Best SBC for my needs

"can run Android" covers most of the SBCs you'll find here, including the Raspberry Pi to some degree.

Since you're asking here on e14, what about http://www.element14.com/community/community/knode/single-board_computers/riotboard?ICID=single-board-topbanner-riotboard or http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-55820?ICID=knode-sabre-space both of which come with Android already installed.

Keep in mind that most of these SBCs are development platforms, they may have rough edges, support may be up to you to do yourself.

If all you want to do is run android, there are tablets that are just as cheap if not cheaper that will likely have a better user experience.

Thank you for the response! I guess my approval of android is because I have a nexus 7 tablet, and I use the android os everyday, like its functionality, apps, etc ... But if I went the Ubuntu/Linux distro root, would I be able to install/run Netflix, xbmc, open source office package, ? Basically I would like to use it as a media center, but have the capacity for light office work when required...

Netflix is likely to be a problem as it needs Microsoft Silverlight.  There appear to be ways around that, but as far as I can tell they need the Wine emulator which may well make them x86 only.

The other side of the problem is that GPU accelerated video can be a bit of a minefield with SBCs. The manufacturers tend to want to keep the drivers closed which means support can be spotty at best.  Generic office apps will come with more or less any distro, you might need to install them yourself but that isn't really a problem.

So there's no right answer, SBCs are good if you want something you can't buy off the shelf and like sorting any problems yourself. If you want something that 'just works' out of the box, they may not be the best choice.

I agree, the RIoTboard looks like a good fit for your needs.

By the way, I have a generic android TV box (with a quad core ARM9 cpu) and it runs Netflix perfectly - its just another android app in the Play Store.

Just saw this blog entry about getting Netflix running on Android on the RIoTboard

http://www.element14.com/community/community/knode/single-board_computers/riotboard/blog/2014/03/06/netflix-and-more-on-the-riotboard