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I recall someone mentioned previously that the demand for low-cost, low-power compute was concentrated in smartphones, TV boxes, etc. The high demand drove the prices down on those chips and modules a lot. That was why Raspberry Pi uses a repurposed TV box chip, etc. Along those lines, is there a way to buy a cheap TV box, but programmable?

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If you look at the datasheets, the SoCs in the Miyoo handhelds were originally intended for dashcams. I don't know whether these handhelds emerged as a result of excess supply of chips like the RPi or simply it was the cheapest alternative that fit their needs, however.

I don't know for certain, but it does seem to fit the trend of some extremely high-volume, low-margin chip that starts out in one use-case and gets put everywhere else where it meets or exceeds the needed specs.

As a hobbyist, it makes me wonder how I can make use of this for my own needs - without having to make a custom PCB, which I know other hobbyists have succeeded in, but I'd like to keep my initial attempts simple.

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