Android News - Page 63 of 375 - CNX Software

March 12, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

FriendlyELEC SOM-RK3399V2 CPU Module Gets 4GB LPDDR4 RAM Upgrade

Last year, FriendlyELEC launched SOM-RK3399 system-on-module (SoM) powered by Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor combined with 2GB DDR3 memory, 16to 64GB flash, and a built-in WiFi 5 module. Contrary to most SoM’s on the market, SOM-RK3399 could work in standalone mode thanks to two USB-C ports, although it could also be integrated into a carrier board to create a complete development board with more ports and interfaces. The company has now introduced an update with SOM-RK3399V2 CPU module with 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, as well as a small change in the layout for the LED’s and buttons, but the rest of the features remain the same. The company also appears to have changed the way they handle cooling with SOM-RK3399V2 shipping with a heatsink, while SOM-RK3399 cooling was handled by a heatsink + cooling connected to the carrier board. SOM-RK3399V2 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 big.LITTLE hexa-core processor with 2x Cortex-A72 cores […]

March 10, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Android 10 on Xiaomi Mi A2 (Lite) or When Firmware Updates Go Wrong

I’ve been using Xiaomi Mi A2 smartphone since December 2018. At the time, it shipped with Android 8.0, but I soon got an update to Android 8.1, and later to Android 9.0. I’m quite satisfied with the phone as it receives (almost) monthly security updates, works reasonably faster, features a decent camera, and overall does the job. The biggest complaint I have so far is about storage. It comes with 32GB eMMC flash and no MicroSD card slot, and it’s constantly full, so I have to clear the cache often, and sometimes I need to uninstall an app and reinstall it in order to install an update. Sometimes in January, I got a notification about Android 10 updates, but since I was out of space, I only installed it late February after some serious storage cleaning… The update went smoothly, and after some adjustment to the settings I was back […]

March 9, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Thundercomm Announces Qualcomm based Modules for Smart Speakers, LTE IoT, Smart Retail, and 5G Applications

Based in California in the US, Thundercomm Technology Co., Ltd. (aka Thundercomm) is a provider of IoT products & technologies for OEM/ODMs, enterprises and developers. The company introduced several Qualcomm based “TurboX Systems-on-Module” for smart speakers, LPWAN IoT devices with NB-IoT and LTE Cat M1 connectivity, smart retail applications, and 5G powered devices. TurboX C404 and C405 SOMs for Smart Speakers and Soundbars Key features and specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon C404 / C405 with CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @, 1.4 GHz GPU (C405 Only) – Qualcomm Adreno 306 GPU @ 600 MHz DSP -2x Hexagon QDSP6 v66 – Low Power Audio Subsystem & Audio Compute DSP System Memory & Storage – 1GB LPDDR3 + 8GB eMMC flash in eMCP package; SD card signals Connectivity 2×2 MIMO WiFI 5 802.11 a/b/g/ac + Bluetooth 5.0 + FM via WCN3999 Gigabit Ethernet (RGMII) Display Interfaces (C405 Only) 4-lane MIPI DSI port […]

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

What’s the Cheapest Android Phone with NFC Support?

I have an Octopus payment card from Hong Kong using NFC technology, and I’d like to check its status, and if needed top it up to keep it valid. One way to do so is to install the Android app on an NFC enabled smartphone. However, none of my phones, including my current Xiaomi Mi A2 smartphone, support NFC. So I’d decided to look for the cheapest Android phone with NFC support that I could find since that’s the only feature I need, and the app is compatible with Android 4.0 or greater for now. Wileyfox Swift 2X – $75.90 I first went to GearBest to check out for NFC phones, as the cheapest one of the lot is Wileyfox Swift 2X going for $75.90 shipped. The phone runs Android 8.1 on a Snapdragon 430 processor coupled with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. It is equipped with a 5.2″ Full […]

March 3, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Congatec conga-SMC1 3.5″ Carrier Board is Designed for NXP i.MX8 SMARC Modules

