Intel Bay Trail Z3700 Series Overview, Benchmarks, Hardware, Documentation and Linux Support

After seeing the discussion about ARM vs x86 (Bay trail) for the future Dragon Pyra open source game console, I’ve realized many people, including myself, do not know about the different resources available to develop hardware and software for Intel Bay Trail SoCs for tablets such as Atom Z3740 and Z3770, so I decided to have a look. Intel Atom Bay Trail Z3700 Series Overview Intel Z3600 series and Z3700 series are respectively dual core and quad core Bay Trail-T SoCs for Android and Windows 8 tablets. There are 4 quad core models: Z3740, Z3740D, Z3770, and Z3770D, and 2 dual core processors: Z3680 and Z3680D. The dual core versions are reserved for Android only, and there’s no product page on Intel for now, so I’ll focus this post on Z3700 series only. I have no idea what the “D” in Z3740D is for, except it;’s not related to Desktop, […]

Android TV Box with Satellite (DVB-S2) Receiver Sells for $84

Last year, I wrote about DVB-S2 Android STB that are just like your typical Android media player except they allow you to connect your dish antenna to receive TV channels available via satellite. They were all based on AMLogic AML8726-M1/M3 single core processor, and I could not find an sellers at the time. There’s now a new model called EM6-S2 featuring AML8726-MX dual core processor, Android 4.2, and a DVB-S2 receiver with two antenna inputs that available on Aliexpress for $92.90 $84 from a seller with good feedback, as well as Geekbuying for $97.29. Let’s go though the specifications: SoC – AMLogic AML8726-MX dual cortex A9 @ 1.5 GHz + Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 8GB NAND FLASH + SD card reader Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4, AV Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical SPDIF.  DOLBY TrueHD and DTS HD DOLBY TrueHD […]

Broadcom Announces Reference Design for M320 & M340 Dual and Quad Core LTE SoCs

Broadcom Corporation has introduced a turnkey reference platform designed to help OEMs develop sub $300 4G LTE mobile devices. The smartphone reference design is powered by M320 SoC with a dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor up to 1.5GHz, a PowerVR 5XT GPU, and Cat 4 LTE modem with DC-HSPA+ and GSM multimode capable of delivering data transfer at up to 42Mbps. The platform runs Android 4.4 Kitkat, and will be able to make use of the upcoming pin-to-pin compatible M340  quad-core LTE SoC . The LTE design also includes 5GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, location and near field communication (NFC) technologies, with “a very low cost bill of material (RBOM)” according to  Robert Rango, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Mobile and Wireless Group. Product features listed in the press release: Cat 4 150 Mbps LTE speeds in FDD-LTE and TD-LTE modes and up to 42 Mbps with DC-HSPA+ 3G as […]

Fin is a Bluetooth Ring That Let You Control Your Devices with Your Fingers (Crowdfunding)

We’ve already seen smart rings with NFC rings that can be used for authentication and share small amount of data (e.g. business card data) with smartphones. Fin is a completely different type of smart ring that fits onto your thumb, and let you control Bluetooth enabled devices by tapping different phalanges on your fingers, and/or the palm of your hand. Here are some of Fin smart ring specifications: MCU – N/A Connectivity – Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and 4.0 Sensors – No details, but Fin can track accurate movement of your thumb on the palm and detect each phalanx of your finger where you are touching. IP Rating – IP67 (Dust and Waterproof) Battery –  Li Po custom battery with micro-USB charging dock ; One charge will last for 1 week; more than one year durable. Misc – LED indicator The ring will work with Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows […]

STMicro To Launch $24 M24SR Discovery Kit for NFC Applications at Embedded World 2014

