Posted on by Karl Johnson - 7 Comments on Khadas Edge Review – Part 3: Android 7.0 Preview

Khadas Edge Review – Part 3: Android 7.0 Preview

Khadas Edge Android 7.0

Hey Karl here with a look at a preview of Android on the Khadas edge. Jean-luc has done 2 parts already. The first one looking at the hardware side, and a second looking at Ubuntu. A third img is available that for LibreELEC. The initial release was very barebones, and the 2nd version is much more polished with the Play Store installed now and overall feels snappier. Khadas is supposed to be sending an Edge over to Super Celeron, and I hope they follow through. DHL DHL really messed up my board. Here are some pics. I will only be testing with Ethernet because the WiFi antenna got damaged badly and even bent the heatsink. I think the board is slightly damaged as well. I can only flash using the buttons on the board and not the carrier board. Everything else seems OK. Due to the damage I am using a heatsink that I had. I took some temp readings […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Howchip ExSOM-8895 Exynos 8895 Board is Designed for Android Development

Howchip ExSOM-8895 Exynos 8895 Board is Designed for Android Development

Exynos 8895 Board

Howchip has just launched a new Samsung based Android development kit -ExSOM-8895 DVK – powered by an Exynos 8895 system-on-module with 4GB DDR4, and UFS 2.1 storage. as well as featuring a carrier board exposing other interfaces such as mini DP, MIPI display and camera interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet, a UFS card reader, and so on. Having a Samsung Exynos 8895 board means we get a fairly powerful development platform, as the processor is found in Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone released last year. ExSOM-8895 DVK specifications: SOC – Samsung Exynos 8895 octa-core processor with four custom ARMv8 “Mongoose M2+” cores, four Cortex-A53 cores (max freq: 2.1GHz), and an Arm Mali-G71 GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4x 1866MHz (POP) Storage – UFS2.1 device (default), micro SD card (SD 3.0) slot, and UFS2.1 card slot, Video Output / Display I/F Mini Display Port 1.2 output 4-lane x 2-ch MIPI DSI connector for WQUXGA (3840×2400) displays Camera – MIPI CSI 2-channel connector Audio – […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on $43 Mecool M8S Plus DVB is an Entry Level Android Set-Top Box with DVB-T2/T/C Tuner

$43 Mecool M8S Plus DVB is an Entry Level Android Set-Top Box with DVB-T2/T/C Tuner

Android set-top boxes with tuner usually costs $70 and up depending on hardware specifications, and number of tuners, but if you want something cheap that runs Android and supports DVB-T2, “Mecool M8S Plus DVB” may be worth looking at, since it’s sold for just $55.99 shipped. [Update: Mecool M8S Plus DVB can now be found on Banggood for $42.99 including shipping] In order to achieve such low price, the company had to make some compromises, and the TV box only comes with 1GB RAM, and 8GB storage.  Amlogic however recently published a press release about their “new Amlogic S905X chipset” supporting Netflix and 1GB RAM. S905X is clearly not new, but it’s possible the company made some Android optimizations for their S9XX SoC family that provides a decent user experience even with just 1GB RAM. Mecool M8S Plus DVB set-top-box specifications: SoC –  Amlogic S905D quad core ARM Cortex-A53 processor with Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Ugoos Releases Android 7.1.2 Nougat (Beta) for Rockchip RK3288 TV Boxes

Ugoos Releases Android 7.1.2 Nougat (Beta) for Rockchip RK3288 TV Boxes

Rockchip RK3288 quad core Arm Cortex A17 processor was first released in early 2014 with Android 4.4, and TV boxes that are still sold with the processor – e.g. Lenovo G66 – often still come with Android 4.4 or Android 5.1, and development boards do barely better as ASUS Tinker Board supports Android 6.0.1, while Firefly-RK3288 may never get its expected Marshmallow update. However, Ugoos decided to support their RK3288 TV boxes for a longer time, and has now released a beta version of Android 7.1.2 firmware for Ugoos UM3, UT3, and UT3s TV boxes. Some of the features and Ugoos specific settings available in the firmware include: CIFS & NFS Clients Support, Samba Server Masked HDMI Screen Rotation Root access Hardware Monitor Wireless Assistant Gamepad Settings Debug Settings User Scripts USB Mode Settings If you want more details about what each setting does, read the post about Ugoos settings. Try try it out with your Ugoos TV box, download […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on Acer Iconia One 10 is a 10.1″ Tablet Powered by Mediatek MT8167B Quad Core Cortex A35 Processor

