Reviews - Page 118 of 122 - CNX Software

April 26, 2013April 27, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Tronsmart MK908 Rockchip RK3188 Quad Core mini PC Unboxing Pictures

Tronsmart MK908 is one of the many Rockchip RK3188 Android mini PCs hitting the market this month. Beside the quad core Cortex A9 processor, this Android 4.1 HDMI TV stick comes with 2GB RAM, 8GB flash, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, 3 USB ports, and a micro SD card slot. Geekbuying is selling the device for $89.99 including shipping, and the company sent me a unit for review. Today I’ll just show somes unboxing pictures, boot the device, and I’ll write a full review tomorrow. I received the device in the box below. But let’s move on to more interesting things, and see what’s inside the package. We’ve got a 5V/2A power adapter, MK908 itself, a short mini HDMI to HDMI cable, a mini UBS to USB cable for power, and a short mini USB to USB female adapter. I eventually found a manual user manual in English which hid […]

April 18, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Cloudsto A20 Media Stick Pictures, Screenshots And Antutu Benchmark

Cloudsto A20 Media Stick, a mini PC based on AllWinner A20, was discovered in March, with shipping expected in early April. One person in Korea (“Eddy Lab”) got hold of the device and took some pictures of this mini PC, as well as screenshots. But before going through this, let’s have a look at the specifications: SoC – Allwinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 + Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB Flash + micro SD slot (Up to 32 GB) Video Output – HDMI (1080p) Video Containers – RM, RMVB, MPEG1/2/4, MPEG2 Transport Stream, VOB, AVI, ASF, WMV, MKV, MOV, MP4, RMP4, IFO, ISO Audio Codecs – AAC, MP3, OGG, WMA, WAV, M4A Connectivity – Built-in Wifi 802.11 b/g/n USB – 2x USB host (1x full USB, 1x mini USB) IR Receiver The package contains the A20 Media Stick, a remote control, a power adapter and […]

April 9, 2013May 24, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

CloudnetGo CR9 RK3188 mini PC Review

The folks at AndroidPC.es have received a preliminary sample of CloudnetGo CR9 HDMI TV dongle powered by Rockchrip RK3188 quad core processor with 2GB RAM and 8GB flash, and posted an unboxing video and a review of the device. That’s the first review of a RK3188 mini PC I’ve ever seen. It’s in Spanish, so let’s provide a summary of their findings in English. Please note that it’s an early sample, so minor hardware changes may occur, and Android 4.1 will be upgraded to 4.2 once it ships later this month. CloudnetGO CR9 Unboxing The package contains the device itself, a 5V/2Apower supply, an extra short HDMI cable, a micro USB to USB cable, a micro USB to USB adapter and a user manual. If you prefer unboxing videos, they uploaded one with background music, no commentary. First Boot and First Impressions Let’s connect the device to the TV HDMI […]

March 30, 2013March 30, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Updated Review of Tronsmart Prometheus with Android 4.2 and XBMC

Earlier this month, a new firmware for Tronsmart Prometheus with Android 4.2 and XBMC with hardware acceleration has been released. Several users left divergent opinions about this firmware, so I’ve decided to give it a try, and write an updated review of Tronsmart Prometheus. I’ll focus on the new features and performance of Android 4.2, XBMC video testing, and see if some of the bugs I found in my earlier review have been fixed. Android 4.2 Features and Benchmarks The firmware file and instructions are available on Tronsmart website. The procedure is straight forward so I won’t repeat it here. During the first boot after the upgrade, you’ll be taken through a wizard to configure your device (e.g. Ethernet, WiFi,…). The first think you’ll notice is a slightly different Home Screen in Android 4.2. There are several small UI improvements / modifications, but the most interesting features for me in […]

March 26, 2013November 7, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

OpenELEC 3.0.0 on Raspberry Pi – Installation and Video Tests

Yesterday, OpenELEC developers announced the release of OpenELEC 3.0.0, a lightweight OS running XBMC Frodo 12.1 for several platforms including the Raspberry Pi (OpenELEC stands for Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center). When the Raspberry Pi was initially released, I did not feel like testing it as a media center, mainly because of codecs limitations. But over time, this has improved with the availability of MPEG-2 and VC-1 codecs (for a fee), and GPU accelerated support for free codecs such as VP6 and VP8, so today I’ve tested to give a try and install OpenELEC 3.0.0 on my Raspberry Pi. I’ll first give installation instructions, then test several types of videos container formats, and video / audio codecs, as well as give some quick impression about the performance and stability of OpenELEC on this low cost board. Installing OpenELEC on Raspberry Pi To install OpenELEC, I basically followed the instructions provided […]

March 8, 2013March 8, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Review of Egreat H5 mini PC Powered by Nufront NS115

W2COMP sent me a new toy to play with: Egreat H5 mini PC built around Nufront NS115 dual core Cortex A9 SoC with 1GB RAM and 4GB Flash, and (theoretically) running Android Jelly Bean (4.1). Since it’s the first time I write about this device, let’s start with the specifications as shown in W2COMP: SoC – Nufront NS115 dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.0GHz + Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB Nand Flash (2 GB for OS, 2GB available space) + micro SD slot. Video Output – HDMI (720p / 180p) Video Containers- AVI, RMVB, MKV& FLV Audio Codec – Dolby, DTS, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, PCM (DTS-HD MA, RAW not supported), MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC and OGG Connectivity – Built-in WI-FI 802.11 b/g/n USB – 1x USB host port, 1x micro USB Misc – 1 IR port Power – 5V/2A Dimensions – 122 […]

February 21, 2013March 13, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Wandboard Dual Unboxing and Quick Start Guide

I’ve just received Wanboard Dual development board together with an enclosure, and Wi-Fi antenna. This board is powered by Freescale i.MX6 Duallite Cortex A9 processor, and comes with 1GB RAM, HDMI output and Ethernet. There’s also a version based on Freescale i.MX6 Solo with 512 MB RAM. You can refer to my earlier post for more detailed specifications. I’ll start by showing some unboxing pictures of the board, and write a quick start guide (casing assembly, Ubuntu & Android boot, and development). I also planned to run some benchmarks and test videos, as according to a poll on Wandboard website many people want to use it as a media player, but I’ll do that a bit later since the current Android image is not up to the task yet. Wandboard Dual Unboxing The package I received contained 3 boxes: one for Wandboard Dual board, one for the enclosure, and one for […]

February 13, 2013February 17, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments

ARMBRIX Zero Cortex A15 Development Board Unboxing Pictures

I’ve just received an early sample of ARMBRIX Zero (aka ARMBRIX-5250-A), a development board based on Samsung Exynos 5250 dual cortex A15 processor with 2GB RAM, a microSD slot, 1x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0 Host, 1x USB Device, 10/100 Ethernet, HDMI output, SATA 3.0, some Audio I/O ports, and 3 expansions headers. This is basically a low cost version of the Arndale board, with things such as eMMC 4.5 (Sorry I’ve missed the eMMC socket at the back of the board) sensors missing. Today, I won’t turn the board on (I’ll explain why at the end of the post), but instead show some pictures of the development and debug boards. If you had previously seen the board picture before, you’ll noticed it has a grown a heatsink. The heatsink is probably here to stay, but may be slightly different (e.g. lower) when you receive your board. The bottom acrylic […]