Samsung Artik IoT Boards and Devkits with WiFi, Bluetooth LE, and Zigbee Available, Partners Announced

Samsung Artik IoT boards will finally start selling on February 22 via Digikey. With the many fascinating developments in the IoT space over the year, you’d be forgiven if you completely forgot about Samsung Artik boards. So let’s have a quick recap. The Korean company previously announced three boards all supporting Bluetooth LE: Artik 1 – Ineda Systems Dual Core microAptiv MIPS32 processor with 1MB on-chip RAM, no GPU, and 4MB SPI flash Artik 5 – Dual core Exynos ARM processor @ 1GHz with ARM Mali 400 MP2 GPU, 512MB RAM and 4GB eMMC flash (both on-chip), with WiFi & Zigbee/Thread connectivity Artik 10 – Octa core Exynos processor with 4x ARM Cortex A15 @ 1.3GHz, 4x ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-T628 GPU, 2GB LPDDR3 (on-chip), 16GB eMMC flash, and WiFi & Zigbee/Thread connectivity Samsung also partnered with multiple companies working on: Operating Systems – Tizen, […]

Samsung Gear S2 Classic 3G Smartwatch Features an eSIM for Cellular Connectivity, Runs Tizen

Samsung has announced that Gear S2 classic 3G smartwatch would be first device in the market to be equipped with a GSMA compliant eSIM (Embedded SIM) The round watch is also powered by a dual core processor coupled with 512MB RAM and 4GB flash to run Tizen based wearable platform. Galaxy Gear S2 Classic 3G specifications: SoC – Dual core processor @ 1.0 GHz System Memory – 512MB Storage – 4GB RAM Display – 1.2” circular super AMOLED display, 360×360 resolution, 302ppi Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n/e, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, 3G/4G (HSPA+ voice and data networks) Audio Codec – MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ Audio Format – MP3, M4A, AAC, OGG Sensors – Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Heart Rate, Ambient Light, Barometer Dimension  – 44.0 x 46.9 x 13.4 (54g) Battery – 300mAh Li-ion; Wireless Charging;  2~3days on a charge IP Rating – IP68 Certified Dust and Water Resistant The watch will run Tizen, and include a […]

Samsung Introduces Exynos 7870 Octa-Core Processor for Mid-Range Smartphones

Usually the higher the model number, the faster the processor, but not with Samsung, as the company’s new Exynos 7870 processor will feature eight ARM Cortex A53 cores @ 1.6 GHz coupled with an ARM Mali-T830MP GPU. It will be manufactured with 14nm FINFET process which should reduce power consumption by 30% compared to 28nm process. The processor also include an LTE Cat.6 2CA Modem that supports 300Mbps downlink speed and FDD-TDD joint carrier aggregation. Multimedia capabilities include 1080p 60fps video playback, 1920×1200 display resolution, and 16MP front or camera support (8MP in dual camera configuration) via its image signal processor (ISP). Exynos 7870 processor will also integrate a GNSS solution that delivers fast time-to-first-fix (TTFF) feature. In the recent pas, low and mid-range SoC were usually manufacturer with 28nm process due to the high cost of 14nm process, but those costs must have come down dramatically, after Snapdragon 625 […]

Samsung S3FBP5A Bio-Processor Targets Fitness Tracking Wearables

We now have many wearables capable of monitoring your activities, be it smartwatches or fitness tracker, and usually they are comprised of several small sensor chips, a low power micro-controller, a Bluetooth radio, and possibly some other ICs . Samsung has been designing and just launched a bio-processor to regroup most of those features into a single chip which should only require a fourth of the area required by current multi-chip solutions. While the press release did not mention the part number, the included picture – shown above – sort of gave a clue, and Samsung S3FBP5A bio-processor has the following specifications: MCU – ARM Cortex-M4 Memory – 256 KB RAM Storage – 512 KB flash DSP Sensors – 5 Analog frontends (AFEs) measuring: PPG (photoplethysmography) ECG (electrocardiography) Skin temperature BIA (bioelectrical impedance analysis) Galvanic skin response (GSR) I/Os – SPI, I2C PMIC Security units The sensors will enable measurements […]

