The changes are:

1. It is now SiP, not SoC, because the GR8 chip incorporates 512MB RAM! System-in-Package.

2. They made changes here and there so all of the GR8 is open compared to the previous SoC. Most notably I expect the video decoding/encoding in hardware should be unable now.

3. Much smaller form factor.

4. Now has very fast NAND memory, so flash once and forget.

5. Overall they got input from developers and implemented what is needed.

6. Most important, same day Linux kernel support for the GR8 in Linus's tree. The commit was accepted a few days ago.

I believe it's 256MB of RAM and 512MB of NAND flash.

A chip with a design more suitable for embedding in a device. After you make the initial outlay, SMD components become much more easy to deal with than pth, for example.

I was confused as well. I think it's all about being Open Source. You don't have to sign an NDA to view the spec.