Monohm Runcible is Some Sort of Huge Round Watch Usable as a Phone or Tablet (Crowdfunding)

I like to write about innovative products here on CNX Software, but it’s not easy to understand why Monohm Runcible, that can be seen as a round phone/table or a huge watch, ever came to existence. But who knows maybe people will find uses, and it’s rather cool looking with its round display and nature themed wooden or stone back covers. Runcible thing specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad core  Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.2GHz, with Adreno 306 GPU and Hexagon v5 DSP System Memory — 1GB LPDDR3 RAM @ 533MHz Storage – 8GB eMMC 5.0 flash Display — 2.5″ circular 640 x 640 display (256dpi) Audio – 1x analog in/out jack with other I/O audio interfaces on main board Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n WiFi,Bluetooth 4.1, Qualcomm IZat Gen 8C GPS/GLONASS, and “hopefully” 4G/LTE data Camera – 7 MP rear camera (up to 13-megapixels for hackers) USB – USB 2.0 client/host […]

OnePlus 3 Smartphone Launched Together With Source Code

Most smartphone manufacturers will drag their feet to release GPL source code, unless you go with Google Nexus or Android One smartphones. OnePlus is another exception as they have just launched OnePlus 3 smartphone, and released the source code the very same day as the hardware launch. OnePlus 3 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 820  quad core ARMv8 processor with two “Gold” cores up to 2.2 GHz, two “Silver” cores up to 1.6 GHz, Adreno 530 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0, and Vulkan, and  Hexagon 680 DSP  @ up to 825 MHz System Memory – 6GB LPDDR4 Storage – 64GB UFS 2.0 flash Display – 5.5″ 1920 x 1080 optic AMOLED touchscreen display; Corning Gorilla Glass 4 Audio – 3.5mm audio jack; bottom facing speaker; dual microphone with noise cancellation; Dirac HD sound technology Cellular Networks GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz North America model: WCDMA: Bands […]

H.265, H.264 and VP9 4K Video Playback with Hisilicon Hi3798C V200 TV Box (Video)

VP9 is starting to become a first class citizen as more and more ARM SoC, such as Amlogic S905X and Hisilicon Hi3798C V200, are getting 4K VP9 hardware video decoding support. I’ve already tested 4K VP9 in Amlogic S905X based NEXBOX A5, and today I’ll report my results with Sunhed S3 TV box based on the new Hisilicon processor. I won’t do a full review yet, as just like NEXBOX A5, it’s still an engineering sample, and the firmware is not quite ready for public release. For example, Google Play is working, but I could not install YouTube, and Kodi 16.0 (likely a custom version) would not start, even after clearing the cache and data. Anyway, I tested 4K VP9, as well as 4K H.265 and H.264 since the last two codec are also here to stay. I first tried to play over SAMBA through the Gigabit Ethernet connection, but […]

Apache Mynewt RTOS for IoT Includes an Open Source Bluetooth 4.2 LE Stack for MCUs

The Apache Software Foundation has recently released version 0.9 Apache Mynewt open source real-time operating systems for micro-controllers under… an Apache 2.0 license. The RTOS works on STMicro STM32 Cortex-M4, and Arduino Zero / M0 Cortex-M0 boards, but they’ve also implemented the  first open source Bluetooth Low Energy stack for MCUs, starting with support for Nordic Semi nRF52 Cortex-M4 and nRF51 Cortex-M1 evaluation boards, and acting as a replacement for Nordic SoftDevice Bluetooth Smart / LE solution. The operating system competes with ARM mbed, the Zephyr Project, and RIoT, but the foundation claims it is the only one that’s both community driven and permissively licensed (Apache 2.0) project in the embedded space. The OS is modular and can be configured with a Go-like build and package management tool with components such as secure boot loader, flash file system and TLV storage mechanism, rich logging infrastructure, circular buffering schemes, and Bluetooth […]

