CNXSoft – Embedded Software Development

Last month, I wrote about Geniatech WiTV, a device with a DVB-T or ISBT tuner acting as a Wi-Fi access point that let you watch TV on any Wi-Fi enabled devices. I’ve just discovered Geniatech PT115m (microUSB) and PT115e (USB), tinier and probably cheaper products, which allow you to watch free-to-air channel (DVB-T) by connecting them to the USB or microUSB port of your tablet or mini PC.

PT115m USB DVB-T Stick Connected to a Tablet

Both devices have the following key features and specifications:

• Geniatech HiDTV app for Android
• Watch DVB-T TV on Android tablet, with support for Electronic Program Guide, HDTV (1080i), and Automatic Station Searching
• Digital Personal Video Recording

• Input Terminal – VHF/UHF,  Receive Frequency – TV 48.25 ~ 863.25 MHz
• DVB-T Compliant,  2K to 8K FFT Size, Punctured Codes: 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 4/5, 5/6 and 7/8, Bandwidth: 6/7/8 MHz
• Stream capture – PES & TS
• Video Format – mpg-II Main Profile & Main Level/H.264 Mpeg4 AVC
• Audio Format – mpg-II Audio Layer I & II

Beside the micro USB and USB difference, PT115m seems to come with its own antenna, but PT115e connects an external antenna which possibly a better reception.

PT115e Connected to Tablet (left), and PT115m (Right)

The sticks need a kernel driver to work properly. This driver is said to be present in AMLogic devices, and in some Rockchip devices. For SD resolution, an Android 4.0 tablet powered by Cortex A8 processor is sufficient, but for HDTV, you’ll need a dual core Cortex A9 processor with 512MB RAM, and a resolution of 1024*600 or greater.

Here’s a demo with what looks like PT115e model.

DVB-T on Android is not new, as some XDA members wrote tools and apps for DVB-T support on Archos Gen 8 tablets, but interest seems to have faded, and other DVB-T dongles available are usually larger.

The products were apparently announced at the end of the last, but I can’t find anything on Aliexpress, so it may not be for sale right now. You can find further information on Geniatech’s TV tuners for Android page.

AMD has just announced three new Mobile Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) lineup, which better  performance and power efficiency. AMD’s APU brings the CPU and GPU on a single chip, and connects to an external chipset to handle peripherals.

Here are the three new families of processors from lower to higher performance:

• 2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU (codenamed “Temash”) – 28nm, dual and quad-core x86 APU designed for touch small form-factor notebooks (i.e. netbooks),  tablets, and hybrids 13-inches and below; Performance between Intel Atom and Core i3. 3.9 to 8W TDP.
• The 2013 AMD Mainstream APU (codenamed “Kabini”) – Quad-core x86 SoC solution for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks; Performance equivalent to Intel Pentium and Core i3 depending on model. 9 to 25W TDP
• 2013 AMD Elite Performance APU (codenamed “Richland”) – For premium ultrathin notebooks. Equivalent to Intel Core i3 to Core i5, depending on model. 17 to 35W TDP

I’ll mainly focus on Elite Mobitity APU for tablets and netbook here, but if you want more information about Kabini and Richland, you can check out Liliputing article.

There are 3 Temash / Elite Mobility APUs: A6-1450, A4-1250 and A4-1200 as shown in the table below.

A4-1200 is likely to be used in entry-level tablets, A4-1250 in notebooks with screens smaller than 13.3″, and A6-1450 in a bit more powerful notebooks. Acer Aspire V5-122 is available for pre-order on Amazon with those 3 processors for prices ranging from $479.99 to $549.99.

These APUs combine “Jaguar” x86 CPU cores with Graphics Core Next AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series graphics. AMD claims up to 172 percent more CPU performance per watt and up to 212 percent better graphics performance per watt than its predecessor (AMD C-70 APU (9W) vs AMD A4-1200 APU (4W)), as well as up to 12 hours of resting battery life. The company also tested a system based on A6-1450, and found 45 percent longer battery life, and close to five times more GPU performance than a system based on Intel Core i3-3217U (Acer Iconia W700-6607), both systems running Windows 8.

