Samsung Chromebook 2 Features Exynos 5 Octa SoC, Comes with either 11.6″ or 13.3″ Display

Samsung has just launched the Chromebook 2 Series with two models based on on Exynos 5 Octa SoC, available in 11.6″ (1366×768) and 13.3″ (1920×1080) configurations, and featuring 4GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, and a longer battery life thanks partially to big.LITTLE processing technology. Samsung expects the new Chromebooks to be used for work, education, and entertainment. Thanks to strong hardware specifications, these new ARM based Chromebooks will certainly offer performance similar to, or even outperforming, existing many Intel Celeron based Chromebooks, and at the same time offer a longer battery life. It’s a nice upgrade to the Exynos 5250 powered Chromebook launched in 2012, especially the addition of a model with a 13.3″ display with FHD resolution. The 13.3″ model has an Exynos 5 Octa processor clocked at 2.1GHz which should be the latest Exynos 5422, whereas the 11.6″ model might use Exynos 5420 instead (TBC). The company also mention […]

Linaro Releases IKS big.LITTLE Implementation Source Code

Yesterday, Linaro announced the released of the IKS (In-kernel switcher) implementation for big.LITTLE processor which allows the SoC to switch between individual Cortex A7 or Cortex A15 cores to optimize power consumption. Currently, the only consumer device using supporting big.LITTLE the Samsung Galaxy S4 thanks to Samsung Exynos 5 Octa featuring 4 ARM Cortex A7 and 4 ARM Cortex A15 cores. IKS implementation can only make use of 4 cores at a time in this processor, since it must choose between A7 or A15 depending on the load. HMP (Heteregenous Multi-Processing) implementation is currently worked on in order to be able to use all 8 cores, and distributes tasks to the right core for the job. You can read my previous post for differences between IKS and HMP. Linaro explains the current source still needs a few more modifications before being upstream to mainline. The code was developed for and […]

Arndale Octa Exynos 5410 Development Board is Now Available for Pre-order

After the Arndale board based on Samsung Exynos 5250 processor (dual core Cortex A15), Insignal is in the process of completing the development of Arndale Octa board powered by Exynos 5410 with 4 Cortex A15 and 4 Cortex A7 (aka Samsung Exynos 5 Octa), and howchip.com is now accepting “pre-orders”, at an undisclosed price, and the board is expected to ship by July. A picture of the board is not available yet, but the specifications are (sort of): ARM Cortex-A15 (eagle or big core) Quad CPU with NEON/VFP as high performance processor with 32/32KB I/D Cache, 2 MB L2 Cache. ARM Cortex-A7 (kingfisher or little core) Quad CPU as power-efficient performance processor with 32/32 KB I/D Cache, 512 KB L2 Cache. This processor is architecturally aligned with Cortex-A15 128-bit multi-layer Network-on-Chip (NoC) architecture Cache Coherent Interface (CCI) among Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7, G2D, and SSS DRAM access through two channels of […]

Samsung Exynos 5 Octa Antutu Benchmark Results

The highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone should become available later this month in three versions depending on the country where you reside: GT-I9500 – Exynos 5 Octa @ 1.6 GHz without LTE GT-I9505 – Snapdragon 600 @ 1.9 GHz with LTE SHV-E300S – Exynos 5 Octa @ 1.8 GHz with LTE GS4 will also be the first device to feature Exynos 5 Octa octo-core processor, so until people get their hands on the device, one way to know how fast it can perform is to get some benchmarks running on the devices. SamMobile received the latest Antutu benchmarks for GT-I9500, and as expected, the results are pretty impressive with a score of 28018. This score is about 19% higher than GT-I9505 (Snapdragon 600)  which scores 23607 points. As usual, the detailed scores are not available which is pretty annoying, but I’d assume both the CPU, thanks to the 4 […]

Samsung Exynos Octa big.LITTLE 8 Cores SoC Announced at CES 2013

Samsung Electronics unveiled the very first big.LITTLE Cortex A7/A15 SoC at CES 2013. Exynos Octa will feature 4 Cortex A15 cores together with 4 Cortex A7 cores, and make use of big.LITTLE processing to optimize energy using In-Kernel Switching (IKS), where the kernel uses Cortex A15 or Cortex A7 cores depending on the load, or Heterogeneous MultiProcessing (HMP), where different tasks are assigned to different cores, and both Cortex A15 and A7 can be used simultaneously. Check my earlier post “Big.LITTLE Processing Implementations and Current Status” for an overview on how this all works. The new Intel processors for smartphones/tablets are now very close to ARM when it comes to power consumption, and ARM may regain a clear lead thanks to big.LITTLE processing technology, which is currently shown to consume about 40% less power than equivalent tasks run on Cortex A15 (only) processors. Samsung claims it may offers up to […]

$135 ARMBRIX Zero Exynos 5 Development Board Is Now Available for Pre-order

Ten days ago, I wrote about ARMBrix Zero, the cheapest Cortex A15 board (soon to be) available based on Samsung Exynos 5250 processor. It is now available for pre-order, and the company organizes a raffle to send a free ARMBRIX Zero board to the winner. I’ve received some updated specifications, although we don’t learn much more: CPU – Exynos 5 Dual  ARM Cortex A15 Dual GPU – Mali T604  Embedded GPU Memory –  2GB DDR3  X32, 800MHz Storage – MicroSD  slot Audio – ALC5631Q  Line In/Out, SPDIF  Coaxial type Video – HDMI A Type External Ports: 2x USB2.0 Host 1x USB3.0 Host 1x USB2.0 Device 1x SATA 1x Ethernet RJ45 Expansions – 3 Headers (Further details should be available later this week) CON16 – MIPI Master/Slave, 1x I2C, GPIO CON19 – 3x serial interfaces, 2x I2C, 2x ADC, JTAG, USB, MMC, and reset CON20 – I2S, Interrupt and GPIO pins, […]

$135 ARMBRIX Exynos 5 Dual Cortex A15 Development Board

If you want to develop on a Cortex A15 processor, but Arndale development board is a bit expensive for you, don’t despair as ARMBRIX development board featuring Samsung Exynos 5 Dual processor is currently being developed and should be available in Q1 2013 for $135. The preliminary specifications include: SoC – Samsung Exynos 5 Dual Cortex A15 CPU + Mali T604 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 @ 800 MHz Storage – microSD slot Video Output – HDMI Audio In/Out – HDMI, SPDIF, Line In/Out. USB – 2x USB 2.0 Host, 1x USB 3.0 host and 1x USB 2.0 device Ethernet – Via USB to Ethernet hub. SATA – The connector is on the left of the micro SD slot. Expansions – 3 headers. Dimensions – 85 x 95 mm This board is based on Arndale design, and will be software compatible. Currently, Arndale officially support Android only, but […]

Samsung Exynos 4412 (Origen 4 Quad Board) Open Source Development Schedule

If you’ve got an Exynos 4412 development board such as Hardkernel ODroid-X or Insignal Origen Quad, or even other devices based on Exynos 4412 such as the Samsung Galaxy S3, you may be interested to know the open source development schedule for the platform as show below (Source: Origenboard.org). Samsung already released the source code for Samsung Galaxy S3 in June, but this should add more recent drivers and support for more peripherals. The stable release should be available on the 21st of December 2012, but in the meantime, you could always pickup features earlier as they are being implemented. The code is available in http://git.insignal.co.kr/ (Git repository) and is maintained by both Insignal and Samsung. 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. […]

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