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July 15, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

AMobile SoM-SD520/SoM-SD720 SoM targets Edge and Generative AI with MediaTek Genio 520/720 SoC

Mediatek Genio 520 and 720 carrier board and development kit

Taiwanese company AMobile Solutions has launched the SoM-SD520 and SoM-SD720 system-on-modules, powered by MediaTek Genio 520 & Genio 720 SoCs, respectively, and designed for Edge AI and Generative AI applications with up to 10 TOPS of AI computing performance. The modules ship with up to 16GB LPDDR5, 128GB UFS3.1 storage, and an optional WiFI 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module. It’s mainly suitable for smart surveillance, industrial automation, smart retail terminals/self-service kiosks, smart healthcare, and other applications benefiting from Edge or Generative AI on-device. SoM-SD520 and SoM-SD720 specifications: SoC (one or the other) MediaTek Genio 520 CPU – 2x Cortex-A78 up to 2.2GHz, 6x Cortex-A55 up to 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G57 MC2 up to 880 MHz VPU Video Decode – Up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60fps Video Encode – Up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60fps ISP – 1x ISP NPU – NPU850 AI accelerator up to 9 […]

July 7, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

ThinkNode M1/M2 Review – Getting started with Meshtastic

I’ve been writing about Meshtastic firmware and hardware since 2020, but I never had the opportunity to test it myself. This has now changed as Elecrow sent us the ThinkNode M1 and ThinkNode M2 Meshtastic nodes for review. Both rely on Semtech SX162x radios, but the M1 is based on a Nordic Semi nRF52840 Bluetooth MCU with a 1.54-inch E-Ink display and GPS, and the smaller M2 is based on an ESP32-S3 chip and a 1.3-inch OLED but lacks a built-in GPS module. Since I’ve never used Meshtastic before, this “review” will be more like a Getting Started Guide from a beginner’s perspective. After an unboxing and a teardown, I’ll test messaging, GPS sharing, and the range I can get in a suburban environment in Thailand. ThinkNode M1/M2 unboxing Both packages look similar, with a plastic case and a white cover. The ThinkNode M1’s main features include a high-gain antenna, […]

June 26, 2025June 26, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Fairphone (Gen. 6) is a sustainable, repairable 6.31-inch Android 15 smartphone with Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 SoC

The Fairphone (Gen. 6) is a 6.31-inch Android 15 smartphone powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 SoC designed to be sustainable and repairable with eight years of software updates, a 5-year warranty, a modular design, and the use of recycled materials. The Fairphone (Gen. 6) – not sure why it was not just called Fairphone 6 – offers mid-range features with an octa-core processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB UFS and microSD card storage, a 6.31-inch touch screen display, two rear cameras, a front-facing camera, 5G, WiFi 6, and Bluetooth 5.4 LE connectivity, as well as support for NFC for payment, and a USB-C port for charging and expansion. Fairphone (Gen.6) specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 Mobile Platform CPU – Octa-core Kryo CPU with 1x Prime core @ 2.5 GHz, 3x Performance cores @ 2.4 GHz, 4x Efficient cores @ up to 1.8 GHz GPU – Adreno […]

June 3, 2025June 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

MOKO LW005-MP – A LoRaWAN Smart Plug and power meter

Moko LW005-MP LoRaWAN Smart Plug Power Meter

The MOKO LW005-MP is a LoRaWAN smart plug for indoor power and energy consumption monitoring, featuring sockets compliant with EU, US, UK, and FRA standards and suitable for industrial equipment control, power monitoring, and energy management. The UL-certified smart plug operates with 100-230V AC mains, offers 0.5% power measurement accuracy, supports Bluetooth 4.0 for initial configuration and OTA updates, and can be controlled with LoRaWAN commands, an open-source mobile app, or a physical button. MOKO LW005-MP specifications: Wireless Bluetooth LE V4.0 for local configuration and OTA updates. LoRa Protocol – LoRaWAN V1.0.3 Supported frequency bands – CN470, EU868, AU915, US915, AS923, IN865, KR920, EU433, CN779, and RU864 Max Transmit Power – +21dBm Rx Sensitivity – -137dBm @ SF12 300bps Range – Up to 7 km in urban open space Power measurement accuracy – ±0.5% Misc Power and pairing button 2x RGB LED indicators display network status and power consumption levels. […]