Marvell IAP220 “IoT” Processor Targets Low Power Touchscreen Enabled Appliances

After IAP140 quad core Cortex A53 processor found in Brillo compatible AndroMeda Box Edge, Marvell has recently introduced another IAP processor for the Internet of Things with IAP220 dual core Cortex A7 processor targeting “low power cost sensitive home automation, industrial, security, and wearable applications”. IAP220 SoC specifications: Processor – Dual ARM Cortex-A7 core up to 1.0 GHz GPU – 3D GPU with OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 support MCU – ARM Cortex M4F Memory I/F – LP-DDR2/3, DDR3 Storage – eMMC and SDIO interfaces Display – MIPI video and command mode; LCD display Video – Full HD encode and decode with H.264, MPEG-4, H.263, MJPEG and more Camera – Digital video camera interface, 2x, 2-lane CSI Audio – I2S, TDM; support for multiple PDM (pulse-density modulation) microphones and speakers Sensor hub • Low power sensor processing Management I/O – SPI, GPIO, PWM? (the product brief says PWD instead), UART, 1-wire, I2C […]

Ingenic T10 is a MIPS Based Video Processor for 720p Cameras

Ingenic has been designing MIPS based SoCs using their Xburst processor engine for several years, which are found in tablets, development boards, and wearables. The company has now launched T10 smart video processor based on the same MIPS32 processor but mobile camera, security survey, video talking, video analysis and so on with image resolution up to 1280×960 (datasheet says 1280×1024), and videos up to 720p30 or VGA @ 30fps. Ingenic T10 specifications: CPU – XBurst single core MIPS32 processor up to 1GHz with FPU, 32KB L1 I-cache, 32KB L1 D-cache, and 128KB L2 unified cache. Memory – Embedded DDRII@400Mhz up to 512Mbit Encoder engine -H.264 baseline, main profile; MJPEG/JPEG Baseline Encode Performance Max resolution 1280×960 Up to H.264 960p@40fps encode H.264 multiple streams 720p@30fps + VGA@30fps + JPEG@15fps 960p@30fps + VGA@30fps + JPEG@15fps ABR/VBR/CBR/CQP 8 ROIs (Regions of Interest) 5-layer OSD with hardware ISP AE, AWB (automatic white balance), AF […]

EWEAT R9 Android Media Players and Recorders Feature Realtek RTD1295 Processor with HDMI 2.0, SATA, USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and More

Eweat has now introduced three TV box models based on Realtek RTD1295 64-bit processor with Eweat R9, Eweat R9 mini, and Eweat R9 Plus, bringing some competition to the upcoming Zidoo X9s TV box, with respectively an external SATA port, no SATA, and an internal SATA bay. All three devices share most of the same specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1295 quad core Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-T820 MP3 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage R9 Mini – 8 GB eMMC + SD card reader R9 – 16 GB eMMC + SATA 3.5 connector for external drive + SD card reader R9 Plus – 16 GB eMMC + internal 3.5″ SATA 3.0 bay + SD card reader Video I/O – HDMI 2.0a output, HDMI 2.0 input, and AV Audio I/O – HDMI, AV, optical S/PDIF output Video Playback – HDR, 10-bit HEVC/H.265 up to 4K @ 60fps, H.264 up […]

Mini Review of Popcorn Hour A500 Media Player

Last month I received Popcorn Hour A500 high-end media player powered by Sigma Designs SMP8758 dual core Cortex A9 processor, and in the firtst part of the review I posted the specifications, and pictures of the devices and its internals. Today, I’ll write a short review of the device, as it’s basically an update of Popcorn Hour VTEN which I reviewed last year with a faster processor, more memory, and an internal SATA bay for 2.5″ and 3.5″ drives. User Interface, Remote Control, Internal HDD, and Technical Support The user interface is basically the same as on VTEN with two home screens to select: Media or Music. The performance is a little better, but if you want to find out more about the user interface, I propose you watch the video I shot for Popcorn Hour VTEN During the first boot, Music Home was selected, and I soon got asked whether […]

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