Android

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Unboxing and Teardown of Ugoos UT4 Android TV Box with a Cooling Fan

Unboxing and Teardown of Ugoos UT4 Android TV Box with a Cooling Fan

Most Android TV box ship with simple heatsink, which may lead to performance degradation due to throttling if you push your device a little too hard, and Ugoos UT3s was one of the few Android TV boxes to feature a fan. The company now have a new model model with Ugoos UT4 powered by Rockchip RK3368 octa-core processor, and they’ve sent me an early sample for review. Today, I’ll start by taking pictures of the device, and taking it apart to check the hardware and how cooling is implemented, before reviewed the unit in a few weeks. Ugoos UT4 specifications Before this, since I’ve only shortly mention Ugoos UT4 in Rockchip RK3368 TV boxes list, I’ll go through the specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3368 octa core Cortex A53 processor with PowerVR G6110 GPU up to 700 MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC + micro SD slot […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on CubieTruck Plus Development Board with DisplayPort & HDMI Sells for $84 (in China)

CubieTruck Plus Development Board with DisplayPort & HDMI Sells for $84 (in China)

We first found out about CubieTruck Plus (aka Cubieboard 5) this summer, and while at the time we did not have the full details, it was clear from the board picture and name, that is was an update to CubieTruck board, replacing Allwinner A20 dual core processor by Allwinner A8 octa-core processor, and ditching the VGA port for DisplayPort while keeping most of the same features of the original version. The company has now provided more details while announcing the launch of the board in China, and it turns out CubieTruck Plus has a few more advantages, and at least one drawback. CubieTruck CubieTruck Plus SoC Allwinner A20 Allwinner H8 CPU Dual core Cortex A7 up to 1.08 GHz Octa core Cortex A7 up to 2.0 GHz GPU Mali-400MP2 PowerVR SGX544 up to 700 MHz Memory 2GB DDR3 Power 5V@2.5V power jack Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45) WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Hardkernel ODROID-XU4 Development Board Now Supports Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Hardkernel ODROID-XU4 Development Board Now Supports Android 6.0 Marshmallow

Android 6.0 source code was released in October, but so far few development boards are supporting it properly. There’s Android 6.0 for Raspberry Pi 2, but without GPU hardware acceleration is not really usable, and Intrinsyc Open-Q 820 board that will start shipping in a few days with Android 6.0 on Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, is pricey and with limited availability. So there are only two options that I’m aware of LeMaker Hikey with Android 6.0 as part of the Reference Platform Release 2015.12, and Hardkernel ODROID-XU4 with an unofficial port for Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow by voodik odroid community member, which should also work for ODROID-XU3 and XU3 Lite boards. Despite being an alpha version, the current image looks pretty good, as most required features seem implemented: Android 6.0.1 Lollipop Cyanogenmod 13.0 with Linux kernel 3.10.9 OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.0 (GPU acceleration) OpenCL 1.1 EP (GPU acceleration) Multi-user feature is enabled […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on Unboxing and Teardown of HD23 TV Box with Built-in Camera

Unboxing and Teardown of HD23 TV Box with Built-in Camera

HD23_mini_PC_Camera

HD23 (aka MX HD23) is an Android TV Box designed for video conference or home monitoring that includes a 2.0 MP camera and can easily be placed on top of the television. It might actually be a clone of a product called TVPRO based on GearBest’s introduction video for the product, or at least it’s heavily inspired by that platform. GearBest sent me a sample so that I can check how the mini PC’s camera performs. MX HD23 Unboxing I’ve received the device in a retail package via DHL. Everything is neatly packed in separate smaller boxes inside the package.HD23 mini PC comes with an IR remote control taking two AAA batteries, a mini USB OTG adapter, a 5V/1.5A power supply, an HDMI cable, and a Setup and User Guide in English. On the front of the device we’ve got a power button, the camera, a camera LED, a microphone […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on Dune HD Solo 4K is a High-End Media Player with a SATA Bay, a DVB-T2 Tuner, and Sigma Designs SMP8758 Processor

