LONG-CZ J8 Could Be The World’s Smallest Phone

Smartphone displays are getting bigger each year, but at the other end of the spectrum, LONG-CZ J8 phone could the world’s smallest at just 68 x 23 x 11 mm, and 18 grams. It takes micro SIM card to make calls, but also doubles (triples?) as a Bluetooth headset and FM Radio. LONG-CZ J2 specifications: Processor – Mediatek Display – 0.6″‘ OLED display Cellular Connectivity – GSM 850/900/1800/1900 via micro SIM card slot Connectivity – Bluetooth 3.0 USB – 1x micro USB port for charging Battery – Capacity TBD; Up to 5 hours talk time, 96 hours standby time. Dimensions –  68 x 23 x 11mm Weight 18g The phones ships with a data cable, a user’s manual in English and Chinese, a strap, one ear loop, and two ear caps. Nine languages are supported: English, French, Italian, Russian, Hindi, Russian, Thai, Portuguese, and Spanish. The phone is not quite […]

BBC Micro:Bit Board is Now Getting into the Hands of British Students

After several delays, BBC is now giving free Micro:Bit Bluetooth LE enabled boards to UK students with the goal of getting them interested in coding and electronics in a way that’s even easier and cheaper than using a Raspberry Pi board. Micro:bit specifications: MCU – Nordic nRF51822 Bluetooth SoC based on Cortex M0 core @ 16MHz with 16KB RAM 2x user buttons, 1x reset button 25x red user LEDs  in a 5×5 matrix Connectivity – Bluetooth LE Sensors – Compass, magnetometer, accelerometer USB – 1x micro USB port for port and programming Expansion – 20-pin edge connector, 5x “rings” for 3V, GND, and 3 digital/analog I/Os Power – 5V via USB or battery port to connect two AAA batteries Dimensions – 4cm x 5cm There are four ways to “code” the board: Code Kingdoms JavaScript  graphical ‘drag and drop’ and text-based programming, Microsoft Block Editor graphical, drag and drop code […]

Embedded Linux Conference 2016 and OpenIoT Summit 2016 Schedule

The Embedded Linux Conference 2016 and the OpenIoT summit 2016 will take place on April 4 – 6, 2016 in San Diego, California, and over 800 attended will meet including kernel & system developers, userspace developers, and product vendors. The Linux Foundation has recently published the schedule, so I’ve had a look at some of the talks, and designed my own virtual schedule to find out more the current development focus although I won’t attend. Monday April 4 10:40am – 11:30am – Linux Connectivity for IoT by Marcel Holtmann, Intel OTC There are many connectivity solutions that available for IoT. For example Bluetooth Low Energy, 802.15.4, Zigbee, OIC, Thread and others. This presentation will provide and overview of the existing technology and upcoming standard and how they tie into the Linux kernel and its ecosystem. 11:40 – 12:30 – BoF: kernelci.org: A Million Kernel Boots and Counting by Kevin Hilman, […]

TinySine Bluetooth, WiFi and USB Relays Come with an Optional Enclosure, Support Android and iOS Smartphones

It’s now fairly easy to find the hardware to create WiFi or Bluetooth controlled relays, but you usually have to design your own enclosure and Android app, and if you’d like something that’s ready to use out of the box TinySine wireless relays such as TSRB430 (Bluetooth) or TSRW430 (WiFi) might be an interesting option. There;s also a version with USB control. TSRB430 / TSRB430 / TSRU430 specifications: 4x Omron G8P 30A/250VAC | 20A/28VDC relay; SPST-NO (normally open) types. Connectivity – XBEE module either: Bluetooth Bee module based on CSR BC417143 Bluetooth 2.0 chipset Roving Networks WiFi Bee module with 802.11 b/g radio USB Bee module with a CP2102 USB to UART chip Power Supply – 12V/1A via 2.1mm jack with positive core polarity Dimensions – 122mm x 87mm x  x 31mm (board) There are also versions with 2 and 8 relays. I kind of wish they had models taking 220V AC input instead […]

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Board Features a 64-Bit ARM Processor, Adds WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity

