Hardware Category - Page 644 of 1070 - CNX Software

June 9, 2017 by Ray - 11 Comments

Sunvell T95P Android Plug Computer mini Review

First of all, I have to say sorry for the delay for the review, but at the time I got this “beauty”, it would not power up, even though the blue light showed up out of the USB connector… I tried to recover a couple of times, no success at all… Getting a little upset, and tried after weeks of not thinking anymore… So I used an old trick, we all know, I guess. The freezer trick! I covered the Sunvell T95P in a soft linen towel, and put it in the freezer for around 3 hours. After that, it really worked like nothing happened before. There is also the old fascinating hairspray trick for “boards”… That could have been of help in some cases, but I couldn’t find a way to open this box without it being damaged for good. Here we go. Claimed Product details of T95P: 2G/8G […]

June 9, 2017June 9, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Apple Opens HomeKit Accessory Protocol Specification to Non-Commercial Projects

HomeKit is a software framework that allows Apple users to control smart devices with their iPhone or iPad. But so far, you had to become an MFI licensee to design a HomeKit compatible device, you product had to be tested by Apple, and – according to a story on Hackster.io – also required a special cryptographic chip for authentication. Developers creating commercial devices still need to become an MFI license, but Apple has now opened HomeKit Accessory Protocol Specification for non-commercial projects, meaning you can now use the Framework on Arduino, ESP8266 boards, Raspberry Pi, and other development boards using software authentication. You could already use HomeKit on Raspberry Pi board previously using HomeBridge, but the advantage now is that you don’t need to breach Apple’s terms and conditions, and you can talk directly to your phone without the need for a bridge. If you want the specifications got to […]

June 9, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Samsung S-Patch3 Wearable Health Tracker Based on Samsung Bio-Processor Hits the FCC

At the end of 2015, Samsung unveiled their S3FBP5A Bio-Processor comprised of an ARM Cortex-M4 MCU, a DSP, and sensors for PPG, ECG (electrocardiography), Skin temperature, BIA, and GSR to have a single package to design tracker able to monitor your health condition. The company demonstrated an early prototype called S-Patch at CES 2016 (See embedded video at the end of this post), and now S-Patch3 wearable health monitoring system has just hit the FCC. The system has two round shapes case connected via a cable, with one for the battery compartment, and the other containing the Bio Processors, and meant to be placed on your chest. The device can then synchronize the data with your smartphone in real-time over Bluetooth. People with heart conditions may benefit from the system, as if they wish to do so, they could share the data with their doctor. Few documents are publicly available […]

June 8, 2017July 12, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 37 Comments

MeLE PCG03 Apo Fanless Apollo Lake mini PC Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

You’ll now easily find mini PCs powered by Intel Apollo Lake processor, but many of them are actively cooled, and only support HDMI 1.4 output limited to 4K @ 30 Hz. MeLE PCG03 Apo, an update to the company’s PCG03 fanless mini PC, is powered by an Intel Celeron N3450 quad core processor, support HDMI 2.0 video output up to 4K @ 60 Hz, and is passively cooled. On top of that, it can also be upgraded with an M.2 SSD. The company has sent me a review for sample, and while I’ll focus on testing HDMI 2.0 support, audio pass-through, and whether the mini PC can handle high loads without CPU throttling in the second part of the review, I’ll first have a look at the hardware design today. MeLE PCG03 Apo Unboxing I’ve received the device in the usual black retail package showing the key features with 4K […]

June 8, 2017June 10, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 85 Comments

ROCK64 is a Rockchip RK3328 Development Board with Up to 4GB RAM, 4K HDR, Gigabit Ethernet, and USB 3.0

Rockchip RK3328 Android TV boxes such as A5X Plus or A95X R2 have been on the market for a couple of months, but since the processor is rather inexpensive, yet supports 4K UHD video output, Gigabit Ethernet and USB 3.0 interfaces, Pine64 has decided to create a new development board called ROCK64 with a form factor similar to Raspberry Pi 3 board. ROCK64 board specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad core Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-450MP2 GPU System Memory – 1, 2, or 4 GB LPDDR3 @ 1866 MHz Storage – eMMC flash module socket + micro SD card slot + 128 Mbit SPI flash Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR10 and HLG support, 3.5mm AV port (composite video + stereo audio) Video Codec – 4K VP9, H.265 and H.264, 1080p VC-1, MPEG-1/2/4, VP6/8 Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet USB – […]

June 7, 2017June 7, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Realtek RTD1296 STB/Media NAS SoC Coming Soon with Multiple Ethernet Ports, Dual SATA, HDMI 2.0 Input and Output

I have reviewed several Realtek RTD1295 TV boxes with NAS and HDMI input functions such as Zidoo X9S and EWEAT R9 Plus, and those were quite capable devices with a rich feature set, but Realtek has been working on a new higher-end RTD1296 SoC for quite some time. It comes with the same CPU and GPU, but has a larger package with more peripheral interfaces. I received the screenshot above last December, but the information does not seem to have changed since then. Realtek RTD1296 is equipped with a quad core Cortex A53 processor, an ARM Mali-T820MP3 GPU, and the same H.265/VP9 video engine as RTD1295. However, the new SoC adds one extra RGMII (Gigabit Ethernet) interface, one more USB 3.0 port, one extra SATA interface, and offers higher DDR bandwidth. The PCIe interface would also allow you to use more than just two SATA drives. Charbax got in touch […]

June 7, 2017June 7, 2017 by TLS - 3 Comments

Seco brings Snapdragon to the NUC form factor

At Computex last week, Seco was showing off its SBC-B47-eNUC board that’s based on Intel’s NUC (Next Unit of Computing) form factor. NUC type of devices have proven to be fairly popular with companies like Gigabyte, MSI, Asus and ASRock among others having jumped on the trend. However, Seco’s solution is quite different as it’s using a Snapdragon 410E SoC rather than an Intel based processor. Spec wise you’re looking at: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 410E quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ 1.2GHz with Adreno 306 GPU @ 400MHz System Memory – up to 2GB LP-DDR3 Storage – micro SD slot, Optional eMMC Video Output & Display I/F – mini DP, LVDS Audio – 3.5mm combo mic/speaker jack, internal pin-header for speakers, mic and headphones, I2S pin-header Connectivity – 10/100Mbps Ethernet, Wi-Fi + Bluetooth LE 4.0 USB – 1x micro USB client port port, 2x USB host port (one front, one […]

June 7, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Love to Code Board is Designed to Teach Coding via Paper Circuits, MakeCode Visual Programming Editor

Chibitronics has launched “Love to Code” board to enable beginners to try out programming without having to install software. The tiny board comes with a clip that designed for “paper circuits”, and can be programmed with either Microsoft MakeCode editor for visual programming, or the company’s online editor inspired from Arduino IDE. Love to Code board hardware (tentative) specifications: MCU – NXP Kinetis KL02 ARM Cortex M0+ @ 48 MHz with 32KB flash, 4KB RAM USB – 1x micro USB port used to power and program the board over a Y cable with micro USB and an audio jack to be connected to your smartphone as shown below) Expansion – 4x through holes for TXT, +5V, GND, and RGB, 6x programmable ports on clip to drive LED stickers, or used as switch / sensor inputs. Misc – Programming button, RGB LED The way it works is that you can first […]