Android News - Page 153 of 363 - CNX Software

June 30, 2016June 30, 2016 by Ray - 5 Comments

ROOFULL MRX 4K Android TV Box Review

CNXSoft: I’ve got many requests to review TV boxes, but I don’t always have time for them all, so from time to time I get people who help me do reviews, and this review of Roofull MRX TV box powered by Amlogic S905 processor had been done by Ray, who like me has been playing with many other Android TV boxes. ROOFULL MRX Specifications Operation System – Android 5.1 CPU – Amlogic S905 64-bit Quad core Cortex A53 up to @2GHz GPU – Penta Core Mali-450 RAM – 2GB DDRIII ROM – 16GB eMMC flash SD Storage expendable up to 32GB Bluetooth – BT 4.0 Antenna – Built-in antenna for WiFi Media UHD 4K x 2K: Support Full HD 1080P: Support HEVC H.265/H.264: Support Video/Picture Decoding Support: *.mkv,*.wmv,*.mpg, *.mpeg, *.dat, *.avi, *.mov, *.iso, *.mp4, *.rm and *.jpg file formats Audio Format Support: MP3,AAC,WMA,RM,FLAC,Ogg Communication WiFi: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz) Ethernet: […]

June 29, 2016July 5, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Boardcon MINI6818 CPU Module Features Samsung S5P6818 Octa-core Processor

Update: a defect has been found, so the board is not for sale anymore. Samsung S5P6818 octa-core Cortex A53 processor has already been found in several single board computers and development boards including Graperain G6818 SBC and NanoPi M3 board, but so far I had not seen it implemented into a system-on-module to be used in custom designs, and that’s just was Boardcon did with their MINI6818 CPU module. Boardcon MINI6818 SoM specifications: SoC – Samsung S5P6818 octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ 1.4GHz with Mali-400MP 3D GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash 2x 100-pin board-to-board connectors with 1.27 pitch: 5x UART, I2C, SPI 1x USB2.0 Host, 1x USB HSIC Host, 1x USB2.0 OTG, LCD (TFT/LVDS/MIPI) Gigabit Ethernet I2S, CIF (not sure what it is), Audio HDMI GPIOs ADC PWM HSMMC/SD Power – 5V; AXP228 PMIC Dimensions – 70 x 58 mm (8-layer PCB) The […]

June 28, 2016March 8, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

Broadlink RM Mini 3 is a $10 WiFi IR Blaster for Home Automation

Many electrical appliances such as TVs, air conditioners, heaters, and so on are still controlled using an infrared remote control, but as more and more people are getting used to their smartphone to control pretty much everything, devices such as Xiaomi Mi Smart Remote Center that allows to control IR appliances with ANdroid or iOS mobile are starting to come to market. However during my Smart Remote Center review, I noticed that the app was only available in Chinese, and that it was not quite able to perform all the tasks I wanted (e.g. multiple IR codes programming). There’s now a cheaper and small device available in the form of Broadlink RM Mini 3 “Black Bean” that sells for just $9.88 including shipping, and whose app supports not only Chinese, but also English, Russian, Japanese, and other languages. Broadlink RM mini 3 specifications: WiFi – 802.11 b/g/n @ 2.4 GHz […]

June 27, 2016December 2, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 31 Comments

Mediatek Labs Unveils Deca-core Helio X20 Development Board Compliant with 96Boards CE Specifications

More and more companies are joining the 96Boards bangwagon, and the latest move by Mediatek Labs will mean their Helio X20 development board, designed in collaboration with ArcherMind, will be the most powerful 96Boards CE edition released so far thanks to its deca-core processor with two Cortex A72 cores, and 8 Cortex A53 cores. Mediatek Helio X20 board specifications: SoC – Mediatek Helio X20 (MT6797) deca-core processor with two ARM Cortex A72 cores @ 2.3 GHz, four Cortex A53 @ 1.95 GHz, four Cortex A53 @ 1.4 GHz, and ARM Mali-T880 GPU @ 800 MHz System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 @ 933 MHz Storage – 8GB eMMC 5.1 flash + micro SD 3.0 (UHS-I) slot Video Output – HDMI up to 1080p @ 30 fps Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS with antenna connector USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB port (device only). Expansion: […]

June 27, 2016July 5, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Review of Xiaomi Mi Band 2 Activity Tracker