The Raspberry Pi foundation is working on yet another model of the popular Raspberry Pi boards, as the Raspberry Pi 3 model B board has showed up on the FCC website. The new board looks very similar to Raspberry Pi 2 model B, but adds on-board WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz only) and Bluetooth 4.0. Let’s play “spot the difference” with Raspberry Pi 2 at the top and Raspberry Pi 3 under. The processor looks the same as the BCM2836 quad core Cortex A7 SoC found on model 2 B, but one redditer claims it could be a 64-bit processor due to some MagPi ad. [Update: that’s the MagPi ad which confirms Raspberry Pi 3 will feature a 64-bit ARM processor @ 1.2 GHz. Thanks Gabe! ] We’ll find the WiFi/BT chip antenna on the top left corner, and two through holes on the right of the 40-pin connectors, likely the […]

SiLabs Wireless Gecko SoCs Support Bluetooth 4.2, Zigbee, Thread, and 2.4GHz Proprietary Protocols

Silicon Labs has introduced three new Wireless SoC families with Blue Gecko for Bluetooth Smart, Mighty Gecko for Thread & Zigbee, and Flex Gecko for proprietary 2.4 GHz protocols. All three families provides up to 19.5 dBm output power & hardware cryptography, and are pin-to-pin and software compatible. SiLabs Wireless Gecko SoC highlights: MCU Core – ARM Cortex-M4 @ 40 MHz with FPU, up to 256 KB flash, and up to 32KB SRAM. Mighty Gecko also adds a DSP Peripherals AES256/128 Hardware Crypto Accelerator ADC (12-bit, 1 Msps, 286 µA) Current DAC (4-bit, Current Source or Sink) 2x Analog Comparator Low Energy UART 2x USART (UART, SPI, IrDA, I2S) I2C (Address recognition down to EM3) Timers : RTCC, LE Timer & Pulse Counter 12-channel Peripheral Reflex System Up to 31 GPIO EFR32BG Blue Gecko Family Bluetooth Smart (Bluetooth Low Energy or “BLE”) 4.2 specification as well as proprietary wireless protocols […]

Canonical Introduces SoDeRa Software Defined Radio Solution for Base Stations and IoT Gateways

Canonical and Lime Micro have jointly announced SoDeRa low-cost software defined radio (SDR) which can be programmed to support any type of wireless standard including UMTS, LTE, LoRa, Bluetooth, Zigbee, RFID, Digital Broadcasting, and more, and aiming at helping operators reducing costs & complexity, while speeding up time to market and providing greater flexibility. The kit will include a board with the following specifications: FPGA – Altera Cyclone IV EP4CE40F23 Altera FPGA (compatible with EP4CE30F23) System Memory – 256 MB DDR2 SDRAM RF Lime Microsystems LMS7002M Transceiver with continuous Frequency range of 100 kHz – 3.8 GHz 4 x TxOut and 6 x RxIn U.FL connectors for RF cables Power Output (CW): up to 6.5 dBm Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G, LTE, any other air interfaces USB – 1x micro USB3 via CYUSB3014-BZXC Cypress Microcontroller  for control, data transfer and power Misc – Status LEDs, RGB LEDs, 4x switches Dimensions –  100 mm x […]

Samsung Artik IoT Boards and Devkits with WiFi, Bluetooth LE, and Zigbee Available, Partners Announced

Samsung Artik IoT boards will finally start selling on February 22 via Digikey. With the many fascinating developments in the IoT space over the year, you’d be forgiven if you completely forgot about Samsung Artik boards. So let’s have a quick recap. The Korean company previously announced three boards all supporting Bluetooth LE: Artik 1 – Ineda Systems Dual Core microAptiv MIPS32 processor with 1MB on-chip RAM, no GPU, and 4MB SPI flash Artik 5 – Dual core Exynos ARM processor @ 1GHz with ARM Mali 400 MP2 GPU, 512MB RAM and 4GB eMMC flash (both on-chip), with WiFi & Zigbee/Thread connectivity Artik 10 – Octa core Exynos processor with 4x ARM Cortex A15 @ 1.3GHz, 4x ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz with ARM Mali-T628 GPU, 2GB LPDDR3 (on-chip), 16GB eMMC flash, and WiFi & Zigbee/Thread connectivity Samsung also partnered with multiple companies working on: Operating Systems – Tizen, […]

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