We already knew Rockchip RK3399 was going to be a powerful processor with two Cortex A72 cores clocked at up to 2.0GHz, and four Cortex A53 cores teamed with a Mali-T860MP4 GPU. The processor was also said to support 4K H.265 video decoding up to 60 fps, HDMI 2.0 video output, and Gigabit Ethernet. But the company is now at Mobile World Congress 2016, and has disclosed more details. Some of the newly introduced features include: Multi-media 4K @ 60fps 10-bit H.265/H.264/VP9 video decoder 1080p video encoding with H.264 or VP8 Display HDMI 2.0 with HDCP 1.4/2.2 DisplayPort 1.2 and eDP 1.3 with PSR (Panel Self Refresh) Dual channel MIPI-DSI Camera – 8MP ISP, dual channel MIPI-CSI2 External Interfaces 2x USB 3.0 ports with type-C support PCIe 2.1, 4 lanes, 5Gbps per lane 8 channels TX/RX audio for playback and record Embedded low power MCU for other applications (power control?) […]
How to Configure DVB-S2 and DVB-T2 Tuners in K1 Plus Android DTV Receiver
I have previously reviewed VideoStrong K1 Plus Android TV box, but the company also has another model with the exact same name “K1 Plus” that includes a combo DVB-S2 & DVB-T2 tuner. That’s rather confusing, but nevertheless, since I now have the tuner version of the device, I’ve installed the latest firmware, started to play with it, and today I’ll explain how to configure DTV app for both satellite and terrestrial digital TV reception. Hardware Setup and DTV App The first step is to connect both your satellite dish and indoor or outdoor TV antenna to the device, as well as all necesarry cables, and possibly a USB hard drive if you want to use PVR function. Now go to the list of apps start DTV app, or press the DTV button on the remote control. Each time the app starts you’ll be asked to select DVBT2 or DVBS2, and […]
Samsung Unveils Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge Smartphones with Exynos 8890 or Snapdragon 820 Processor
As Mobile World Congress 2016 is about to start, Samsung has officially announced Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones powered by either Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 in the US, or the company’ own Exynos 8890 in the rest of the world. Let’s see if beside faster and more efficient processors, the company has brought some other innovation, or if it is just another boring smartphone release. Both smartphones basically share the same specifications, and the main difference is that Galaxy S7 edge has a curved screen. SoC Samsung Exynos 8 Octa (Exynos 8890) octa core processor with four Exynos M1 core @ 2.3GHz + four Cortex A53 cores @ 1.6Ghz, and Mali-T880MP12 GPU, manufactured using 14nm process. Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad core Kryo processor with two cores @ up to 2.2GHz, and two cores @ up to 1.6GHz, an Adreno 530GPU, an Hexagon 680 DSP, and a 14-bit Spectra ISP. System […]
Samsung Exynos 8890 Processor with Custom Exynos M1 and ARM Cortex A53 Cores Benchmarked
When Samsung announced Exynos 8890 processor, it promised 10% lower consumption and 30% high performance compared to Exynos 7 Octa. The company also said it make its own custom ARMv8 cores for the new, but at the time details were limited. Anandtech has now published more information, and Exynos 8890 octa-core processor will make use of four Exynos M1 custom cores combined with four low power ARM Cortex A53 cores, combined with a Mali-T880MP12 GPU. Exynos 8890 key features: Low power cores – 4x ARM Cortex A53 cores @ 1.586GHz High performance cores – 2x Exynos M1 @ 2.60 GHz, 2x Exynos N1 @ 2.29 GHz; If 4 cores are running at the same time: 2.29 GHz maximum Memory – 2x 32-bit LPDDR4 @ 1794MHz; 28.7GB/s bandwidth GPU – Mali-T880MP12 @ 650 MHz Manufacturing process – Samsung 14nm LPP Now that Samsung Galaxy 7 has been announced with Exynos 8890 […]
Kodi 16 “Jarvis” Release
This morning, I saw Kodi installed from Google Play get an update in one of my Android device, and that means that Kodi 16.0 “Jarvis” has now been released. As usual it’s available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android, and iOS, with specific Linux ports for Raspberry Pi boards, and several Freescale/NXP i.MX6 boards such as Wandboard or EzeeCube. You can get the full Changelog in the Wiki, but some of the main changes against Kodi 15 include: Various new features for Live TV and PVR (Personal Video Recorder) Added RDS Radio, FM radio, scheduling recordings of TV shows… Various improvements such as speeding up EPG database access. Added, updated, and improved PVR backend clients addons for all popular third-party external PVR backend platforms: FilmOn, HDHomeRun, Enigma 2, Tvheadend HTSP Client, and so on. Add-ons Framework, API, and Manager improvements Platform Independent Playback improvements : software DTS-HD decode with libdcadec, […]
Cat S60 Rugged Android Smartphone Includes a Thermal Camera
Caterpillar is better known for its construction machinery and equipment, but the company has also been making rugged smartphones, some of them strong enough to be run over by 4+ ton machines, for several years, and they’ve now unveiled the Cat S60 smartphone powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor and including both a 13MP camera and a FLIR thermal camera on the back of the device. Cat S60 preliminary specifications: SoC – Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor System Memory – 3GB RAM Storage – 32GB flash Display – 4.7” HD capacitive multi-touch with auto wet finger & glove support; 1280 x 720 resolution; Gorilla Glass 4 Connectivity – 4G LTE Camera 13MP main camera with dual flash 5MP front-facing camera FLIR thermal camera app with MSX technology capable of detecting temperature up to 15 to 30 meters Battery – 3,800 mAh IP Rating – N/A, but the phone can […]
Open Source Operating Systems News – Maru OS, Zephyr, ReactOS, Tizen 3.0, and Raspbian
There have been several news related to open source operating systems in the last couple of weeks including Maru OS to run Debian on Android, Zephyr Project real-time OS managed by the Linux Foundation, ReactOS an open source port of Windows XP, and Raspberry Pi boards are getting a Tizen 3.0 port, as well as a new Raspbian release. Maru OS – Mobile <-> Desktop Convergence Maru OS mobile operating system is supposed to do what Ubuntu convergence promised: it runs in mobile mode on the go with Android Lollipop mobile OS, once you connect the phone to an HDMI screen, and pair Bluetooth keyboard and/or mouse, it will switch to desktop mode running Debian Linux. The downside is that so far it a single developer (Preetam D’Souza) worked on it, and the beta version only works on Nexus 5 smartphone. However, since the project went viral, dozen of other […]
Freedom251 Smartphone Sells For about $4 in India
Electronics is getting pretty cheap those days with ESP8266 WiFi modules for $2 shipped, Raspberry Pi Zero for $5 (in theory), Orange Pi One for $10, 4K TV boxes for $30 and so on. But a $4 smartphone? No way! But that’s about the price of Freedom251 smartphone that is sold by a company called Ringing Bells for 251 Rupees, or about $3.67, plus 40 Rupees for shipping ($0.58) to India only. Freedom251 specifications: SoC – Quad core processor @ 1.3 GHz System Memory – 1 GB RAM Storage – 8 GB flash + micro SD slot up to 32GB Display – 4″ touchscreen IPS display with 960×540 resolution Connectivity – WiFi, Bluetooth, GSM and 3G Camera – 3.2MP rear camera, 0.3MP front camera Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio Sensors – Proximity sensor Battery – Removable 1,450 mAh battery The phone runs Android 5.1, and come pre-installed with […]