3.5-inch carrier board with NXP i.MX8 SMARC Module

Last year, Congatec introduced SMARC 2.0 compliant systems-on-modules based on NXP i.MX 8, i.MX 8M Mini and i.MX 8M Nano processors, together with Conga-SEVAL carrier board designed for evaluation and early software development, but is not suitable for deployment in the field. The company has now unveiled a standard 3.5″ carrier board – conga-SMC1 – that takes any of the company’s i.MX8 SMAC modules, in order to help their customers bring products faster to market thanks to a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) board. Congatec conga-SMC1/SMARC-ARM carrier board features and specifications: Supported SoM – conga-SMX8 (i.MX8), conga-SMX8-Mini (i.MX 8M Mini), or conga-SMX8-Nano (i.MX 8M Nano). Future SMARC 2.0 Arm-based modules should also be supported Storage – 1x SATA III (support of SATADOM VCC PIN 7 and PIN 8), 1x SATA power (+5V, +12V), MicroSD card socket, M.2 NVMe SSD support Display Interface 1x LVDS 18/24bit single/dual channel LVDS 2x optional eDP/DSI (dependent on […]

February 27, 2020February 27, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

STMicro Updates STM32MP1 Family with 800 MHz Cortex-A7 Processors

Until last year, all STM32 microcontrollers were based on Arm Cortex-M “MCU” cores, but that changed with the introduction of STM32MP1 Cortex-A7 + Cortex-M4 processor a year ago. That meant for the first time, we had an STM32 processor with an MMU capable of running Linux or Android. The company had three product lines: STM32MP157 – Dual Cortex-A7 cores @ 650 MHz, Cortex-M4 core @ 209 MHz, 3D GPU, DSI display interface and CAN FD STM32MP153 – Dual Cortex-A7 cores @ 650 MHz, Cortex-M4 core @ 209 MHz and CAN FD STM32MP151 – Single Cortex-A7 core @ 650 MHz, Cortex-M4 core @ 209 MHz All available in four different packages, and with or without hardware security (parts with A and C suffix) meaning we had a total of 24 parts. STMicro has now announced 24 more parts whose main and only difference compared to the STM32MP1 processors launched last year […]

February 27, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Allwinner H616 TV Box Processor Comes with Mali G31 GPU, Supports Android 10

Allwinner H6 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with Arm Mali-T720 GPU was launched in 2017 and made its way into various TV boxes and SBC’s. But last year, we got some news of lower-cost versions of the processor with Allwinner H603 and H6 VC200-OS SoC’s. Allwinner H616 Processor Advantages So the first time, I read about Allwinner H616, I thought it was yet another variant of little interest. But it turns out H616 is the first processor from the company with a Bitfrost GPU, namely Mali G31MP2, meaning it supports Vulkan, and down the line, it could potentially be supported by Panfrost open-source graphics driver. Another positive for the processor is support for Android 10, while AFAIK other H6 processors are stuck to Android 9.0. Another advantage is low power consumption leading to lower CPU temperature. It might be a process change or some other optimizations in the silicon, we just don’t […]

February 26, 2020 by Stephen Vicinanza - 2 Comments

Cosmo Communicator 2-in-1 Phone/Mini Laptop can now Dual Boot Debian Linux and Android

The Cosmo Communicator The Cosmo Communicator was released as a crowdfunded handheld device mixing smartphone and a small laptop features such as keyboard and display. It was launched in late 2019 and ran Google Android. Didn’t Ship with Linux Support The original units were shipped and fulfilled the requirements of the crowdfunding campaign, but still were missing something the company had wanted to provide: support for Linux. Debian Linux Support This is now fixed as Planet Computers, the company that makes Cosmo Communicator, just released a version of Debian Linux, that can be installed on the system, with the tools that the company has provided for free on its website. Other Linux Phones There has been some movement in the world of Linux Phones, with the advent of the Purism Librem 5 and the Pine64 PinePhone using the familiar touchscreen interface found in the vast majority of smartphones. Quick Basics […]