May 28, 2025May 31, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Radxa ROCK 4D SBC – A Raspberry Pi lookalike powered by Rockchip RK3576 SoC with 6 TOPS AI accelerator

Radxa ROCK 4D is yet another Rockchip RK3576 SBC, but offered in a credit card form factor similar to the Raspberry Pi 3 model with the usual 40-pin GPIO header, Gigabit Ethernet ports, and four USB ports. We first noticed it when we covered the Radxa Dual 2.5G Router HAT, and I’ve just seen it added to the Linux 6.15 release, so I thought it might be a good time to cover it, especially since it’s already for sale on Allnet and AliExpress starting at $31 plus shipping. Radxa ROCK 4D specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3576 or RK3576J (industrial-grade version) CPU – Octa-core CPU with 4x Cortex-A72 cores at 2.2 GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 cores at 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 MC3 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0, and 3.2, OpenCL 2.0, and Vulkan 1.2 NPU – 6 TOPS (INT8) AI accelerator with support for INT4, INT8, INT16, […]

May 26, 2025June 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

NanoPi M5 – A Rockchip RK3576 SBC with HDMI, dual GbE, M.2 NVMe and SDIO WiFi sockets, UFS 2.0 storage support

It feels like everybody is now launching hardware based on the Rockchip RK3576 SoC, the little brother of the RK3588 with Cortex-A72/A53 cores instead of Cortex-A76/A55 cores, 4K video output, and a mid-range Mali-G52 GPU, while keeping most of the same interfaces. FriendlyELEC has now joined the fray with the NanoPi M5 SBC equipped with up to 4GB LPDDR4x or 16GB LPDDR5, sockets for a UFS module and an M.2 NVMe SSD, HDMI 2.0 and MIPI DSI display interfaces, two MIPI CSI camera connectors, two gigabit Ethernet ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, two USB 3.0 ports, a 30-pin GPIO header, and more. NanoPi M5 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3576 CPU – Octa-core CPU with 4x Cortex-A72 cores at 2.2 GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 cores at 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 MC3 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0, and 3.2, OpenCL 2.0, and Vulkan 1.2 NPU – 6 TOPS […]

May 23, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Graperain GR3576_CV2 – A Rockchip RK3576 260-pin SO-DIMM SoM with up to 16GB RAM

Graperain GR3576_CV2 is a 260-pin SO-DIMM system-on-module (SoM) powered by a Rockchip RK3576 octa-core Cortex-A72/A53 SoC with a 6 TOPS NPU, and equipped with up to 16GB RAM and 256GB eMMC flash. The module supports up to six different display interfaces from HDMI to EBC for e-Paper displays, three camera inputs, a range of audio inputs and outputs, as well as USB 3.2, PCIe 2.1, and SATA interfaces, and plenty of other I/Os. Graperain GR3576_CV2 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3576 CPU – Octa-core CPU with 4x Cortex-A72 cores at 2.2GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 cores at 1.8GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 MC3 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0, and 3.2, OpenCL up to 2.0, and Vulkan 1.1 NPU – 6 TOPS (INT8) AI accelerator with support for INT4/INT8/INT16/BF16/TF32 mixed operations. VPU Video Decoder H.265, VP9, AV1, and AVS2 up to 8Kp30 or 4Kp120 H.264/AVC and MJPEG up to 4Kp60 Video […]

May 14, 2025May 14, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 34 Comments

$39 ODROID-C5 is a power-efficient Amlogic S905X5M SBC with 4GB RAM, no heatsink needed

Hardkernel ODROID-C5 is a lower-cost upgrade to the ODROID-C4 SBC with a faster and more efficient Amlogic S905X5M quad-core Cortex-A55 SoC clocked at 2.5 GHz, 4GB DDR4 RAM, and almost the same features as the previous generation Amlogic S905X3 single board computer. That means a microSD card slot and an eMMC flash module socket for storage, HDMI 2.0 video output up to 4Kp60, a Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port, four USB ports, and the usual 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO header. ODROID-C5 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X5M CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 2.5 GHz GPU – Arm G310-V2 GPU @ 850 MHz supporting OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.0 and OpenCL 2.0 VPU Video Decoding – 4Kp75 10-bit: AV1, H.265, VP9, AVS2; 4Kp30: H.264 Video Encoding – 1080p30 H.264 System Memory – 4GB DDR4 @ 3200MT/s Storage eMMC module connector with HS400 speed (16, 32, 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB modules available) MicroSD […]