We’ve already seen a few Cortex A53 boards announced in the last few months with Nobel64, as well as Hikey & DragonBoard 410c 96Boards, but none of them are based on the more powerful Cortex A57 cores. Howchip is going to change that with the upcoming ExSOM-7420SB single board computer featuring Samsung Exynos 7420 processor used in Galaxy S6 smartphone. The company has released very few details about the board, except the block diagram above that shows Exynos 7420 with 3GB LPDDR4 PoP memory, and various interfaces such as USB 2.0/3.0, UFS/eMMC, Ethernet, HDMI, MIPI DSI, Camera, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The board will support Android 5.0 Lollipop 64-bit. No word about Linux. That’s the video teaser, but you won’t learn much… More details should eventually be published on ExSOM-7420SB product page. Alternatively, Hardkernel will also probably launch an ODROID-XU4? board based on the latest Exynos 7 […]
PiPO X7s mini PC Dual Boots Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4 for $130
Pipo X7 Bay Trail-T mini PC was very popular at the beginning at it sold with an apparently valid Windows 8.1 license for $90, even including one-year subscription for Office 365, which normally sells for $99. Unfortunately, it turned out the Windows license was not so valid, as Pipo used the free Windows 8.1 with Bing for tablets, something that Microsoft did not allow, and mini PCs instead need to use another $25 to $30 license (Windows 8.1 with Bing NTE), which brought Pipo X7 price to around $120, closer to its main competitors. There’s now Pipo X7s, another version based on the same hardware, that can boot both Windows 8.1 (with proper license) and Android 4.4, and can be pre-ordered on GeekBuying for $129.99. The hardware specifications appear to be identical to the Windows only version: SoC – Intel Atom Bay Trail Z3736F @ 1.33 GHz (Burst Freq: 2.16 GHz) […]
Gigabyte MP30-AR0 is an ARM Server Motherboard Powered by Applied Micro X-Gene 1 SoC
So far, it’s been pretty hard to buy ARM server motherboards for individuals, as most, if not all, products were reserved to corporate entities, but with Gigabyte MP30-AR0 server motherboard featuring the first generation Applied Micro X-Gene 64-bit ARM processor this might be about to change. [Update: As mentioned in comments I was probably wrong here, since the motherboard is listed on the Gigabyte’s B2B website, and not its B2C website]. MP30-AR0 specifications: Processor – AppliedMicro X-Gene 1 processor with 8 ARMv8 cores up to 2.4GHz (TDP 45W) System Memory – 8 x DIMM slots, Single, dual rank UDIMM modules @ 1333/1600 NHz supported (up to 16GB) Storage – 4x SATA III 6Gb/s ports + 1x SD card slot Connectivity – 2x 10GbE SFP+ LAN ports (integrated), 2x GbE LAN ports (Marvell 88E1512), 1x 10/100/1000 management LAN Graphics – Video Integrated in Aspeed AST2400. 2D Video Graphic Adapter with PCIe […]
Amlogic is Working on S905 and S912 64-bit ARM Cortex A53 Processors
The relatively popular Amlogic S805 and S812 Cortex A9 processors are soon going to be joined by Amlogic S905 and S912 processors, both featuring ARM Cortex A53 64-bit cores, with the former destined to entry-level media players, and the latter for higher end devices including 4K60 / HDMI 2.0 support, as well as H.265 and AVS+ hardware video codecs. The company is now showcasing its new processors at China Content Broadcasting Network Exhibition (CCBN) 2015 in Beijing until March 28. Details are sparse, but we still know a few features for the new Amlogic 64-bit ARM processors: CPU – Quad Core ARM Cortex A53 CPU @ 2.0 GHz with 512KB unified cache. GPU – S905: 5 core Mali-450MP to 750MHz with OpenGL ES 11./2.0 and OpenVG 1.1 support, unnamed 2.5D GPU S912: TBD Video – 4K@60 Hz video decoding 10-bit HEVC and AVS+ codec support; H.264 up to 4K 30 […]
Linaro 15.03 Release with Linux 4.0 and Android 5.1
