Beelink i68 Rockchip RK3368 TV Box Unboxing and Teardown

Rockchip RK3368 started shipping last month, and thanks to GearBest, I’ve received my first 64-bit ARM TV Box with Beelink iONE i68. Today, I’ll take a few pictures of the device and the board, and will follow up with a full review in a few days. Beelink i68 Unboxing The box was sent to me via DHL in a cartonboard package various information about the “Smart Android TV Box” such as Android 5.1 operating system, an eight core CPU with G6110 GPU, 4K2K and H.265 support, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, and eMMC flash. The package includes the box, a Quick Start Guide in English, and HDMI cable, an IR remote control that requires two AAA batteries, a USB OTG adapter, and a 5V/2A power adapter with US and EU plugs. An SD card slot, two USB 2.0 host ports and a micro USB OTG port can be found on the […]

$39 Beaglebone Green Loses HDMI and DC Jack, Gains Grove Connectors

The original BeagleBone launched in 2011  $89, then Beagleboard.org released an updated version with HDMI, a faster processor, and more RAM called BeagleBone Black for $45 in 2013, possibly as a competitor to the Raspberry Pi, and since then the price has bumped up to $55 because of a larger eMMC flash. There’s now a new version – and a different color – with BeagleBone Green selling for $39 on SeeedStudio with shipping starting on August 20, 2015. BeagleBone Green board specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM3358BZCZ100 Cortex A8 @ 1 GHz with NEON + PowerVR SGX530 GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3L @ 800 MHz Storage – 4GB eMMC + micro SD slot USB Access to USB0, Client mode via Micro USB Access to USB1, Type A Socket, 500mA LS/FS/HS Serial Port – UART0 via 6-pin 3.3V TTL header (populated) Ethernet – 10/100M Ethernet , RJ45 Expansion […]

Eny EMP01 is a $170 mini Android Projector Powered by Rockchip RK3128 Quad Core Processor

Eny Technology has brought another product to market with EMP01 an Android 4.4.2 mini projector based on Texas Instruments DLP projector – as most other low cost projectors on the market – and Rockchip RK3128 quad core Cortex A7 processor with a Mali-400MP2 GPU. Eny Eny EMP01 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3128 quad core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.2GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB NAND flash + micro SD slot (up to 32GB) Projector Technology – Texas Instruments DLP Brightness – 100 lumens Contrast ratio – 2000:1 Standard resolution – WXGA 854*480 Throw ratio: 1.19:1 (76″ @ 2 meters) Projector size – 30 to 120″ Aspect ratio – 4:3, 16:9, 16:10 Video Output – HDMI output Video Codec – H.263, H.264, H.265, VC-1, RV, VP6/VP8, Sorenson Spark, MVC, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 up to 1080p Audio Output – HDMI and 3.5,, for earphone, loud speaker Connectivity – Dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 […]

Freescale i.MX6 DualPlus and QuadPlus SoCs Gets Faster 2D and 3D Graphics, Higher Memory Bandwidth

Freescale unveiled three new models for its i.MX 6 family processor for consumer, industrial and automotive markets in May. Two models are an upgrade to existing i.MX6 Quad and i.MX6 Dual processors, as the new i.MX 6QuadPlus and i.MX6DualPlus processors features four and two Cortex A9 cores, together with improved 2D and 3D GPUs delivering around 50% faster performance, an “optimized” SDRAM controller, more SRAM, and a prefetch and resolve engine. The third model, i.MX 6UltraLite, features a single ARM Cortex A7 core and hardware security, and targets applications such as electronic Point Of Sales (ePOS). That means there are now 9 i.MX6 processors, and today, I’ll focus on the two new “Plus” versions. Since they are based on the original i.MX6 Quad and i.MX6 Dual processors, the best way to have a look at these is to compare them to their predecessors. Features i.MX 6QuadPlus i.MX 6Quad i.MX 6DualPlus […]

Google Plans Vulkan API Support for Android, Imagination Shows a Demo

Vulkan graphics API is the successors to OpenGL and OpenGL ES API, which will support multi-threaded rendering, move some of the complexity to the applications, and simplify graphics drivers, which may not be a bad things since these tend to be closed source, and bugs may be hard to get fixed. Google, which is now a subsidiary of a new company called Alphabet,  has recently announced that Vulkan will be implemented in future versions of Android, although OpenGL ES will still be supported, so developers can select their preferred graphics API for their apps, as Vulkan will be more complex for application programmers than OpenGL ES. Separately, Imagination technologies showcased their Vulkan driver for PowerVR Rogue GPU on the Nexus Player powered by an Intel SoC including a PowerVR G6430 GPU, and compare the Vulkan demo to the same demo using OpenGL ES 3.0 drivers. The difference between Vulkan and OpenGL […]

Hardkernel ODROID-C1+ Development Board is Now Shipping for $37

We already knew Hardkernel was working on ODROID-C1+ development board, an update the popular ODROID-C1 board with the same Amlogic S805 processor, storage and memory, but with a standard HDMI port replacing the micro HDMI port, I2S support, better micro SD card and HDMI-CEC support, an micro USB OTG port that can be used to power the board, and an included heatsink. The board is now up for sale for $37, or just $2 more than the original ODROID-C1 board. ODROID-C1+ specifications: SoC- Amlogic S805 quad core Cortex-A5 processor with a quad core Mali-450MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – eMMC 4.5 HS200 module socket for up to 64GB storage, and UHS-1 SDR50 micro SD slot Video & Audio Output – Type A HDMI port with CEC support Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Expansion Headers 40-pin Raspberry […]

MeegoPad T03 TV Sticks Runs Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4, Features an Improved Thermal Design

If you were expecting a new processor for MeegoPad T03, you’ll be disappointed that hardware-wise the third MeegoPad hardware specifications are basically the same as MeegoPad T01 and T02, but the new version of the stick should not get as hot as the first two versions, and runs a dual boot image with Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4, that can be upgraded to Windows 10, contrary to some other dual boot Bay Trail devices. MeegoPad T03 specifications are indeed mostly the same of the previous models: SoC – Intel Atom Z3735F  “Bay Trail” quad core processor @ 1.33 GHz – 1.83 GHz with Intel HD graphics Gen 7 System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L Storage – 32 GB eMMC + micro SD slot up to 64GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 2x micro […]

List of Rockchip RK3368 Android mini PCs

Last year, Rockchip RK3288 was always going to be popular, since it offered a massive performance upgrade compared to its predecessor (Rockchip RK3188) with Cortex A17 cores replacing Cortex A9 cores, and a Mali-T764 GPU replacing an aging Mali-400MP4 GPU, plus the addition of 4K video output and decoding, as well as H.265 video codec support. So many manufacturers got involved that I decided to write a list of RK3288 TV boxes and sticks. Rockchip RK3368, the company’s new “flagship” processor for 2015, is a bit less exciting despite providing eight 64-bit ARM cores, since Cortex A53 cores are significantly less powerful than the Cortex A17 cores found in RK3288, and the performance of the PowerVR G6110 GPU used in the processor is a bit of an unknown for now. RK3368 might still rank pretty well in benchmark since it comes with eight cores instead of four cores, but I’m […]