Dune HD Solo 4K is a High-End Media Player with a SATA Bay, a DVB-T2 Tuner, and Sigma Designs SMP8758 Processor

Dune HD, a company specializing in “high-performance digital media players”, has just unveiled Dune HD Solo 4K media player based on  Sigma Designs SMP8758 dual core Cortex A9 processor, supporting 10-bit HEVC video decoding up to 2160p @ 30 fps, HD audio pass-though, and including a SATA tray. Dune HD Solo 4K specifications: SoC – Sigma Designs SMP8758 dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.2 GHz with an ARM Mali-400 GPU and VXP image processing engine System Memory – 1GB Storage – 4GB flash for firmware, internal HDD rack with hot swap function for a 2.5″ SATA drive, SD card reader (TBC) Video Output – HDMI 1.4b up to 1080p60 and 4K @ 30 Hz (including 23.976, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94Hz refresh rates), and composite video Audio Output – HDMI, analog stereo audio, coaxial S/PDIF (shared via AV port). 24-bit /192 KHz audio support Video codecs – MPEG2, MPEG4, XVID, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Review of Light Biz OS Operating System for Desktop Use (Writing a Blog Post)

Review of Light Biz OS Operating System for Desktop Use (Writing a Blog Post)

This is take 2 of using an Android mini PC as a desktop PC, as I’m currently writing this post from GeekBox TV box with Rockchip’s Light Biz OS, an operating systems based on Android 5.1 with some optimizations for desktop use. I’ve already installed various productivity apps such as Gimp and Microsoft Excel, and at first this was a problem sinc Light Biz OS “internal storage” partition was too small to install some programs, so I had to resize the “userdata” partition to 6GB to make it usable. I normally blog with Firefox in Ubuntu 14.04, so right now, I’m writing with Firefox for Android, and not WordPress Android app, which would have been another option. One of the first challenge was to create links, and I could copy links with a long click providing access to copy tools in Firefox, and copy the links with Ctrl+V in Firefox. […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments on Makibes F68 is a $35 IP67 Rated Sports Smartwatch with HRM & 7-Days Battery Life

Makibes F68 is a $35 IP67 Rated Sports Smartwatch with HRM & 7-Days Battery Life

So far my quest for a smartwatch as not been successful, with massive disappointments with both No.1 D3 smartwatch and SMA-Q color e-Paper smartwatch, with the latter completely failing after a week. The next potential candidate is Makibes F68 with similar features as SMA-Q, but instead with a grayscale display, IP67 ingress protection rating which should make it suitable for swimming (apparently not, see comments), as well as a promised 7-day battery life during “normal usage”. Makibes F68 specifications: MCU/Memory/Storage – Not disclosed but it’s supposed to run Nucleus RTOS. Display – 1″ round capacity touchscreen display, 128×128 resolution, always on Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 Sensors – 3-axis accelerometer and gyroscope Battery – 180 mAh charged via magnetic connector Dimensions – 38 x38 x 10 mm (aluminum alloy material) Weight – 31 grams IP Rating – IP67 meaning it’s been tested for 30 minutes under one meter of water. The […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on How to Resize Android’s Internal Storage Partition in Rockchip Devices

How to Resize Android’s Internal Storage Partition in Rockchip Devices

I installed Light Biz OS firmware on GeekBox yesterday, but I’ve quickly realized many applications such as Gimp Inkscape would not install due to the small 1.94GB “internal partition”, so I asked how to increase the partition size in GeekBox forums last evening, and got an answer overnight from “dewet”. The good news is that it worked so I’ll share the steps I followed in a computer running Ubuntu 14.04. It might also be possible to perform the same tasks within a Windows machine with Rorkchip’s Factory tools First let’s download the utils with relevant scripts and binaries:

Now copy your device or board’s firmware file “update.img” to the working directory, and unpack it:

The output should look like:

The files will be in the “output” directory. For our purpose “parameter” file, and especially the last line (CMDLINE) where we will want to adjust the userdata partition […]

Exit mobile version
Firefly NVIDIA Jetson products