android tv

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on MK813 Quad Core Android TV Box with a 2MP Camera Sells for $47

MK813 Quad Core Android TV Box with a 2MP Camera Sells for $47

Prices for Android TV boxes based on Rockchip RK3188 are getting ridiculously low, probably because some people are getting rid off stocks. After MK918 that sells for about $50 , MK813 is another quad core Android media player with 1 to 2 GB RAM, 8GB flash, and a 2MP camera that you can buy for $46.80 on Aliexpress (1GB RAM) from a seller with decent feedback, and that includes shipping. The 2GB RAM version sells for $51.32. MK813 Specifications (also known as KD812): SoC – Rockchip RK3188 quad Cortex-A9 CPU @ 1.6 GHz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 1 or 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 8GB NAND Flash +  Micro SD slot (Up to 32GB) Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n with external antenna, Bluetooth 2.1 Video & Audio Output – HDMI + AV output jack USB – 2x USB host ports + 1x micro USB OTG + […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on ADT-1 Google’s Android TV Developer’s Kit Details

ADT-1 Google’s Android TV Developer’s Kit Details

Google announced Android TV a few days ago, and distributed ADT-1 hardware development kit to application developers during Google I/O. I could not find much details at the time, except it was powered by Nvidia Tegra processors. I’ve now noticed some developers have posted a few pictures and the device, Phandroid has posted the specifications, and I’ve found some interesting hardware limitations for Android TV decided by Google that kill some potential applications for the TV. Here are known hardware specifications for ADT-1 devkit: SoC – Nvidia Tegra 4 System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB flash Video Output – HDMI Connectivity – Ethernet, 2×2 MIMO dual-channel WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 1x USB host port, 1x micro (custom?) USB port for power and ADB (via an Y cable provided with the kit) Dimensions – Small 🙂 This Android L Android TV box looks tiny and comes with G1 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Google Formally Launches Android TV. Android TV Set-Top Boxes and TVs to be Available in H2 2014

Google Formally Launches Android TV. Android TV Set-Top Boxes and TVs to be Available in H2 2014

After Android L for mobile devices, and Android Wear for wearables, Google also announced Android for your television at Google I/O 2014, and after definitely killing “Google TV”, renaming it to “Google Services for Smart TV”, the company went for the obvious and called it “Android TV”, which will get messy with all the Chinese “Android TV” boxes that do not run “Android TV” but simply “Android”… Google apparently used an Android TV reference platform (ADT-1) based on Nvidia Tegra 4 K1 at I/O to showcase their latest implementation of Android the the living room. I’ve embedded the video of the demo below, but the key part of the demo can be summarized as follows: Android TV’s “TV Input Framework” can overlay notifications and other data on top of various video sources such as HDMI, TV tuners, and IP TV receivers Voice control demo (with smartphone) with requests such as: […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Google Releases Android L (Lollipop?) Developer Preview

Google Releases Android L (Lollipop?) Developer Preview

Google I/O is taking place right now in San Francisco, and the company made several announcements. Although they have not announced the full codename of Android 5.0, referring to the next version as “Android L” (Lollipop would be nice though), but they’ve already documented the key changes made to Android L, and a developer preview will be released later today (26 June), together with binary images for Google Nexus 5 and Nexus 7. Beside the smartphone and tablet developer preview, there will be 3 other SDKs for Android L: Android Wear SDK – Android for wearables with sync notifications, wearable apps, data transfer APIs, and voice actions, e.g. “Ok Google, call mum”. Android TV Preview SDK – Android for TVs with pre-built fragments for browsing and interacting with media catalogs, in-app search, and recommendations. Android Auto SDK – Android for the car with apps featuring consistent user experience between vehicles, […]