The company mentioned Windows 8 a few times in the press release, but never once Android, so I suppose those may be reserved to Windows 8 / Blue tablets and netbooks, and we most probably won’t see any AMD based Android tablets anytime soon. There was no mention of Linux either.

AMD Temash Performance Compared to Existing Intel Processors

Key features of AMD Elite Mobility APUs:

• Dual/Quad Core, AMD Start Now Technology w/smart sleep
• AMD Turbo Dock Technology for 40% performance boost
• “Jaguar” Core: Up to 20% improvement over “Bobcat” cores
• “GCN” GPU core: Up to 75% compute performance (GFLOP) improvement with Direct X 11.1 support
• Power gating for DCE, UVD, VCE, NB, abd DDR P-States
• Memory Support: Single-channel (64 bits) DDR3
• High Resolution display supporting up to 2560 x 1600
• Faster than real-time HD encode – H.264, SVC HDCP 2.1
• Protected Content DRM offloaded from CPU, HDCP 2.1
• Updated I/O: Up to 8 USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, 1 SATA Gen2, SD Card Readerer version 3.0 or SDIO controller.

AMD “Temash” Block Diagram

Brad Linder, Liliputing, explains AMD expects tablets and notebook to be cheaper than equivalent Intel device, but products which similar specs such as ASUS VivoBook X202Eare already available for $400, over $100 cheaper than Acer Aspire V5-122 mentioned above, so AMD claim on price may not be valid, at least for now.

You may be able to find more information on AMD Mobility page.

We’ve previously seen a smartphone with dual display with the Yota phone featuring both a standard LCD display on one side and an E-ink display on the other. Notion Ink Adam II brings dual display capabilities to tablet, but instead of featuring an E-Ink display on the other side, it comes with an STN Black & White display on the side of the device to show you notifications.

Notion Ink Adam II Side Display

Here are the specs of this Android 4.2.2 tablet :

• SoC – TI OMAP4470 dual-core Cortex-A9 @ 1.5 GHz  CPU + PowerVR SGX544 GPU
• System Memory – 1GB RAM
• Displays
  • 10.1″, 1280 x 800 pixel IPS display
  • Secondary STN (black and white LCD display) for notifications
• Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth
• Camera – 2MP cameras on the front and back
• Video Output – HDMI
• Battery – 6000mAh (Up to 10 hours battery life)

The secondary display will certainly help prolonging battery life, if people are OK with reading their notifications on the side display, instead of simply checking them straight into the main screen…

Liliputing reports the device should sell for about $220 [Update: We actually don't know the price yet...], but no availability date was provided.

Earl is a rugged Android 4.1 Android Tablet with all you need for the outdoors including a 6″ E-ink display to be readable in all light conditions, GPS capability, and 20 hours of battery life. And if it’s not enough, you can also recharge this water-proof device with the built-in solar panel on your way to the mountain top.

Here are the specifications of this device:

• SoC – Freescale i.MX 6 DualLight Cortex A9 @ 1GHz + Vivante GC880 GPU
• System Memory – 1GB
• Storage – 16GB flash + microSD slot
• Display – Flexible 6″ E-ink screen (1024×768),  with glove friendly IR touchscreen
• Connectivity – Wifi b/g/n, BT 4.0, ANT+, NFC, FRS/GMRS/MURS, and GPS + GLONASS
• Sensors – Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Magnetometer, Temperature, Barometer, Humidity, and Anemometer
• Misc – Radio AM/FM/SW/LW + IR blaster
• Battery – 3000 mAh (20+ hour) rechargeable with solar panel or via the provided 20″ USB lanyard.
• Weight – 303 grams (10.8 oz)
• Dimensions – 183mm x 121mm x 15mm (7.2″ x 4.75″ x 0.6″)
• Certifications – IP67 rated, allowing full submersion in 3 feet of water for 30 mins. Reliable in temperatures between 0-50 °C, and altitudes up to 40,000 feet. FCC approval pending.

