CNXSoft – Embedded Software Development

InfoTMIC has recently launched the iMAPx15 SoC featuring 2 Cortex A5 and a Mali-400 GPU. Infotmic iMAPx15 is a low cost version of iMAPx820 that is cost optimized for tablets, and lacks features such as SATA and GPS.

Charbax interviewed InfoTMIC marketing director at CES 2013, where they discussed the new processor, and showcased a 7″ Android 4.1 tablet powered by iMAPx15 that is said to cost just $35. The device is not sold on Chinese websites yet, so I could not confirm this claim. At first, I thought it would be  unlikely to be the retail price, but there are some 7″ Android tablets selling for about $40 on Aliexpress (Update: The sellers at this price don’t have feedback, so those could be scams). So the $35 price tag could either be the unit price for 1K orders or the retail price in China.

iMAPx15 is not listed on the company website, but I could still gather the specs from the video:

• Processor – 2 Cortex A5 cores up to 1.2 GHz
• GPU – Mali 400 GPU up to 400 MHz
• Video
  • FULL-HD (1080p) video decoder (multiple codecs)
  • FULL-HD (1080p) encoder (H.264)

• JPEG Decoder & Encoder
• Video Out – HDMI 1.4A, RGB / I80 / TV_IF
• CAMERA I/F
• Memory Controller – DDR/DDR2/DDR3 & LPDDR
• USB – 2x USB2.0 host & 1x USB OTG
• Process – TSMC 40LP
• Package – TFBGA 14x14mm 0.65mm pitch

InfoTMIC also plans to release a Quad Core Cortex a9 later this year.

I’ve been tipped off about a new Android set-top box – Diyomate A5 Dual Core – that features Infotmic iMAPx820 dual core A5 SoC @ 1 GHz with Mali-400 GPU, 1 GB RAM & 4 GB Flash, and runs Android 4.0.3.

Android Media Player based on InfoTMIC iMAPx820

Here are the specs of this media player:

• SoC – Infotmic 820 dual Cortex-A5 + dual core Mali-400 GPU
• System Memory – 1GB DDR3
• Storage – 4GB  NAND Flash + SD card socket
• Video Output – HDMI and composite
• Audio Output – HDMI and Stereo audio output
• Video Codecs – H.263, MPEG1/2, MPEG-ASP, MPEG-AVC(H.264), VC-1, RV, AVS, MJPEG/JPEG, VP8, MVC, VP6(FLV), ETC
• Audio Codecs  – MP3, WMA, M4A (AAC), WAV, OGG, LPCM, FLAC, AC3 and DTS
• Connectivity:
  • Ethernet – 10/100Mbps
  • Wi-FI – 802.11 b/g/n
• USB – 2x USB 2.0 Host ports
• Power supply – 5V/2A AC Adaptor
• Dimension – 98*98*20 mm
• Weight – 160 grams

Beside featuring 2 Cortex A5 cores up to 1.2 GHz and a Mali 400MP GPU up to 400 MHz, iMAPx820 also has the following features:

• FULL-HD(1080P) video decoder/encoder with varied video formats
• JPEG Decoder & Encoder
• 72 channels GPS Baseband
• 12m Pixels ISP (Image Signal Processor)
• Dual Display processors and display ports
• MIPI CSI, CAMERA IF
• HDMI1.4A, RGB / I80 / TV_IF, MIPI DSI
• Memory Controller for DDR/DDR2/DDR3 & LPDDR/LPDDR2
• USB2.0 HOST *2 & OTG *1
• SATA 2.0
• Memory Access HW acceleration engine, 2D Graphic Engine
• Security Engine -  Supports many typical algorithms & safe boot

infoTMIC iMAPx820 Block Diagram (Click to Enlarge)

The processor is manufactured with a 40nm process and comes in a TFBGA package (17×17 mm) with 0.65 pitch.

You can read infoTMIC iMAPx820 Introduction (PDF) for more information about this processor. This processor has some interesting features such as SATA, dual display support…, but I very much doubt we’ll ever see any GPL source code released for this processor as I’m pretty sure infoTMIC and the few Chinese companies using their solution could not care less.

Diyomate A5 Dual Core only seems to be available to distributors for now, and costs $43 for 1k orders. There is however a similar set-top box (but with 512MB RAM) that sells for $81.66 on Aliexpress. There’s also an upcoming Diyomate A8 set-top box based on Rockchip RK3066 ($46 / 1k order). However, I would probably never buy any Diyomate products after I’ve read several comments on my Diyomate A6 TV BOX post that indicate the box has quite a few annoying bugs, the firmware file is hard to get, and you can’t do much about it as they blocked access to ADB with a password in that particular media player.