STMicro will unveil an a new development board called M24SR Discovery Kit absed on the company’s M24SR dynamic NFC tags to help designers easily add  NFC connectivity to different kind of electrical devices such as fitness bands, loudspeakers, washing machines, water meters, and more. There are two models for MS24SR Discovery kits: Standard and Premium editions. The Premium editions adds a headset and a Bluetooth module to pair it with a smartphone via NFC. Here are the key features of MS24SR-Discovery board: MCU – STM32F103RGT6 64LQFP 32-bit microcontroller, with 1Mbytes of Flash memory NFC – M24SR64-Y Dynamic NFC/RFID tag Antenna – 31 mm x 30 mm, 13.56 MHz double layer inductive antenna etched on the PCB (ANT14) Display – LCD Color Screen (320 x 200 pixels) Misc – Different color LEDs, Joystick for menu selection Debug – JTAG connector for microcontroller firmware upgrade and debug Power – +5V via USB microB […]

4K2K Android TV Boxes with AMLogic S802 SoC – Tronsmart Vega S89 and Eny ES8

For nearly a year, we’ve been waiting for Android TV media players based on the latest AMLogic quad core Cortex A9 SoC, that’s been known as AML8726-M8, then M801/M802, and there’s AMLogic S802, which is the set-top box version of the SoC. M must probably stands for MID, and S for STB. Geniatech ATV1800 seems to never become available, and instead I’ve found out about two other Android TV boxes powered by S802 called Tronsmart Vega S89 and Eny ES8 that should sell very soon. The specs look great, but if you are into rather standard enclosures you may be disappointed… Tronsmart Vega S89 The first one is Vega S89. It will be sold on Geekbuying, and has with the following specifications: SoC – AMLogic S802 quad core ARM Cortex A9r4 at 2.0GHz with ARM Mali-450MP6 GPU System Memory – 2G DDR3 Storage – 16 GB NAND Flash + micro […]

Webee Boss is Both an Android TV Box and an Home Automation Gateway (Crowdfunding)

Lots of Android TV Boxes and HDMI dongles have hit the market last year, and low cost home automation systems have been launched, or are in development, such as Ninja Sphere. Webee Boss combines both to make your TV and your Home smart, as part of the Webee home automation platform, also composed of “Bees” (Smart Plug, Smart Lamp Holder, Smart Host, Presence Tag, Open/Closed sensors, etc…), Hive m3 development board, and an Android app. Webee Boss specifications: SoC – ARM Cortex A9 Microprocessor @ 800MHz System Memory – 1 GB RAM Storage – 2 GB NAND Flash, micro SD card slot up to 32GB Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet 802.11 b/g/n WiFi IEEE 802.15.4 – ZigBee. Mesh networking. Home Automation profile. Z-Wave. Mesh networking. Home Automation standards compatible in most countries. Wireless Range – Outdoor: 45 to 90 meters, Indoor 45 – 60 meters Video Output – HDMI 1.3 (up to […]

Telechips TCC892X/TCC893X Android 4.2.2 SDK Leaked

I’ve been informed that an Android 4.2.2 SDK for Telechips TCC892x and the newer TCC893x (TCC8930, TCC8933, TCC8935) dual core SoCs has been leaked on the Internet. The file (v13.03_r1-tcc-android-4.2.2.tar.bz2) is a 2.7GB tarball, and appears to be a full SDK. You can download the file here if you are interested. After extraction, there’s 6.7 GB of data in the following directories: 40M ./libcore 5.8M ./docs 31M ./ndk 5.0M ./gdk 1.2G ./frameworks 324K ./pdk 95M ./development 18M ./bionic 544M ./kernel 228M ./device 106M ./hardware 24M ./bootable 295M ./packages 55M ./sdk 151M ./cts 2.4G ./prebuilts 1.7G ./external 40M ./dalvik 9.1M ./system 108K ./libnativehelper 6.9M ./build 104K ./abi 47M ./vendor The linux kernel is based on Linux 3.1.10, and there are a few config files to choose from with configs forh HDMI TV dongles, micro PCs, STBs, and evaluation boards for TCC8930, TCC8935, TCC8920 and TCC8925.

YJ8925T boards supports HDMI and […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case