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March 3, 2026March 3, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Qualcomm Wi-Fi 8 solutions – FastConnect 8800 Mobile Client and Qualcomm Dragonwing Networking Platforms

Qualcomm has unveiled its Wi-Fi 8 (802.11bn) portfolio, which includes the FastConnect 8800 “Mobile Connectivity System”, also integrating Bluetooth 7 wireless technology, Ultra Wideband (UWB), and Thread, and five Dragonwing Networking platforms for access points and routers. The Dragonwing NPro A8 Elite features a 5×5 Wi-Fi 8 radio system for high-performance enterprise access points and premium home routers, the Dragonwing FiberPro A8 Elite offers similar features but adds 10G fiber access (PON) for fiber-to-the-home gateways, the Dragonwing FWA Gen 5 Elite is designed for fixed wireless access using the Qualcomm X85 5G Modem-RF System, and the Qualcomm Dragonwing N8 and F8 platforms offer mainstream tier options for Ethernet and fiber broadband CPEs. Qualcomm FastConnect 8800 Wi-Fi 8 mobile client Qualcomm FastConnect 8800 (WCN885x) specifications: Wi-Fi 8 with advanced features like UWB, including and RADAR Support for Snapdragon Sound™ Technology Suite, Bluetooth® High Data Throughput (HDT), and Qualcomm XPAN Proximity AI […]

February 27, 2026February 27, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Lepton XDS dual-camera module combines 160 x 120 thermal imager with 5MP RGB camera

The Teledyne FLIR Lepton XDS dual-camera module combines a factory‑aligned radiometric 160 × 120 Lepton 3.5 thermal camera with a 5 MP visible camera. Its size, weight, and power (SWaP)‑optimized design makes it suitable for mobile devices, compact electronics, smart buildings, fire detection, occupancy analytics, and equipment‑condition‑monitoring applications. The company highlights that the Lepton XDS module is International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)-free, which reduces development risk and accelerates time‑to‑market, since it’s easier to export or integrate into products sold globally. Lepton XDS specifications: EO Camera Optics – EFL 1.57 mm, 98.2° HFOV, F/1/2.2 Sensor – 2592 x 1944 pixels (5 MP), 1.4 µm pitch Video – 640×480 @ 30Hz IR Camera Optics – 57° HFOV, f/1.1 Video – 8.7 Hz (commercial application exportable, since it’s below 9 FPS) Thermal Imaging Detector Lepton 3.5 160 x 120 pixels, 12 µm pitch Thermal Sensitivity – <50 mK (0.050 °C) Temperature Accuracy […]

February 26, 2026February 26, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

TECNO unveils thin modular smartphone concept with magnetic cameras, battery, and gamepad add-ons

The TECNO will showcase its modular smartphone concept at Mobile World Congress 2026. The company’s “Modular Magnetic Interconnection Technology” aims to enable thin modular smartphones with magnetic hardware expansion add-ons. This idea is not new. Motorola’s Project Ara open-source hardware platform attempted that in 2013, and Google (ATAP) took over the project in 2015, before the modular phone project died in 2016. The Fairphone is the closest we have to a modular smartphone nowadays, but while it’s repairable, its modularity is more limited. But maybe time was not just right for a full modular smartphone, and TECNO is giving it another try. Ten magnetic modules have been designed so far. Those include camera modules (ACTION CAMERA and TELEPHOTO LENS), a game pad module, an off-grid communication module (mmWave is mentioned, but maybe a LoRa/Meshtastic will also be provided), and a 4.5mm thick “POWER BANK” battery module to double usable power […]

February 17, 2026February 17, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

60W Pocket Cloud is a microSD card reader with USB PD passthrough for your smartphone (Crowdfunding)

