326 found a second life in retro gaming handhelds like the ODROID-GO Advance, but its revised sibling, the RK3326-S, has been quietly making its way into more industrial territory. Boardcon's EM3326S is a single-board computer built around this updated silicon, featuring a quad-core Cortex-A35 CPU clocked at 1.5 GHz, a doubled 512 KB L2 cache compared to the original RK3326, and support for LPDDR4 memory up to 4 GB. Storage options range from 8 GB to 128 GB of onboard eMMC flash, with a microSD slot available for expansion.
While Boardcon positions the EM3326S primarily for smart audio applications, its I/O roster tells a broader story. The board includes dual display interfaces (LVDS/MIPI-DSI and RGB LCD), both MIPI CSI and DVP camera connectors, an RS485 terminal block for industrial serial communication, and a mini PCIe socket paired with a nano SIM card slot for optional 4G LTE connectivity. Networking is otherwise handled by 10/100 Mbps Ethernet via a Realtek RTL8152B controller, plus 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.2. Two USB 2.0 host ports and a Micro USB OTG port round out the connectivity, alongside dual SPI connectors and GPIO expansion headers. A 4.2 V lithium-ion battery connector and an IR receiver add further flexibility for portable or embedded deployments.
The board ships as a compact system-on-module measuring 4.5 x 3.7 cm (1.8 x 1.5 inches) paired with a baseboard that comes in at 11 x 8.5 cm (4.3 x 3.3 inches), rated for an operating range of 0°C to 70°C (32°F to 158°F). The Mali G31-2EE GPU supports OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.0, and hardware video decoding up to 1080p60 for H.265 and H.264 content. Software support currently covers Android 12, Debian 11, and a Buildroot-based option for developers who need a minimal, custom-configured Linux root filesystem, all running on Linux kernel 4.19 or 5.10. Those kernel versions are getting long in the tooth, which is worth noting for anyone planning a project that depends on newer driver support or upstream features. The RK3326-S datasheet is publicly available for those who want to dig into the hardware details.