Samsung Exynos 8890 Octa-core Processor to Feature Custom ARMv8 Cores and Mali-T880 GPU

Samsung Exynos 7420 processor is at the top of benchmark charts for smartphones, but the company is still pushing for more performance and power efficiency with their upcoming Exynos 8890 processor that promises 30% improvements in performance, and 10% in power efficiency. While Exynos 7 Octa was made with ARM’s own Cortex A53 and A57 cores, Samsung did not go with Cortex A72 in 8890, but instead decided to design their own ARMv8 cores and coupled for of these with four low power ARM Cortex A53 cores, and a Mali-T880 GPU. Samsung also included a LTE Rel.12 Cat.12/13 modem that enables speeds up to 600Mbps DL (Cat.12) and 150Mbps UL (Cat.13), and the processor will be manufactured using 14nm FinFET process technology. Excluding the custom cores, and the manufacturing process, this configuration is similar to the recently unveiled Huawei Kirin 950 processor using four Cortex A72 cores and TSMC 16nm […]

Linux 4.3 Release – Main Changes, ARM and MIPS Architectures

Linus Torvalds released Linux Kernel 4.3 last week-end: So it *felt* like the last week of the rc series was busy, to the point where I got a bit worried about the release. But doing the actual numbers shows that that really was just my subjective feeling, probably due to the kernel summit and travel back home from Korea. It wasn’t actually a particularly busy week, it’s just that the pull requests were more noticeable in the last couple of days. We had a network update and a late fix for a x86 vm86 mode bug introduced by the vm86 cleanups, but other than that it’s just a collection of various small one-liners all over. Ok, the vm86 mode thing was a one-liner too, it was just slightly more nerve-wracking because it looked scarier than it was before people (Andy) figured out what was going on. The changes from rc7 […]

Graperain G6818 IBOX Board is Powered by Samsung S5P6818 Octa-core Cortex A53 Processor

Shortly after writing about NanoPi2 development board based on Samsung S5P4418 processor, I checked some other more featured solutions based on the same processor, but made by competitors such as Graperain G4418 IBOX Card Computer or ARMBest Core4418 module. Whiel browsing Shenzhen Graperain Technology website, I discovered another processor by Samsung with S5P6818 octa core Cortex A53 processor found in their G6818 IBOX single board computer. Board specifications: SoC – Samsung S5P6818 octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ 1.4 to 1.6 GHz with Mali-400MP 3D GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 up to 800MHz (1GB optional) Storage – 8GB eMMC Flash (16GB optional) + 2x micro SD slot Video Output / Display I/F – micro HDMI and VGA connectors; LCD (RGB), MIPI DSI and LVDS interfaces; Audio – micro HDMI, headphone jack, speaker header; Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (RTL8211E), Wifi and Bluetooth 4.0 (Realtek RTL8723BU module) USB – 2x USB 2.0 […]

NanoPi2 is a Tiny Board with Samsung S5P4418 Processor, WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity

FriendlyARM released NanoPi board this summer, a small and inexpensive development board based on Samsung S3C2451 ARM9 processor with both WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. The company has now unveils a more powerful, and slightly wider, version with NanoPi2 featuring Samsung S5P4418 quad core Cortex A9 processor with 1GB RAM, AP6212 wireless module, a new HDMI output, and the same connectors for I/Os and LCD displays. NanoPi2 specifications: SoC – Samsung S5P4418 quad core Cortex A9 processor @ up to 1.4GHz System Memory – 1GB 32bit DDR3 Storage – 2 x Micro SD Slot Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth LE 4.0 via AP6212 module Video Output / Display I/F- 1x HDMI 1.4a, 0.5 mm pitch SMT FPC seat for type-A full-color LCD (RGB: 8-8-8) Camera – 24-pin DVP interface USB – 1x USB Host port; 1x micro USB 2.0 OTG port for power and data Expansions Headers – 40-pin […]