60W Pocket Cloud is a microSD card reader with 60W USB PD passthrough for your smartphone that works with Android (USB-C) and iOS (USB-C or Lightning) mobile devices, as well as other hosts with a spare USB port. Once upon a time, smartphone manufacturers would include a microSD card socket in their devices, but those have now become harder to find. If your device’s spare storage is getting dangerously low, you’d need to either purchase cloud storage or connect a microSD card reader to the USB-C port of your phone. The latter works, except you can’t charge your phone when it’s connected. Conner’s 60W Pocket Cloud brings back microSD card storage support to mobile devices, while still allowing USD PD charging during use. 60W Pocket Cloud specifications: Chipset – Vinpower iVP309 flash controller chip with 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), SD 3.0 UHS-I, SDCX SD card interface, USB […]

February 14, 2026February 15, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Android 17 Beta 1 released with H.266/VVC support, camera improvements, and more

Google has just announced the release of Android 17 Beta 1 with performance improvements, H.266/VVC video codec support, smoother camera mode transitions, privacy and security enhancements, and more. The company is not releasing Developer Previews anymore, and instead follows the “continuous Canary channel” announced with the first Android 16 Developer Preview. So, with Android 17, the very first release is the “Beta 1” release. Some of the key changes in Android 17 so far: Developers can’t opt out of orientation and resizability restrictions on large screen devices (sw > 600 dp), so they’ll have to make sure their apps work on tablets, foldables, and desktop windowing environments. With one exception: apps categorized as games with android:appCategory flag. Google published a separate blog post about the change. Performance improvements and tools Lock-free MessageQueue that will reduce missed frames. Added Generational garbage collection to ART’s Concurrent Mark-Compact collector. This aims to reduce […]

February 9, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Linux 6.19 Release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 6.19 on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML): No big surprises anywhere last week, so 6.19 is out as expected – just as the US prepares to come to a complete standstill later today watching the latest batch of televised commercials. The betting man would expect them all to be AI-generated, but maybe some enterprising company decides to buck the trend? Doubtful, but there’s always a slight chance. But for anybody outside the US, maybe taking the newest kernel out for a spin instead is an option? I have more than three dozen pull requests for when the merge window opens tomorrow – thank you to all the early maintainers. And as people have mostly figured out, I’m getting to the point where I’m being confused by large numbers (almost running out of fingers and toes again), so the next kernel is going to […]

December 18, 2025December 18, 2025 by Debashis Das - 6 Comments

REETLE SmartInk I – An AI-powered E-Ink phone case with voice recording (Crowdfunding)

The REETLE SmartInk I is a phone case with a touch-enabled E-Ink display and built-in AI features. It features a secondary screen on the back for reading text, viewing notes, recording voice, and displaying to-do items, allowing basic tasks to be completed without using the phone’s main display. In the back, you have a 3.97-inch E-Ink touchscreen with one-press voice recording, AI-based transcription, summarization, and smart to-do display, all synced to a companion mobile app via Bluetooth 5.0. It supports iPhone 13–17 series and a wide range of Android phones, features a 300 mAh battery with 10W MagSafe wireless charging, and delivers up to 10 hours of reading, 8 hours of recording, and over 2 weeks of standby time. Weighing around 55 grams with a total thickness under 4 mm, it includes military-grade drop protection, tempered glass, widget switching (QR codes, notes, schedules), a thin design, and a 10°C to […]

December 1, 2025December 12, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Linux 6.18 LTS release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.18 on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML), which will likely become the next LTS kernel [update: it’s now official]: So I’ll have to admit that I’d have been happier with slightly less bugfixing noise in this last week of the release, but while there’s a few more fixes than I would hope for, there was nothing that made me feel like this needs more time to cook. So 6.18 is tagged and pushed out. Most of the last-minute fixes are minor fixes to drivers, with some random noise elsewhere (bluetooth, ceph, afs..). Nothing strikes me as standing out, but hey, there’s a shortlog appended if you want to see the details. And this obviously means that the merge window will open tomorrow, and I already have three dozen pull requests pending. Thanks. And as I already mentioned a couple of […]