Software is optimized for outdoor use, and the user interface provides access to over 300,000 trails via everytrail, the ability to monitor your heart rate, pace and cadence (specific Bt or Ant+ devices required). Thanks to its many sensors, it can also monitor the weather, and alert you in case  of changing weather conditions, and thanks to FRS/GMRS/MURS it can also be used as a two-way radio. In the first model, the maps and radio frequencies used are for North America, but European and Australia/New Zealand editions will be available towards the end of 2013.

If you trek and/or camp in remote locations frequently, you may start to think “just take my money”. And you can indeed throw $259 at it (+$20 shipping for international orders outside the US), but you’ll only get the device in August 2013. That’s because the tablet is still under development, and the company, Sqigle inc, is crowd-sourcing the project by themselves, so if you pledge your credit card will be debited immediately. You have until the 9th of June to participate, and if they don’t reach their funding target ($250,000 for 1,000 units), they’ll refund the money, and cancel the project. If the project is successful, and you prefer to play it safe, Earl will also be available for $359. Even though the tablet is not ready yet, you can see some ultra-short videos of the development showing the prototype board, the casing with solar panel, the flexible E-ink display, the tablet prototype itself, and follow other updates on their blog.

Via Liliputing

Intel has launched Silvermont, a new microarchitecture for low power SoC targeting smartphones, tablets, and servers in data centers. Silvermont SoC will be manufactured using 22nm Tri-Gate SoC process, and the company claims 3x times more peak performance than current generation Atom processors, or 5 times less power consumption at the same performance level.

Silvermont will be used in Bay Trail, Avoton,  and Merrifield processors:

• Intel’s quad-core “Bay Trail” SoC is scheduled for Q4 2013 tablets, and variants of the “Bay Trail” platform will also be used in market segments including entry laptop and desktop computers.
• Intel’s “Merrifield” is scheduled to ship to customers by the end of this year, and actual smartphones will show up in 2014.
• Intel’s “Avoton” will be used in low power microservers, and provide full server product capability that customers require including 64-bit, integrated fabric, error code correction, Intel virtualization technologies and software compatibility.

Intel will provide support for Android, Linux, and Windows devices for their new Atom SoCs.

A 1h20 webcast is available online for further details about Silvermont. The technical overview starts at 21:50 (Slide 15), and I’ll give a summary of some of the most interesting points.

This new microarchitecture brings performance improvements thanks to:

• Out of Order Execution engine enabling better single-threaded performance.
• A new multicore and system fabric capable of delivering 8 cores.
• New IA instructions and core technologies

as well as better power efficiency:

• Wider dynamic power operating range
• Enhanced power management
• Fast standby entry/exit

The slide below clearly explains the different definitions between Architecture, Microarchitecture and SoC at Intel.

SoC based on Silvermont will support 1 to 8 cores, and multicore SoC will feature modules with:

• Two cores
• Coupled second-level cache (up to 1MB)
• Dedicated point-to-point interface (IDI) to SOC providing independent read and write channels, higher bandwidth, lower latency, and OOO transaction support

Frequency and power management can be adjusted per core.

New instructions are available to improve performance (Intel Core 2 64n ISA + Core Westmere SSE4.1, SSE4.2, POPCNT), and security (Westmere AES-NI, Intel Secure Key), and news technologies such as Real Time instruction tracing, Intel VT-x2, and support for McAfee DeepSAFE will be embedded in the new SoCs.

One of the most interesting part of the presentation is the comparison to competitors.

It’s probably safe to use the “Small” competitor is ARM, and the “Large” competitor is AMD.  We already knew that AMD is not the best when it comes to power consumption, but what’s interesting is that Intel seems to vastly outperform current ARM big.LITTLE SoCs and Tegra 3 (4+1 companion core) when it comes to its power/performance ratio of its future SoCs. This chart is obviously biased since it’s there to show how good Intel microarchitecture is, but that still probably means Intel will be a serious competitors in the tablet and smartphone space, as long as they can also compete on price/performance and price/power ratios.