Linaro has just announced their 15.03 release with Linux 4.0-rc4 (baseline), Linux 3.10.72 and 3.14.36 (LSK), and Android 5.1. The organization has worked on hardware platforms from members namely Qualcomm, ARM, HiSilicon, Samsung, and STMicro, including the recently announced 96Boards boards, and other ARMv8 platforms. Highlights of the release: Linux Linaro 4.0-rc4-2015.03 updated linaro-android topic added a few build/boot fixes for Arndale (llct-misc-fixes topic) GATOR topic: version 5.20.1 updated integration-linaro-vexpress64 topic by ARM LT (FVP Base and Foundation models, and Juno support) updated topic from Qualcomm LT (ifc6410 board support) simple EEPROM framework (via Qualcomm LT’s topic) updated topic from HiSilicon LT (Hi36xx, HiP04, and X5HD2 families support) rebased “ILP32 patch set v3” onto 4.0-rc2 Linaro builds of AOSP 15.03 updated all the baselines to AOSP 5.1 added commit based trigger feature to CI builds Linaro OpenEmbedded 2015.03 integrated Linaro GCC 4.9-2015.03 dismantled meta-aarch64 layer created meta-ilp32 layer cleaned out […]
KEECOO 1080p Wi-Fi Action Camera Goes for $49.99 (Promo)
KEECOO is yet another full HD action camera with Wi-Fi connectivity that provides most of GoPro functionalities, and while it normally sells for about $90 to $95 on sites like GeekBuying or GearBest, Focalprice is currently offering a steep discount by selling it for just $49.99 for a limited time period (1 day remaining). It looks like they changed their mind, and it’s now $79.99… Keecoo sports camera features and specifications: SoC – Alpha Imaging Technology AIT8427 32-bit processor @ 500 MHz Storage – micro SD slot up to 32GB – Class 6 or above recommended LCD screen – Tiny grayscale LCD display on the front Camera 12MP CMOS 170° wide angle lens; LENS F2.8 , f=4.93mm, M12, 7G+1IR Image resolutions: 4000×3000(12M) 2592×1944(5M) 2048×1536(3M) 1600×1200(2M); JPEG format Video resolutions: 1080p30fps, 720p60/30; H.264 video codec, AAC audio codec, MOV container. Video Output – mini HDMI and AV out (PAL / NTSC) […]
Radxa Rock 2 Square is a Rockchip RK3288 Development Board for Hobbyists
When Radxa Rock 2 was first unveiled, it became clear it was not aimed at the hobbyist market, as it includes lot of features such as SATA, 3G modem, dual Gigabit Ethernet, up to 4GB memory and so on, and is likely to cost a few hundred dollars. The company is now working a cheaper baseboard called Radxa Rock 2 Square leveraging the same Radxa Rock 2 SoM used with the full-featured baseboard (now also called Radxa Rock 2 Full), but with less features and at price point that should be more affordable to individuals. Preliminary Rock 2 square specifications (derived from picture above): Processor/Memory/Storage – Via Rock2 SoM including Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A17 processor, 2 to 4 GB RAM, and 16GB eMMC. External Storage – SATA and micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI, LVDS connector Audio I/O – HDMI, headphone jack, built-in microphone, and optical S/PDIF […]
Cubieboard4 Benchmarks in Android
Last time I tried running benchmarks in an Allwinner A80 board (A80 OptimusBoard), it either rebooted during the benchmark, or had fairly disappointing results for example for USB storage. I documented my findings in a post entitled “Current Performance and Stability Issues on AllWinner A80 OptimusBoard Development Board” which was written in October 2014. But a few months have passed, and since Cubieboard4 is another hardware platform, so I was interested in running benchmarks including storage and networking performance testing on the new board to see if any progress was made. Cubieboard4 Android Benchmarks – Antutu, Vellamo, and 3DMarks Manufacturers can add the key ro.sys.hiritsu to build.prop in order to artificially inflate their Antutu scores with Allwinner A80 processor. So before running Antutu, I checked /system/build.prop in the firmware, and found out no trace of this variable, which can only be good for CubieTech reputation. CC-A80 board, the other name […]