Acer Iconia One 10 is a 10.1″ Tablet Powered by Mediatek MT8167B Quad Core Cortex A35 Processor

So far, I had not seen that many devices based on Arm Cortex A35 64-bit cores which promise better performance than Cortex A7, while consuming 32% less than a Cortex A53. But Mediatek released MT8167B quad core Cortex A35 last year supporting 1080p30 video decoding, and HD+ (1280×800) displays. There’s also a Mediatek MT8167A SoC clocked at a higher 1.5 GHz, capable of handling higher resolution 1920×1200 displays, and 1080p60 videos. Acer Iconia One 10 tablet – also released last year – is powered by MT8167B SoC, and comes with 2GB RAM,  32GB storage, and a 10.1″ HD+ Display. Acer Iconia One 10 (B3-A40) specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT8167B quad core Cortex A35 processor @ 1.30 GHz with Imagination PowerVR GE8300 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L RAM Storage – 16 or 32GB storage, Micro SD Card slot up to 128 GB Display – 10.1″ IPS touch screen display; 1280×800 resolution (HD+) Audio – Stereo speaker, 3.5mm audio jack […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on VideoStrong Introduces Low Cost Version of KI Plus T2 S2 Hybrid Android TV Box with Amlogic S805X Processor

VideoStrong Introduces Low Cost Version of KI Plus T2 S2 Hybrid Android TV Box with Amlogic S805X Processor

VideoStrong K1 Plus T2/S2 is an Android 5.1 set-top-box with DVB-S/S2 and DVB-T/T2 tuner that was launched roughly two years ago with Amlogic S905 quad core processor. Since then, the company has now launched variant of the model with Amlogic S912 (e.g. KIII Pro hybrid TV box)  or Amlogic S905D (e.g. KI Pro set-top box) processors. But now, provided the information on Alibaba is correct, the company has launched a new version of KI Plus T2/S2 with Amlogic S805X which should be cheaper, run a more recent Android 7.1 operating system, at the cost of losing support for 4K decoding, since the processor only support Full HD (1080p60) decoding at most. Since the company updated an existing product, some specific details are wrong on Alibaba, but KI Plus T2 S2 (2018) specifications should be as follows: SoC –  Amlogic S805X quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.2 GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on MX Pro 4K is an Android 7.0 TV Box powered by Allwinner H5 Processor

MX Pro 4K is an Android 7.0 TV Box powered by Allwinner H5 Processor

We’ve already seen Allwinner H5 processor in several development boards such as NanoPi NEO2, Orange Pi Zero Plus, or Libre Computer Tritium 2G among other. But while the processor has been designed for 4K OTT TV boxes, I had not seen any TV box based on the processor so far. MX Pro 4K, not to be confused by MXQ Pro 4K, changes that, as it features the quad core Cortex A53 processor combined with 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, and the usual HDMI, Ethernet, USB ports you’d expect from a TV box. MX Pro 4K specifications: SoC – Allwinner H5 quad core Cortex A53 processor with hexa-core Mali-450MP4 GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash (options: 4GB, 16GB, 32GB), micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 1.4b up to 4K @ 30 Hz, AV port (composite) Audio Output – HDMI, AV (stereo audio), and optical S/PDIF Connectivity – Fast Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, no […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments on AAEON RICO-3399 Pico-ITX Board is Powered by Rockchip RK3399 / OP1 Processor

AAEON RICO-3399 Pico-ITX Board is Powered by Rockchip RK3399 / OP1 Processor

We now have a fair amount of boards powered by Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor with Firefly-RK3399, Rockchip Sapphire, VideoStrong VS-RD-RK3399, the upcoming 96boards compliant Rock960, among others. But AFAIK, none of those are designed to fit in a standard enclosure. AAEON will soon change that with an update of their RICO-3288 pico-ITX board, called RICO-RK3399 featuring Rockchip OP1/RK3399 processor combined with 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, HDMI 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet and more. AAEON RICO-3399 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 (OP1) hexa-core processor with two Cortex A72 cores up to 1.8 GHz, four Cortex A53 cores, and an Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, micro SD card slot Video Output / Display HDMI 2.0 port up to 4K UHD @ 60Hz eDP connector for LCD display up to 4K UHD @ 60 Hz I2C/USB header for touch panel Audio – Via HDMI, 2.5W (by 4Ω) speaker/ microphone/ earphone header Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, optional WiFi + […]

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