I ordered a Banana Pi around Thanksgiving, it arrived today.
 
For $50, its a totally different system to the Raspberry Pi but at the same time it's compatible to it. Lets face the facts...
 
The Banana Pi is a Chinese Clone of the Raspberry Pi put onto steroids. Where the R-Pi was developed in the UK for the educational market, the Chinese developed the B-Pi for the same reason but adding more functions and ports to it. The Chinese gov't and companies contracted to make the R-Pi for both the UK, Asian and World-Wide markets decided on their own to make the B-Pi and make it compatible to the R-Pi.
 
Problem with this is to make the B-Pi more powerful, a more powerful ARM processor was use; the R-Pi uses the A10, and the B-Pi uses the A20 (a dual core version of the A10 with added functions, same cpu used on the Cubie Board). This keeps the software compatibility with the R-Pi as high as possible. But the OS used on the R-Pi can not work on the B-Pi though the OS for the B-Pi can be used on the R-Pi. So to use Raspbian on the B-Pi, you need to get the version made for the B-Pi. But once you have it, you can download all the R-Pi software and it will work for the most part. There might be a couple of pieces of software that will not work for the B-Pi, but that is yet to be tested thoroughly.
 
The Banana Pi with it's more RAM and Dual Core Processor can support the Android system. The Raspberry Pi was supposed to support the Android system but there has been problems; both Pi's use more or less the same CPU/RAM set up used in many tablets and smart phones that uses the Android OS.
 
Currently I am downloading Raspbian for the B-Pi. More posts to follow.
 
From a forum/wiki that supports the Banana Pi ( http://wiki.lemaker.org/Main_Page ):

 
Hardware Specifications
 
Banana Pi Hardware Specific Sheet

Item	Description
CPU	Allwinner A20* (ARM Cortex-A7 dual-core 2 x 1.0GHz）
GPU	ARM Mali400MP2 - complies with OpenGL ES 2.0/1.1)
System Memory (SDRAM)	1GB DDR3 (shared with GPU)
Onboard Storage	SD/MMC card slot max. 64GB; up to 2TB on a SATA disk
Onboard Network	10/100/1000 Ethernet RJ45 (optional USB WiFi Dongle)
Video Output	HDMI, Composite (AV video), extendable with the on-board LVDS connector
Audio I/O	HDMI, 3.5mm stereo jack output, on-board microphone input
USB	2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x OTG micro-USB port, 1 x micro-USB for power supply
Expansion	Extendable 26-pin GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) headers, camera connector, display connector for LVDS and a touch screen
Misc	3 x on-board buttons(Power Switch, Reset, U-boot key); IR receiver
Dimensions	92mm x 60 mm
Weight	48g

Due to the limited power output from a computer's USB port, we suggest only powering the B-Pi with a good quality 5V/2A PSU.
 

I have not been able to get the Banana Pi running, because I have not been able to get Raspian to download from their site. Every attempt I try, the download stops midway and is not able to continue from where it left off. I have Android for the Banana Pi but I'm not going to use Android on it yet, that is for a future project later on down the line.
 
I just have to keep trying.
 
BTW, the worldwide shipper of the Banana Pi is a German company for the Chinese Gov't called Lemaker. Their website is: http://www.lemaker.org
 
They are announcing a New Banana Pi, like Raspberry Pi did with the Model B+. It is called the Banana Pro, it has more options and ports built in but still 3 USB ports and 1GB of RAM like in the Banana Pi. The GPIO is also expanded like on the Raspberry Pi Model B+. It's on their main page of their website.

Great info. I want to get one here soon. i do have a cubie board with the A20 and 1 GB of ram. haven't messed with it yet, unfortunately.