Free Firefly-RK3288 Boards Available to Developers

Firefly-RK3288 is a development board powered by Rockchip RK3288 processor, and for a board that’s just gone into mass production, I have written about it often enough, so I won’t go into specifications details, Android & Linux SDK, and schematics availability. T-chip has now launched a developer program to give away the board to people with interesting projects. The board normally costs $160 shipped, but if you are selected all you’ll have to pay is shipping. In order to apply for this contest, send an email to [email protected] with the following information: Name, country/region Personal website/blog, and projects (better with project homepage) Usage/project plan of the board You have until December 5, 2014 to apply. Good luck 🙂 Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later […]

Huawei Introduces Kirin 620 Octa Core Cortex A53 LTE SoC for Smartphones

Huawei / Hisilicon has announced a new 64-bit ARM processor with Kirin 620 featuring eight ARM Cortex A53 cores coupled with a Mali-450MP GPU, as well as an LTE Cat4 modem. Key specifications of this application processor include: CPU – 8x ARM Cortex A53 @ 1.2 GHz GPU – Mali-450MP4 GPU Memory – LPDDR3 Camera – 13MP, ZSL (Zero Shutter Lag), HDR Video – Decode & Encode: 1080p30 H.264 Cellular connectivity – LET Cat4 150M/50M, HSPA+ Cat24 42M / Cat6 5.76M, TDS R7 2.8M/2.2M, GSM R6 Class33 Voice Solution – VoLTE/eSRVCC, CSFB, SGLTE, DSDA, DSDS Peripherals – USB, HSIC, SD/MMC, DMAC Process – 28 nm That’s about all I know so far. Hisilicon mobile SoCs have not found their way in many handsets in the past, apart from Huawei smartphones. We’ll see if that one becomes more popular. Via AndroidPC.es and Android Headlines. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in […]

Yotaphone 2 Smartphone Features an Improved AMOLED + ePaper Dual Display

About two years ago, Yota , a technology company based on Russia, introduced the Yotaphone, an Android smartphone with an innovative dual display solution comprised of a standard color display on the front, and an E-ink display on the back, in order to extend battery life. The idea was interesting, but the phone did not look that great. But with Yotaphone 2, the company upgraded the processor with a Snapdragon 800 processor, a larger 5″ display, and if the back ePaper display looks as crisp and clear in real life as in the picture below, you could have a winner, and copycats will eventually show up. Yotaphone 2 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core Krait processor @ 2.2 GHz with Adreno System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC Displays Front – 5″ AMOLED touch screen, 1920×1080 resolution,16M colors, 442ppi, with Corning Gorilla glass 3. Rear – 4.7”  […]

Unboxing of Ugoos UM3 Android and Ubuntu ARM mini PC

Ugoos UM3 is another minic PC powered by Rockchip RK3288 SoC with 8GB storage, 2GB RAM. It has Wi-Fi, but no Ethernet, so it looks like the offspring between a full-sized TV box and an HDMI stick. The company sent me a sample for evaluation pre-loaded with a dual boot image with Android 4.4 & Ubuntu 14.10. I’ll start by unboxing, and opening the device, before testing the dual boot image another day. Ugoos UM3 Unboxing The company sent me the device via DHL in a package for RK3066 / RK3188 devices, but I guess end-users will get an update package that will probably look similar. I was surprised how tiny the device was when I first took it out of the box, and with a black body and red cover, it’s probably the cutest too. It comes with a 5V/2A power supply and corresponding USB to micro USB cable, […]

Review of Open Hour Chameleon Android Media Player

Open Hour Chameleon is yet another Rockchip RK3288 based Android TV box, but it comes with aluminum enclosure, and boots from SD card instead of internal storage like all other devices I’ve seen on the market so far. Cloud Media (previously Syabas) also have a long history of making Linux based media players based on Sigma Designs processor, and when I worked on IPTV products, we used their PopCorn Hour has comparison platforms. So we should probably expect some interesting customization and features from the company. I’ve already posted pictures of Chameleon box and its board, so today, I’ll focus on reporting my experience with Android 4.4, and later I may also try their Lubuntu image. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions Normally I quickly try the remote control, and get it out of the way. But this time, I’ve spent a little bit more time with the remote since […]

Banana Pi M2 is an Allwinner A31s Quad Core Board with Raspberry Pi Model B+ Form Factor

Banana Pi, and the recently announced Banana Pro, are Android & Linux development boards based on Allwinner A20, with a form factor similar to Raspberry Pi Model B and B+ boards respectively. A new revision of the board is now available with Banana Pi M2 powered by Allwinner A31s quad core processor, and in a form factor similar to R-Pi B+. Banana Pi M2 specifications: SoC – Allwinner A31s quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz with PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage –  Micro SD slot up to 64GB Connectivity – 10/100/1000 Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi  (Realtek) Video Output –  HDMI, CVBS, and LVDS/RGB header Audio Output – HDMI and 3.5mm stereo jack Camera – CSI connector USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports + micro USB port (power only) Debugging – UART pins for serial console Expansion Header – 40-pin R-Pi “somewhat” compatible header with […]

Compulab Utilite2 is a Snapdragon 600 Powered mini PC Running Android 4.4 or Ubuntu 14.04

Compulab Utilite is a family of mini PC based on Freescale i.MX6 processors that can run either Android or Ubuntu, and was launched in 2013. The company has now introduced the second generation of Utilite computer with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad core Krait 300 processor, with 2GB RAM, eMMC and mSATA storage, and various network connectivity options such as Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, and Cellular. Utilite2 will be 30% smaller than the original Utilite computer, and twice the performance of the Utilite Pro with I.MX6 quad.  There are two models: Utilite2 4GB, Utilite2 SSD, with the latter adding a 32 GB SSD. Apart from that both models share the same specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 APQ8064 quad-core Krait 300 @ 1.7GHz with Adreno 320 GPU compliant with OpenGL ES 1.1 / 2.0 / 3.0 and OpenCL System Memory – 2GB DDR3-1066 Storage – 4GB eMMC, mSATA socket (mini-PCie form-factor, […]

Antutu Video Tester Automatically Tests Video and Audio Codecs & Playback Quality in Android

When I read a review about MK808B Plus this morning, I noticed the reviewer used Antutu Video Tester to evaluate video/audio performance of the device. Somehow I had never noticed it, and Antutu developers claim it can not only check whether video or audio codec are supported, but the tool can also give an appraisal of video quality: AnTuTu Video Test is a professional tool for testing video playback capability of Android Smart TV, set-top boxes and other devices. It integrates a few featured videos and testing algorithms that can help users judge the playback performance of the devices clearly. AnTuTu video test can not only detect the video playback formats devices support, but also can test the playback quality of devices. So I decided to try it out on Open Hour Chameleon Android media player based on Rockchip RK3288 processor. The first test you click on Video Test will […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case