Android News - Page 126 of 375 - CNX Software

June 15, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

$249 Pico Goblin All-in-One VR Headset is Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Processor

VR headset prices range from just a few dollars for cardboard ones used with your smartphone to close to a thousand dollars for the most advanced models. The large price differences are because some models rely on your smartphone, while others leverage your computer’s processing processor, and the rest include all the electronics and display needed to work without external hardware. Companies started to launch Android All-in-One VR headset last year, but they were either rather expensive, or not quite good enough for anything except watching videos. Pico may have found the right balance between performance and price with their Goblin Virtual Reality Headset with a 5.5″ display with 2560 x 1440 resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor couple with 3GB of RAM, and a $249 price tag. Pico Goblin specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (or 821?) CPU System Memory – 3GB LPDDR4-1866 RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC 5.1 […]

June 15, 2017June 15, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Marvell 88W8987xA Wireless SoC Supports 802.11ac & 802.11p WiFi, Bluetooth 5 for V2X & IVI Automotive Applications

Marvell has introduced the new 88W8987xA wireless chip with 802.11ac, 802.11p and Bluetooth 5 Connectivity for V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) and IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) automotive applications such as Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) systems, and secure wireless Gateway systems. Key features of Marvell 88W8987xA family: Connectivity WiFI – IEEE 802.11ac (wave2) up to 433 Mbps / IEEE 802.11p WAVE (Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments) / 1609.x Bluetooth 5 including Bluetooth Low Energy Angle of Arrival and Departure (AoA/AoD) 2x antenna configuration for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth coexistence Host Interfaces – SDIO 3.0 interface (4-bit SDIO and 1-bit SDIO) @ up to 208 MHz; high-Speed UART interface (for Bluetooth only) Audio Interfaces – Digital audio interfaces (PCM) Temperature Range – -40°C to +105°C (AEC-Q100 Grade 2 Qualification) Package – pin 8×8 mm QFN with wettable flanks The family now includes three pin-to-pin compatible SoCs: 88W8987A with 802.11ac + Qualified Bluetooth 5 Functionality 88W8987PA with 802.11p + […]

June 13, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Android Can Now Boot with a Full Open Source Graphics Stack on NXP i.MX6 Boards

While the Android operating systems is itself open source, it still relies on proprietary binary files to leverage GPU acceleration, VPU hardware decoding, wireless connectivity, and so on. It’s been possible to run Android with an open source software graphics stack, but it’s normally terribly slow and barely usable. But Collabora has announced it could now boot Android with a full-graphics stack on iMX6 platforms using no proprietary blobs at all. To do so, they leveraged the work done on Etnaviv open source drivers for Vivante GPUs, and adding the different formats used for graphical buffers in Android and Mesa library using modifiers representing different properties of buffers. They further explain: Support was added in two places; Mesa and gbm_gralloc. Mesa has had support added to many of the buffer allocation functions and to GBM (which is the API provided by Mesa, that gbm_gralloc uses). gbm_gralloc in turn had support […]

June 12, 2017August 9, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

HiMedia Q30 (Hisilicon Hi3798MV200) Android TV Box Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

I’ve often read praises about HiMedia TV boxes in the comments section of this blog, but so far, I had never tested any of their products. This is about to change, since the company has sent me their latest HiMedia Q30 TV box running Android 7.0 on Hisilicon Hi3798MV200 processor, a cost-down version of Hi3798CV200 processor with the same CPU,a lower-end Mali-T450 GPU, about the same media capabilities, and less I/Os. I’ll start the review by checking out the TV box and accessories, as well as the PCBA, before reporting the experience with Android 7.0 firmware in several weeks. HiMedia Q30 TV Box Unboxing I received the device is a package that read “HIMEDIA Q30” and “Android TV Box”, and shows some of the key features like 4K @ 60 fps, 10-bit HEVC, HDR and Kodi support. The devices ships with an IR remote control with IR learning function for […]

June 10, 2017June 10, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

TX95D Android Set-Top Box with Amlogic S905D SoC, DVB-T2 Tuner is Selling for $52

We know have a decent choice of affordable Android TV boxes with tuners, but TX95D model powered by Amlogic S905D processor, and a single DVB-T/T2 tuner, appears to be a few dollars cheaper than the competition, as it sells for $51.99 shipped on Acemax’ Aliexpress store. TX95D Android STB specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905D quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60Hz with HDR support, and 3.5mm AV (composite video) jack Audio Output – HDMI, AV (stereo audio), optical S/PDIF Video Codecs – 10-bit H.265, and VP9 Profile 2 up to 4K60, H.264 up to 4K30, AVS+ and other codecs up to 1080p60 Tuner – DVB-T/T2 tuner with one coaxial RF input Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi USB […]

June 9, 2017 by Ray - 11 Comments

Sunvell T95P Android Plug Computer mini Review

First of all, I have to say sorry for the delay for the review, but at the time I got this “beauty”, it would not power up, even though the blue light showed up out of the USB connector… I tried to recover a couple of times, no success at all… Getting a little upset, and tried after weeks of not thinking anymore… So I used an old trick, we all know, I guess. The freezer trick! I covered the Sunvell T95P in a soft linen towel, and put it in the freezer for around 3 hours. After that, it really worked like nothing happened before. There is also the old fascinating hairspray trick for “boards”… That could have been of help in some cases, but I couldn’t find a way to open this box without it being damaged for good. Here we go. Claimed Product details of T95P: 2G/8G […]

June 8, 2017June 10, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 85 Comments

ROCK64 is a Rockchip RK3328 Development Board with Up to 4GB RAM, 4K HDR, Gigabit Ethernet, and USB 3.0

Rockchip RK3328 Android TV boxes such as A5X Plus or A95X R2 have been on the market for a couple of months, but since the processor is rather inexpensive, yet supports 4K UHD video output, Gigabit Ethernet and USB 3.0 interfaces, Pine64 has decided to create a new development board called ROCK64 with a form factor similar to Raspberry Pi 3 board. ROCK64 board specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad core Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-450MP2 GPU System Memory – 1, 2, or 4 GB LPDDR3 @ 1866 MHz Storage – eMMC flash module socket + micro SD card slot + 128 Mbit SPI flash Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR10 and HLG support, 3.5mm AV port (composite video + stereo audio) Video Codec – 4K VP9, H.265 and H.264, 1080p VC-1, MPEG-1/2/4, VP6/8 Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet USB – […]

June 7, 2017June 7, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Realtek RTD1296 STB/Media NAS SoC Coming Soon with Multiple Ethernet Ports, Dual SATA, HDMI 2.0 Input and Output

I have reviewed several Realtek RTD1295 TV boxes with NAS and HDMI input functions such as Zidoo X9S and EWEAT R9 Plus, and those were quite capable devices with a rich feature set, but Realtek has been working on a new higher-end RTD1296 SoC for quite some time. It comes with the same CPU and GPU, but has a larger package with more peripheral interfaces. I received the screenshot above last December, but the information does not seem to have changed since then. Realtek RTD1296 is equipped with a quad core Cortex A53 processor, an ARM Mali-T820MP3 GPU, and the same H.265/VP9 video engine as RTD1295. However, the new SoC adds one extra RGMII (Gigabit Ethernet) interface, one more USB 3.0 port, one extra SATA interface, and offers higher DDR bandwidth. The PCIe interface would also allow you to use more than just two SATA drives. Charbax got in touch […]