Shenzhen Tena Electronics showcased an interesting “Smart Box” that can mirror a device display (smartphone, tablet, laptop..) on a TV via Wi-Fi at the Shenzhen Electronic Fair, on 10-11 April, 2012. In the video below shot by Charbax, an HTC smartphone, running a specific Android application (apparently not available on Google Play), plays back a 720p movie which is displayed on a television via sztena’s Smart Box. It’s rather choppy, but there may be quite a lot of noise with all the WiFi signals at the exhibition. I very much like this concept, but the current retail price (999 RMB – about 160 USD) makes it unattractive to me for tasks such as video playback or checking email. However, provided it’s smooth enough, games using accelerometer and gyrometer might be fun to play. Imagine a car racing game, where your mobile phone or tablet is your steering wheel and gear […]
AMLogic Announces AML8726-MX Dual Core Cortex A9 Processor
Amlogic announced the availability of the AML8726-MX, a SoC based on a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor clocked at 1.5 GHz with a Mali-400 MP GPU. It is the successor of the similarly named AML8726-M with a single core Cortex A9 @ 1 GHz. The company explains this SoC is particularly suitable for Over The Top (OTT) delivery, 3D Gaming and other Internet applications and targets the tablet, set-top-box and smart-TV markets. AMLogic AML8726-MX include 10/100/1000 Ethernet, 2x USB interfaces, 3-in-1 Card Reader support, Analog and digital video outputs, LVDS and T-CON (Timing Controller) with backlight control, digital video and camera interfaces. Wi-Fi is supported via external chipsets. Here are the highlights of the AML8726-MX family provided by AMLogic: A dual-core Cortex-A9 processor achieving over 7500 DMIPS of performance Direct to panel connection with advanced scaling, de-interlacing and picture quality enhancement Industry leading power management technology to extend battery life […]
55 USD 7″ Capacitive Touch Screen Android 4.0 Tablet Based on Allwinner A13
YOOE, a Chinese manufacturer, has designed a new Android 4.0 (ICS) tablet with a 7″ 5-point capacitive touch screen (1024×600) for about 55 USD (Factory price MOQ: 1000). This tablet is powered by AllWinner A13 (Cortex A8) processor, a cut down version of the AllWinner A10 without HDMI output nor SATA. This white brand tablet also features a 2,600 mAh battery which should last over 4 hours in typical usage and a front camera. The full specifications do not appear to be available right now. You can watch the video below to have a look at the device whose performance seems acceptable. Charbax also said the company expects the price to drop further to around 300 CNY (47 USD) by June 2012. If you are an individual interested to buy this tablet close to factory price (excluding shipping), charbax organizes group buying on his blog, just leave a comment over there […]
Gocal Europe Android Digital Signage Players Based on AMLogic AML8726
Gocal Europe is a dutch company with offices in Shenzhen and Hong Kong providing OEM/ODM high tech solutions such as digital signage and Android TV solutions including players as well as software solutions via HelloTV. The company has 2 digital signage players running Android 4.0 (ICS): UFO-TV This player is based on AMLogic AML8726M3 and features 1GB RAM, 4GB flash, HDMI IN and HMDI OUT. Here are the device specifications: CPU – AMLogic AM8726 M3 (ARM Cortex A9) @ 1GHz with Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 1 GB Flash – 4 GB Video Container Formats – avi, mpeg, vob,mkv, ts, m2ts, wmv and rm Video Codecs – MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, MPEG2-HD and VC-1. Audio Formats – MP3, WMA, WAV, MIDI, OGG, AC3, DTS, ACC and APE External Storage – SD, SDHC and MMC cards. USB – 2x USB 2.0 Host ports Connectivity – Ethernet 10/100 Mbps, WiFi and Bluetooth Video […]
Mele A1000 Android 2.3 STB Unboxing and Review
I’ve finally received the Mele A1000 media player I ordered 3 weeks ago. I mainly plan to use it as a Linux development platform for Allwinner A10 processor, but today I’ll just post some unboxing pictures and provide some feedback about the Android software running on the box. I received the device in the box below. (Sorry about the picture quality, I took pictures with my smartphone). Once you open the box, you’ll get see the set-top box, related accessories, a (not so useful) user guide in English and Chinese and what looks like a warranty card. Once you unpack everything you get the set-top box, 2.5″ hard drive case, composite cable, remote control (infrared) and 5V power supply. You’ll noticed some buttons on the remote control have markings in Chinese, this is where the user manual can be useful. You may already have seen the box itself (with clearer […]
Mele A2000 Android 2.3 Media Player Powered by AllWinner A10
Last month, I ordered a Mele A1000 in order to hack it to run Linux as it uses the same processor – the Cortex A8/Mali-400MP based AllWinner A10 – as the one planned for the low cost Rhombus Tech board. I have yet to receive the device, but Mele (迈乐) has already released the Mele A2000, an Android 2.3 set-box box also powered by AllWinner A10. Here are Mele A2000 specifications: CPU: ARM Cortex A8 AllWinner A10 @ 1 GHz (It can be apparently be overclocked up to @ 1.5GHz) GPU: Mali 4000 Memory: DDR3 512MB RAM / 4GB Nand Flash OS System: Android 2.3.4 (Upgradable to Android 4.0) External Storage: Supports SD card up to 32GB, supports 2.5″ SATA HDD up to 1TB, Supports max 16GB USB flash disk Video codecs: HD MPEG-1/2/4. H.264. HD AVC/VC-1, RM/RMVB, Xvid/DviX 4/5/6, RealVideo 8/9/10, VP6 Video Formats: ts, m2ts, tp, trp, mkv, mp4, […]
Vim Touch: Vim Editor for Android
Many Linux developers or admins use vi or vim in Linux to edit source or/and configuration files and some may want to use it in the go in their smartphone or tablets. Some hacks are available to install vim on Android via ADB on a rooted device, but now, it has all become nice and easy, as a touch enabled version of vim called VimTouch is also available on Android. VimTouch supports full vim syntax and finger touch gestures to help VIM much more usable on touch screens. This vim editor for Android includes the following features: Touch to scroll Fling to scroll Long press to zoom-in Two-fingers to delete lines (“dd”) or new lines (“p”) Single tap to send “ESC” Read email attachments Single instance to open files in vim window Real VIM runtime You would think it is rather cumbersome to use vi/vim on a mobile device, but reviews […]
Calixto Systems Announces TI AM335x VERSA SOM
Calixto Systems is a technology company based in Bangalore, India, providing System-on-Modules (SoM), evaluation boards (EVM) and consultancy services for Android, Linux and WinCE. The company has announced an update to its VERSA families of system-on-modules by including support for Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x processors. The previous version is based on TI OMAP-L138 C6-Integra DSP+ARM Processor. The AM335x SoM will provide higher performance than the previous module and targets industrial automation, smart grid, remote terminals, healthcare, handheld point-of-service (POS) terminals and weighing scales. Here are M335x VERSA SOM specifications: Texas Instruments AM335x (Cortex A8) processor @ 720 MHz with 3D Graphics Support (PowerVR) 256/512 MB of DDR3 SPI Flash Wireless LAN (b/g/n) (Optional) Bluetooth 4.0 (Optional) Two 10/100 Ethernet (One PHY on SOM) 24 bit LCD with Touch Screen interface 2x USB 2.0 OTG, 2x CAN, 4x UARTs McASP, PRU , SPI, I2C etc. 200 pin SODIMM connector Dimension: 34mm x […]