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December 3, 2014December 18, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Unboxing of Ugoos UM3 Android and Ubuntu ARM mini PC

Ugoos UM3 is another minic PC powered by Rockchip RK3288 SoC with 8GB storage, 2GB RAM. It has Wi-Fi, but no Ethernet, so it looks like the offspring between a full-sized TV box and an HDMI stick. The company sent me a sample for evaluation pre-loaded with a dual boot image with Android 4.4 & Ubuntu 14.10. I’ll start by unboxing, and opening the device, before testing the dual boot image another day. Ugoos UM3 Unboxing The company sent me the device via DHL in a package for RK3066 / RK3188 devices, but I guess end-users will get an update package that will probably look similar. I was surprised how tiny the device was when I first took it out of the box, and with a black body and red cover, it’s probably the cutest too. It comes with a 5V/2A power supply and corresponding USB to micro USB cable, […]

December 2, 2014December 2, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Compulab Utilite2 is a Snapdragon 600 Powered mini PC Running Android 4.4 or Ubuntu 14.04

Compulab Utilite is a family of mini PC based on Freescale i.MX6 processors that can run either Android or Ubuntu, and was launched in 2013. The company has now introduced the second generation of Utilite computer with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad core Krait 300 processor, with 2GB RAM, eMMC and mSATA storage, and various network connectivity options such as Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, and Cellular. Utilite2 will be 30% smaller than the original Utilite computer, and twice the performance of the Utilite Pro with I.MX6 quad. There are two models: Utilite2 4GB, Utilite2 SSD, with the latter adding a 32 GB SSD. Apart from that both models share the same specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 APQ8064 quad-core Krait 300 @ 1.7GHz with Adreno 320 GPU compliant with OpenGL ES 1.1 / 2.0 / 3.0 and OpenCL System Memory – 2GB DDR3-1066 Storage – 4GB eMMC, mSATA socket (mini-PCie form-factor, […]

December 1, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Preliminary Ubuntu Image for Tronsmart Draco AW80 Octa-core mini PC

Tronsmart Draco AW80 is an Allwinner A80 based mini PC pre-loaded with Android 4.4. A preliminary Ubuntu image is now available for the device. It’s still a little buggy, but you can access LXDE desktop on an HDMI TV, Ethernet is working, and web browsing is apparently working nicely. Known bugs include FAT32 partitions are read-only, wireless mouse and keyboard are not working (USB versions are OK), shutdown does not work, the user interface is not as snappy as in Android, and YouTube video playback is choppy. The last two issues could be related to the lack of VPU and GPU drivers providing video hardware decoding, and 2D/3D hardware acceleration respectively. The good news is that the company working on Draco AW80 got the GPU drivers from Imagination, and an updated image could be available with hardware acceleration. I’m not sure sure about VPU support, which is extremely important if […]

November 27, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Rikomagic MK80, MK12, MK05, V5 Android TV Boxes and Sticks Are Now Available for Purchase

Rikomagic unveiled their MK80, MK12 and MK05 Android media players a few week ago, and somehow I missed (or ignored) their Rikomagic V5 TV stick, which looks very similar to Jesurun T034 / MK802 V powered with Rockchip RK3288 processor, and features an Ethernet port, but differs as full-sized USB ports are used instead of mix of micro and full-sized USB ports. All four devices, even five with MK80 Plus, are now available on Rikomagic’s Aliexpress store. MK80 and MK80 Plus are Android mini PCs powered by Allwinner A80 SoC, and are probably using the same Sunchip board as Tronsmart Draco AW80 Meta and Telos, The standard version comes with 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, and the “Plus” version with 4GB RAM, and 32GB eMMC, and can be purchased respectively for $155.90 and $199.99 including shipping. MK12 is based on the new Amlogic S812 processor which adds HEVC/H.265 hardware video decoding […]

November 26, 2014November 27, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

International Deals for Black Friday 2014

Every year, right after Thanksgiving comes Black Friday which “officially” opens the shopping season for Christmas, and the next Monday is called Cyber Monday, a much more recent day on the calendar, as it offers Online deals. Both are mostly US centric, but Chinese e-retailers have decided to jump on the Black Friday / Cyber Monday bandwagon, so just like for Black Friday 2013, I’ve decided to list a few offer available online for international buyers. Please make check to check my little shopping guide to avoid pitfalls, such as “fake” discounts, where the original price is inflated to misguide prospective buyers. DealExtreme DealExtreme’s Black Friday promotion campaign has not officially started, but they’ve already announced their program: From November 28th to December 1st, DX Black Friday Shopping Carnival will be grandly open! This year, DX will bring you with the most beloved brands at affordable prices with amazing discounts […]

November 26, 2014November 26, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Zero Devices Z5C Thinko 4K H.265 TV Stick Review

Zero Devices Z5C Think is one of the rare HDMI TV sitck powered by Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A12/A17 processor available on the market. I’ve already take a few pictures of the device and internals, so today I’ll focus on testing the firmware, and performance of this thin and nice looking TV stick. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions There was a time when HDMI stick were powered by much slower, but power efficient processor based on Cortex A5 cores. One of these was CX-01 mini PC, and they could be powered by the USB port of the TV without problems. Now the processor are much more powerful, so normally you can’t power the device directly from the TV, but since I’ve seen people claim it was possible to drive RK3288 stick directly from the USB port of some TVs, I gave it a try, connected the stick to […]

November 25, 2014November 26, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Unboxing of Jesurun T034 RK3288 TV Dongle with a Gigabit Ethernet Port

Jesurun T034 is an Android HDMI Stick that looks just like MK802 V, and with the same specifications. GearBest sent me a sample of this Rockchip RK3288 based HDMI TV dongle that have the particularity to include an Ethernet RJ45 port that most sticks lack. I’ll take a few pictures of the device, and the internal of this product today, before writing a full review. Jesurun T034 Unboxing I’ve received the parcel via DHL together with a dreaded piece of paper reading “Inbound Charges Invoice”. The package is a white brand box reading “Smart TV BOX” with RK3288 logo. The stick comes with a 5V/2.5 power adapter, a short HDMI cable, a micro USB to USB cable, a IR remote control. and the IR receiver cable. There’s also a user’s manual in English that seems to be for other RK3288 TV boxes (CR12, CR13, and CR16), but I’m sure nobody […]

November 25, 2014January 7, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

MeegoPad T01 Android 4.4 & Windows 8.1 Mini PC Sells For as Low as $100

MeegoPad T01, also known as APM-D01, is a low cost Android 4.4 and/or Windows 8.1 HDMI TV dongle powered by Intel Bay-Trail-T Z3735F or G with 1 to 2GB RAM, and 16 to 32GB eMMC. It has become quite popular (for a Chinese product from an unknown board), and one seller managed to sell nearly 400 pieces of the 2GB RAM/16GB eMMC version on Aliexpress for about $130 shipped. But this morning, I discovered this Windows 8.1 HDMI TV stick was listed on DealExtreme for just $93.50 $99.99 including shipping, and if you want the 32GB eMMC version, it would cost you $104.39 $109.99 also including shipping. MeegoPad T01 specifications of the devices sold on DealExtreme: SoC – Intel Atom Z3735F “Bay Trail” quad core processor @ 1.33 GHz (Bust freq: 1.83 GHz) with Intel HD graphics Gen 7 (2W TDP) System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L-1333 (64-bit up to […]