I’ve been using Xiaomi Mi Band 2 for a little over two weeks now, so I’m not ready to report my findings, and the results are mixed. If you are interesting in checking out the accessories, and physical aspect of the watch, feel free to read Xiaomi Mi Band 2 unboxing post first. Since the new model adds an OLED display, let’s first see what options it has to offer. The display is off by default, and pressing the capacitive touch button (please note that it’s not a real physical button, so it won’t work with most gloves for example) will turn on the display for 5 seconds. You can keep pressing to go through time, step count, distance, calories burnt, heart rate monitor, and battery level. Except for time, there’s a icon shown before display the actual value. If you find that the display does not look clear, that’s […]

June 27, 2016June 27, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Eny EVR02 Virtual Reality Headset Powered by Rockchip RK3288 Processor Supports Full HD, 2K and 4K Displays

Rockchip has recently introduced Rockchip RK3399 processor promoting it as the “best choice for VR all-in-one“, but as development is still in progress, some companies has decided to use Rockchip RK3288 instead in their Android based all-in-one virtual reality headsets. Eny Technology is one of them via their EVR02 head mount display that features a 1920×1080 display but default, but the company also said they can support 2K and 4K displays on request. Eny EVR02 VR head mount display specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A17 processor @ 1.8 GHz with ARM Mali-T764 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB flash (8GB optional) + micro SD slot Display – 5.5″, 1920×1080 resolution or optional 2K or 4K display Lenses 2x low dispersion/aspheric lenses usable by people with myopia up to 300 degrees Diameter – 42mm At least 90 degrees field of view (FOV) material – highly […]

June 24, 2016June 24, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Does Amlogic S905X Support USB 3.0?

Despite Amlogic roadmap claiming none of the upcoming Amlogic TV box SoCs will support USB 3.0, I’ve been informed that Amlogic S905X might already support USB 3.0. So I had a check with NEXBOX A5 TV box. First we can see dwc3 (DesignWare USB3) module is loaded:

lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
dwc3                   17981  0 
mali                  233433  36

lsmod

Module Size Used by

dwc3 17981 0

mali 233433 36

then this happens when I connect a USB 3.0 hard drive or flash drive:

[ 4812.378262@0] usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci-hcd
[ 4812.798557@0] usb-storage 1-2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 4812.801416@0] scsi1 : usb-storage 1-2:1.0

[ 4812.378262@0] usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci-hcd

[ 4812.798557@0] usb-storage 1-2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected

[ 4812.801416@0] scsi1 : usb-storage 1-2:1.0

The important point here is xhci, which stands for “eXtensible Host Controller Interface” and supports USB 1.x to USB 3.x devices. The next step is to check performance, but since S905X is running Android 6.0, I went through permission issues with both A1SD bench and Disk Speed apps, so I reverted to using dd to read a large file to /dev/null. Result with USB 3.0 hard drive:

dd if=Sintel-Bluray.iso of=/dev/null bs=1024*1024*32                           
47+1 records in
47+1 records out
1593180160 bytes transferred in 42.681 secs (37327620 bytes/sec)

dd if=Sintel-Bluray.iso of=/dev/null bs=1024*1024*32

47+1 records in

47+1 records out

1593180160 bytes transferred in 42.681 secs (37327620 bytes/sec)

That’s about 35.6 MB/s, which would be an excellent USB 2.0 transfer rate, but not quite USB 3.0 material, […]

June 22, 2016June 22, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

VLC for Android 2.0 Released with Network Shares, Multi-windows, Better Codec Support, and More

VLC / VideoLAN is a popular desktop video player for Linux and Windows, and it’s the program I go to when I want to watch a local video on my computer. VLC also has an Android version, but last time I checked VLC in an Android TV box, I was disappointed due to the lack of SAMBA support, and video decoding support was pretty poor on Rockchip RK3368 processor at the time. The good news is that the developers have now released VLC for Android 2.0, which brings several improvements including: Support for network browsing including DLNA/UPnP, Windows Shares (SAMBA), FTP(S), SFTP, and NFS Multi-windows/pop-up video with support for Samsung MultiWindow and LG Dual Window extensions New asynchronous hardware decoder, and codecs and formats support updates. Subtitle downloads via OpenSubtitles from VLC interface without having to go to the website inside a web browser Right-To-Left and Complex Text Layout subtitles […]