They also show very good performance and power improvement over the Saltwell microarchitecture both for single-thrreaded and multi-threaded use cases.

Peak to peak used the maximum frequency available, iso-power shows the performance improvement over the same power level, and iso-perf shows the difference in power consumption for a given performance metrics. STW stands for Saltwll, SLM for Silvermont. 1C1T = 1 Core 1 Thread, 2C4T = 2 Cores, 4 Threads, etc…

Going back to Intel vs ARM, they show how the Intel Dual Core Silvermont SoC outperforms ARM Quad core SoCs both in terms of performance and power consumption.

and a tablet comparison with expected results from Silvermont SoCs.

The benchmark used is SPECint*rate_base200, but the ARM tablets used are not described, and we just know they are similar configurations (e.g. number of cores, RAM, etc..), as the Silvermont solution.

We’ll probably need to wait for actual hardware at the end of the year to make a fair comparison, but the results provided by Intel look very promising.

You can download the presentation’s PDF for more slides.

Back in 2011 & 2012, we saw some Android products with a pico-projector, including a lightbulb running Android, but pico-projectors never really seemed to be embedded into consumers products. Promate, however, decided to add one of those to one of their Android tablets. Promate Lumitab would just be a typical Android 4.2 tablet with a 7″ touchscreen, a dual core processor (OMAP4460), 1GB RAM, 16GB flash, if it did not also come with a DLP pico-projector capable of outputting an image up to 100″ (254 cm).

Promate Lumitab Specifications:

• SoC – TI OMAP4460 Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 @ 1.5GHz + PowerVR SGX540 GPU
• System Memory – 1GB LPDDRII RAM
• Storage – 16GB flash, and a microSD slot
• Display – 7-inch IPS display (1024×600)
• Video Output
  • mini HDMI
  • Pico-projector
    • DLP technology
    • 854×480 (WVGA) resolution.
    • 35 Lumens,
    • Projection size of more than 100 inches, and projection ratioof 1.5
• Audio I/O – 3.5mm stereo output, microphone and stereo loudspeakers
• Cameras – 2MP front and rear cameras
• Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0
• USB – USB 2.0 high-speed port with OTG support
• Sensors -  3-axis accelerometer
• Battery – 4800mAh Lithium Polymer
• Size – 200 x 115 x 15 mm
• Weight – 379 grams

I’m not quite sure how readable text will be with a 854×480 resolution with an image scaled to 100″, but for a presentation with large characters it may be readable. Watching SD movies would be fine as well… DLP pico-projector technology used in this product is also from Texas Instruments, and the specs look somewhat similar (a little bit better) to their DLP Lightcrafter Pico-projector module.

There’s no availability nor pricing information at this time.

Via Linuxgizmos

If you’ve ever wanted to watch live digital TV on your tablet or smartphone, there’s now a solution. Geniatech WiTV is a tiny battery powered DVB receiver also acting as Wi-Fi access point in order to stream live TV to your mobile devices. You can use this device within your house or on the go, but it has to be within 5 to 7 meters from your tablet or smartphone to work properly.

The specifications released are limited, but we still know the following:

• Frequency range – 177.5 – 226.5MHz (VHF); 474 – 858MHz (UHF)
  

  SianoTV App

• Digital TV standards – DVB-T Mpeg 2, Mpeg 4 and H.264; ISDBT oneseg
• 802.11 b/g/n WiFi Standard Support
• Micro USB for recharging
• Up to 3 hours of TV viewing (TBC)

iOS devices must run IOS 5.0 or IOS5.1, and Android 3.0 or greater is supported. You’ll need to install SianoTV for Android or iOS, scan the channel, and you’re ready to watch free to air digital TV. The application can also record the TV program in your device, in order to watch it later. Since the device is only compatible will DVB-T and ISDBT, this will work in most countries where digital TV has been rolled out, except North America and China.

The WiTV comes with a micro USB to USB cable to recharge the battery, and a user’s manual. The device is not available yet, but you can register you interest for a similar device called “Siano Meron“, and find more information on WiTV page.