Tronsmart Mars G01 Wireless Gamepad Review on Android

One way to play games in Android TV Box with a gamepad is to use a Sony Playstation 3 Controller with Sixaxis Controller app. It can work, but you need a device that supports Bluetooth, with the right drivers, and most games require you to do the mapping manually which is not that user-friendly. Now, they make Android compatible Bluetooth Gamepad such as G910 which seems really nice, but I’ve been told it’s rather hit or miss, and some people have problem with the Bluetooth connection. GeekBuying instead recommends Tronsmart Mars G01, based on 2.4 GHz technology, that requires an external USB RF dongle, but which alledgly does not  have connection problems. It works with Android, Windows, and Playstation 3. The company sent me a sample, so I’ve taken some pictures and tried a few games with Tronsmart Vega S89 Elite TV box. Tronsmart Mars G01 Unboxing I’ve received the […]

ANTVR is a Full HD Virtual Reality Kit that Connects to Your PC or Game Console via HDMI or WHDI (Crowdfunding)

I must have heard about virtual reality for many years, even since I was a kid. But during that time, progress was slow, but it seems the time is ripe for virtual reality kits targeting consumers. The cheapest way to get started is with a smartphone adapter such as vrAse or Opendive, but if you want a possibly better experience using the power of your PC or game console you’ll want a more expensive kit such as Oculus Rift, or for developers, Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 that sells for $350. One possible downside of such kit is that it requires USB, HDMI and power cables, so it limits your mobility. ANTVR, a Beijing startup, will soon launch a virtual reality kit of the same name that will be available either with an HDMI cable, either without cable using WHDI (Wireless Home Digital Interface) with less than 1ms lag. The […]

ZTE FunBox Android Game Console Powered by Nvidia Tegra 4 Sells for $146

Since about a year, we’ve seen several Android based game console such as the Ouya or PlayJam GameStick coming to market. These are sold below $100, but feature some older hardware specs that may not run the latest games at optimal speed. Mad Catz game console, powered by an Nvidia Tegra 4, provides a much smoother gaming experience, but cost $199.99. If you’d like the performance of the Mad Catz but at a lower price point, ZTE Funbox also powered by Nvidia Tegra 4 quad core Cortex A15 processor is currently available on Aliexpress for $145.99 including shipping. ZTE FunBox specifications: SoC – Nvidia Tegra 4 quad core ARM Cortex A15 @ 1.8 GHz with 72-core GeForce ULP GPU (74.8 GFLOPS) System Memory – 2GB DDR3L Storage – 8GB eMMC 4.5 up to 120MB/s Audio / Video Output – HDMI up to 1080p60 or 4K30 Connectivity – Ethernet, dual band […]

Review of Tronsmart Vega S89 Elite Amlogic S802 TV Box

Tronsmart Vega S89 is an Android TV Box based on Amlogic quad-core Cortex A9 processor. You can refer to Tronsmart Vega S89 specs for more technical details, and check out my Tronsmart Vega S89 Unboxing post for pictures of the device and the board. As a reminder, there are two models of the device: Tronsmart Vega S89 with 16GB flash and dual-band Wi-Fi (AP6330 module), and Tronsmart Vega S89 Elite with 8GB flash and 2.4 WiFi (AP6220 module). I’ve been sent the Elite version, but both versions should have similar performance. I’ll start by giving my first impressions, going through the user interface and settings, then I’ll switch to video and audio tests, Wi-Fi performance, and perform some other tests for Bluetooth, gaming, external storage, USB webcam, etc.. trying to cover most of the hardware features available on this device. First Boot, Settings, and First Impressions Vega S89 (Elite) comes […]

Review of Mele X1000 Blu-Ray Android TV Box (Telechips TCC8935)

Mele X1000 is an Android media player based on Telechips TCC8935 dual core Cortex A9 that is said to support Blu-ray video playback. You can refer to Mele X1000 specs for more technical details, as well as my previous Mele X1000 Unboxing post for pictures of the device, as well as the PCB.  Today I’ll review Mele X1000, by showing off the user interface, and going through the different settings, test video playback including a Blu-ray ISO, wi-fi performance, and report whether all other features such as Bluetooth, USB mass storage, USB webcam, etc… work as expected. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions This media player comes with an infrared remote and corresponding AAA batteries, but during most the tests I’ve actually switched to Mele F10 RF remote (not included) as it’s just more convenient to navigate menus, and I’ve also test an Android Remote app compatible with the device, […]

Opendive – Low Cost DIY Open Source 3D Virtual Reality Kit for Smartphones

About 10 days ago, I wrote about solution to record and play 360 degrees panoramic videos. One of the itmen was vrAse virtual reality case for your smartphone, and allows you to enjoy immersive 3D experience. If you’d rather do your own, than buy a kit for about 100 Euros, there’s an open source project called OpenDive that does about the same thing, and allows you to play games in 3D. All you need to do is to download the 3D files, print the head-mounted glasses it with your 3D printer, and buy the lense kit (6.99 Euros) to get a complete working system. You may have to modify the design, and adapt it to your phone dimensions. And if you don’t have a 3D printer, somebody provided instructions to do your own by cutting wood or plastic sheets. You then should be able to watch 360 deg. panorama videos, and […]

DragonBox Pyra Open Source Handheld Game Console To Feature TI OMAP5432 SoC.. or AllWinner A80, or Intel Bay Trail, or Qualcomm Snapdragon…

Pandora is an open source handheld console which development started as far back as 2007. The project has had ups and downs, and some people have yet to receive the device they pre-ordered. As many components are now more difficult to source, Pandora has reach end-of-life, as Pandora 2 is now being developed with a subset of the original team, but has been renamed to DragonBox Pyra to start afresh. The new version aims to take to the good aspects of the original Pandora, and improve on the bad ones, so that DragonBox will have a faster hardware with a better looking case and better control. Here are the specifications listed on the project website: SoC – Texas Instruments OMAP 5432 SoC with 2x ARM Cortex-A15 @ 1.7Ghz with NEON SIMD, 2x ARM Cortex-M4, Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX544-MP2 GPU for 3D graphic, and Vivante GC320 GPU for 2D graphics System […]

Nvidia Tegra K1 Reference Tablet and Graphics Demo

With Tegra K1 and its Kepler GPU, Nvidia brings OpenGL 4.4, and not only OpenGL ES, to mobile devices, and the company is demo’ing OpenGL games such as Trine 2 on Tegra 4 reference tablet at CES 2014. Nvidia Tegra K1 Specifications In my initial post about Tegra K1 announcement, I missed some key features about Nvidia new processor which has now popped up on their website such as support for up to 8GB RAM, 4+1 configuration, etc and so listing a summary of the technical specifications of the 32-bit version may be useful: GPU – 192 NVIDIA CUDA cores using Kepler architecture CPU – NVIDIA 4-Plus-1 Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A15 “r3” up to 2.3 GHz Memory – DDR3L and LPDDR3, up to 8 GB with 40-bit address extension Display – LCD: Up to  3840×2160, HDMI: Up to 4K (UltraHD, 4096×2160) Package – 23×23 FCBGA, 16×16 S-FCCSP, or 15×15 FC PoP […]

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