Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft), Author at CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 3, 2015November 5, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 232 Comments

Giveaway Week – ARNU Box Mach Q Pure Linux Media Player

The second device for this giveaway week is ARNU Box Mach Q TV box that runs Kodi 15.2 on an Amlogic S805 quad core processor with 1GB RAM and 8GB flash, the little brother of ARNU Box Mach 10 powered by the more powerful Amlogic S812 processor. Due to lack of time I did not review ARNU Box Mach Q, but I did review ARNU Box Mach 10, which is loaded with a similar firmware based on Linux based EmBER OS. Video playback was very good with Kodi 15.2 with automatic frame rate switching support, working audio pass-through via S/PDIF, but HDMI audio pass-through did not work with my AV receiver. Since it’s the same firmware base, I fully expect the same good video experience on ARNU Box Mach Q minus support for 4K videos. You can find more pictures on ARNU Box Mach Q unboxing and teardown post. To […]

November 2, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

$80 Doogee X5 Pro Android 5.1 LTE Smartphone Comes with 2GB RAM, 16GB Flash

I’ve been amazed how the price of technology has come down recently, with decent TV boxes selling for $30 to $50, and I’ve now been informed about Doogee X5 Pro, a quad core smartphone running Android 5.1, supporting LTE networks, and featuring with 2GB RAM, 16GB flash, and a 5″ HD screen selling for $80 shipped. Doogee X5 Pro specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT6735 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.0 / 1.3 GHz with Mali-720 GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB flash (12GB available to user) + micro SD slot up to 32GB Display – 5.0″ IPS HD Screen (1280×720) Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS/AGPS Cellular Connectivity 2x Micro SIM slots; Dual SIM dual standby 2G – GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz 3G – WCDMA 900/2100MHz 4G – FDD-LTE 800/900/1800/2100/2600MHz Camera – 5.0MP rear camera (up to 8.0MP by interpolation); 2.0MP font-facing camera (up to 5.0MP […]

November 2, 2015November 3, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

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 […]

November 2, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Poynt Android Point-of-Sales Terminal Accepts Cards, NFC, Bluetooth and QR Code Payments

Poynt Smart Terminal is an Android based payment terminal with a small screen facing the customer, and a larger screen facing the sales staff, that accept payments from various sources such a magnetic strip or chip (EMV) cards, Bluetooth, NFC (e.g. for Apple Pay), or QR code. The company has made a developer’s kit with the hardware and SDK available a few months ago. While the exact hardware specifications have not been disclosed, we can still look into the main features and ports of this payment terminal: Displays Merchant facing – 7″ touchscreen display (1280×800) Customer facing – 4.3″ touchscreen display (800×480) Connectivity – GSM/3G/4G modem, NFC, Bluetooth, and WiFi Payment – Hybrid EMV / MSR reader slot, QR and barcode scanner, Bluetooth, NFC Audio – Speaker and microphone Camera – Merchant facing camera USB – 1x micro USB port for charging and possibly external devices (e.g. printers) Misc – […]

November 2, 2015November 4, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 262 Comments

Giveaway Week – Zidoo X6 Pro Android TV Box

Time for another giveaway week that will take place on November 2 – 8, with one device or board given away per day. The first device is Zidoo X6 Pro TV box powered by Rockchip RK3368 octa core SoC with 2GB RAM and 16GB Flash. Zidoo X6 Pro review showed a capable device, and pretty good, although not perfect yet, Kodi 15.1 implementation, however the device tends to overheat pretty quickly leading to very poor performance at times. So the company will have to work on improving thermal management in their firmware, beside fixing a few other bugs. I received two Zidoo X6 Pro samples due to miscommunication: one from Zidoo directly which I used for the review, one from GeekBuying which I’m giving away today, and is basically new, although I’ve quickly tried it to make sure it boots. You can find more pictures on Zidoo X6 Pro unboxing […]

November 1, 2015November 1, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Rockchip Light Biz OS Improves Android’s Desktop Experience

Android is great for consuming content, but if you’ve ever tried to use it to create content, it can be an hassle, as copy / paste is hard to use, shortcuts aren’t available, and overall the operating system and apps are not designed to work well with a mouse and keyboard. Remix OS is one of the solutions, and Rockchip has been working on improving Android as a desktop replacement for while, starting with multi-window support, and recently they showcased “Light Work OS“. But yesterday Charbax, of ARMDevices.net, uploaded two new videos showing Rockchip Light Biz OS in action, probably renamed from Light Work OS shown a few months ago. The first video is the “official” Light Biz OS video released by Rockchip, which shows the main features including: Based on Android 5.1 with CTS certification Light Biz OS features can be enabled/disabled in Android settings using the Multi-window option […]

October 31, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Razberry Board and UZB Dongle Add Z-Wave (Plus) to Raspberry Pi Boards

Z-Wave is one of the low power wireless communication protocols used for automation, and supported, for example, by gateways such as Samsung SmartThings Hub or Vera3. Z-Wave Plus is a certification program used to identify Z-wave 5th Generation hardware platform, allowing a greater range up to 45 meters, 50% improvement in battery life, 250% more bandwidth, and providing a standardized method for Over the Air firmware updates (OTA), among other things. Zwave.me, a startup registered in Switzerland, is specializing in Z-Wave products and solutions, and among their other products they’ve also designed Z-Wave hardware to turn the Raspberry Pi board and other compatible hardware into a Z-Wave gateway. RazBerry module will fit into the 26 or 40-pin header found on Raspberry Pi boards, and comes with the following specifications: Sigma Designs ZM5202 Z-Wave transceiver module Frequencies – Storage – 32KB SPI flash for network data CPU/MCU Interface – UART (Tx/Rx) […]