Android News - Page 347 of 364 - CNX Software

November 9, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Build Community Android Distribution and Ensure the Quality – ELCE 2011

Jim Huang, developer and co-founder of 0xlab, explains how they built an Android distribution with Linaro at Embedded Linux Conference Europe 2011. Abstract: While developing Android distributions, 0xdroid and LEB (Linaro Evaluation Build), we learn much about the development approach to non-traditional open source software model such as Android Open Source Project. This session shares the experience how 0xlab established the community, contributes to upstream (in unusual way), and leveraged the strong efforts from Linaro. Also, 0xlab develops a serial of open source projects to ensure overall performance and quality for better user experience. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com

November 8, 2011November 8, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

WIMM One Developer Preview Kit is Now Available

WIMM Labs has just announced the availability of its wearable Android-based reference platform and software development kit. It can be purchased for 299 US dollar and is only available in the US. It is currently only available to registered developers but will be available to all by the 9th of November. The WIMM One Developer Preview Kit includes: WIMM One Module Black wrist strap Charging kit: Paddle charger, USB cable, USB power adapter Here’s the email registered developers received: We are thrilled that you expressed early interest in the WIMM One Developer Preview and we’d like to invite you to be among the first to purchase a WIMM One during our limited release. From now until November 9, the store will only be open to those who’ve reserved in advance. Just register at dev.wimm.com using this email address and purchase your WIMM One Preview for $299. Inventory is limited and […]

November 8, 2011November 8, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Android Platform Optimizations – ELCE 2011

Ruud Derwig and Mischa Jonker, both working at Synopsys, present different Android optimization methods at Embedded Linux Conference Europe 2011. Abstract: Although compute platforms gain performance with every new generation, getting the most out of every cycle and milliwatt remains a key value driver for Consumer Electronics. This presentation opens up the Android platform and explain what platform components and frameworks can benefit from performance optimizations. The optimizations are illustrated using real-life examples from the porting and optimization of the Android platform for the DesignWare ARC CPU. Both Android platform and application developers will gain insight in how to improve Android performance. Topics that are addressed include the Pixelflinger, Linux kernel and drivers, Javascript engine, Bionic C library, and the Dalvik VM. We’ll demonstrate the portability of Android and suitability of the ARC architecture for building efficiently Android systems. You can also download the presentation slides. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started […]

November 7, 2011November 7, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Linaro Android Tutorial with the Pandaboard

Zach Pfeffer, the tech lead of the Linaro Android working group, gave a tutorial about Linaro Android at Linaro Connect Q4.11. During this tutorial, attendees were shown how to download a recent build for the pandaboard, how to make a bootable SD card image using the linaro-android-media-create command and how to boot the board with it. The full setup was composed of a Pandaboard connected to a HDMI monitor with a keyboard and mouse connected to the board as well as serial to USB cable to connect to the development machine. He also used an SD card reader to generate the bootable Android image. The images are available at Android Linaro Build Service. There are quite a few build named after the supported board (e..g panda for pandaboard, snowball for ST Ericsson Snowball etc..) and the kernel version (tracking = latest linaro kernel, staging = stable linaro kernel). Then an […]

November 1, 2011November 1, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

TI Unveils Sitara AM335x ARM Series Cortex-A8 Processors

Texas Instruments has just announced the new Sitara AM335X Processors and the low cost Beaglebone development board. The low cost Cortex-A8 SoCs start at 5 US dollars per piece and are aimed at upgrading ARM9 solutions (software compatible) and adding new features such as 3D interfaces and touch screen, high resolution displays with faster performance. Texas Instruments says you could take those new upgraded products to market within 6 months thanks to their inexpensive development board (Beaglebone) and complete SDK. There are six models in the Sitara AM335X series: AM3552: Cortex A8 up to 720 MHz. AM3554: Cortex A8 up to 720 MHz with 3D Graphics (PowerVR SGX GPU). AM3556: Cortex A8 up to 720 MHz with programmable real-time unit (PRU) @ 200 Mhz. AM3557: Cortex A8 up to 720 MHz with PRU @ 200Mhz and EtherCat. AM3558: Cortex A8 up to 720 MHz with 3D Graphics and PRU @ […]

October 30, 2011October 30, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Run 2 OS Simultaneously on ARM (OMAP4) with Codezero Embedded Hypervisor

B Labs, a company specializing in ARM Virtualization, was at ARM Techcon 2011 showcasing Codezero, their Embedded Hypervisor to run multiple Linux OS such as Android and Chrome OS on ARM processors. The main purpose of running 2 operating systems is to separate home and enterprise operating systems in mobile devices so that enterprise data is safe. Charbax (ARMDevices.net) interviewed Bahadir Baldan, founder of B Labs, and showed a demo running 2 Android instances and another running Android and Linux in pandaboard. The overhead is 10 to 15% according to B Labs, so the performance hit is minimal. They have already managed to run 4 OS on quad core processors with good performance. They are not able to run Windows operating systems (e.g. Windows Mobile 7.5/ Windows 8) yet, because Cortex A9 processors lack virtualization extensions. This will however be feasible with Cortex A15 processors as binary virtualization will be available. […]

October 29, 2011November 17, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Google TV 2.0 For Android 3.1 Released

Back in August, Google released a Preview of Google TV Add-on for the Android SDK. Google has now announced a software upgrade for Google TV a software running on Android device (Smart TV / STB) such as the Sony NSX-24GT1 Google TV that bring web video (e.g. YouTube, Netflix and more) to the TV. Google admits the initial version of Google TV wasn’t perfect and they even asked partners not to show product with Google TV at CES 2011. Let’s see what improvements Google TV 2.0: 1. Keep it simple The interface is now much simpler. The new customizable home screen gets you to your favorite content quickly. And within “all apps” you can see all of your shortcuts, similar to your Android phone or tablet. 2. Make it easy to find something worth watching Search has been improved across the board for content from Live TV, Netflix, YouTube, HBO […]

October 28, 2011October 28, 2011 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

I’m Watch: Freescale i.MX233 based Android Watch

I’m Watch is a wireless (Bluetooth) watch designed by an Italian Company http://www.imwatch.it currently showcased at ARM Techcon 2011. The device is powered by Freescale i.MX233 feature a capacitive touchcreen and runs Android. It can synchronize with any Android smartphone and iPhones via Bluetooth. The company developed an Android API for this watch. The product will be ready before Xmas and be available for 299 Euros (base version) in Europe, although you’d have to wait until January if you are based in the US. If you want to show off you can buy the Gold version for 12,000 Euros. There already have pre-orders for 30,000 pieces. The company will also announce other services at CES 2012 such as I’m Market, an app store to download apps for the watch and I’m Music an app to listen music via the watch. Watch the video below to see the Android watch in […]