smartphone

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on HOWCHIP 5420-DVK is a Mobile Development Kit with Samsung Exynos 5420 SoC, an OLED Display

HOWCHIP 5420-DVK is a Mobile Development Kit with Samsung Exynos 5420 SoC, an OLED Display

With Arndale Octa already shipping, and the upcoming ODROID-XU2, we already have two low cost boards with Samsung Exynos 5420 big.LITTLE processor for less than $200. But if you want a more complete kit, HOWCHIP 5420-DVK with a 4.65″ OLED display and capacitive touchscreen, 2GB RAM, 4GB eMMC, and various connectors, could be an option. There’s also a Lite version without the OLED display. The board is composed of a CPU module, a baseboard, and a phone like display. Here are the specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos 5420 Octa with 4x ARM Cortex A15, and 4x ARM Cortex A7 in big.LITTLE configuration, with Mali-T628 GPU. System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 (POP with CPU) Storage – 4GB eMMC 4GB on board, SD card Slot Video Output HDMI type A connector MIPI DSI header up to 1980×1080 eDP (Embedded Display Port) header up to 2560×1600 Display – 4.65″ OLED (1280×720) with touch […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Camera Phone Powered by Exynos 5 Hexa SoC

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Camera Phone Powered by Exynos 5 Hexa SoC

After Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, Samsung has just introduced a new camera-specialized phone called the Galaxy K Zoom with a faster processor, an hexa core processor, which has not been named, but can only be Exynos 5260 hexa core big.LITTLE SoC, a larger 4.8″ display, and a better camera with a 20.7 Megapixel CMOS Sensor and a 10x Optical Zoom. Let’s go straight through the specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos 5260 Hexa core processor with four Cortex A7 cores @ 1.3GHz,  two Cortex A15 cores @ 1.7GHz, and ARM Mali-T624 GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB Flash + micro SD slot up to 64GB Display –  4.8″ HD Super AMOLED Display (1280×720) Cellular Network LTE – Cat4, HSPA+ 42Mbps, LTE 800/850/900/1800/2100/2600, HSPA+ 850/900/1900/2100, EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 3G – 5-band HSPA+ 42Mbps, HSPA+ 850/900/1900/2100,EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 Connectivity – Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4+5GHz, Bluetooth 4.0 BLE, NFC, A-GPS + GLONASS  Camera […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Techniques to Get more Space for Apps in Android

Techniques to Get more Space for Apps in Android

Many devices now have a single internal partition for apps and data on the internal NAND / eMMC flash, but some companies are still providing firmware with the flash partitioned with an “internal storage” partition for apps and systems, and another partition either called “phone storage” or “internal SD card” to order to store data. In the first case, no problem, but in the second, you may have issues where you have plenty of total space, but the device keeps telling you there is no space, leading to error messages such “email service has stopped”,  app updates which can not complete, and app update downloads occurring in loops and draining the battery. I’ve experienced this issue with my phone (ThL W200) which features a mere 0.91 GB internal storage out of an 8GB NAND flash. Internal storage was 0.91 GB (94% full), phone storage 5.73 GB(3% full), and my micro […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on ACT M302 Android 4.3 Smartphone with Mediatek MT6592 Octa Core SoC Sells for $136

ACT M302 Android 4.3 Smartphone with Mediatek MT6592 Octa Core SoC Sells for $136

Android smartphones get better and cheaper all the time, but I would not have thought possible to get a 5″ FullHD smartphone with Mediatek MT6592 Octa core processor, 2GB RAM, and 16GB flash to be sold for less than $150. And that’s exactly what BuyinCoins is doing with ACT M302 for just $136. Let’s have a look at the hardware specs: SoC – Mediatek MT6592 octa core Cortex A7 @ 1.7GHz with Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB flash + microSD card slot Display – 5.0″ touch screen display, 1920×1080 resolution. Cellular networking – 2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz, 3G: WCDMA 850/2100MHz. Dual SIM Card Dual Standby Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n Camera – 5.0MP front camera, 13.0 MP rear camera USB – 1x USB port Audio – 3.5mm stereo headphone jack, built-in speaker and microphone Misc – Home, return, menu, power, and vol +/- buttons Battery – […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on Vivante Unveils Details About GC7000 Series GPU IP Family

Vivante Unveils Details About GC7000 Series GPU IP Family

Earlier this month, Vivante Corporation has announced several silicon partner integrations (but no names given) of its GC7000 Series GPU IP into SoCs targeting wearables, mobile, automotive, and 4K TV products, and provided some more details about its GC7000 family which supports features such as OpenGL ES 3.1 API, and hardware TS/GS/CS (tessellation / geometry / compute shader) extensions for Android. According to the company, they key benefits of their GC7000 GPU IP can be summarized as follows: True GPU Scalability – GC7000 Series products support limited silicon area to match form factor and market requirements. Products can snap to grid starting at 3.0 mm2 (28 nm) for the smallest single GPU GC7000 instance and grow in simple modular fashion for high end implementations to achieve what the company’s claims to be the the industry’s best PPA (power/performance/area). Smallest Licensable OpenGL ES 3.1 Cores with Geometry, Tessellation, and Compute Shaders […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 & 810 ARM Cortex A57/A53 SoCs

Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 & 810 ARM Cortex A57/A53 SoCs

Qualcomm has already announced the Snapdragon 410, then Snapdragon 610 & 615, all three 64-bit SoCs featuring an ARM Cortex A53 targeting mid-range smartphones and tablets. Anandtech has reported that the company will launch their first 64-bit ARM SoCs for high-end devices in 2015. Snapdragon 808 and 810 will respectively feature 6 and 8 cores using 2 or 4 high performance Cortex A57 cores, and 4 low power Cortex A53 cores in big.LITTLE configuration. Both processor shares the same 9×35 core, LTE Category 6/7 integrated modem, an eMMC 5.0 interface, and be manufactured using 20nm process. Snapdragon 810 (MSM8994) will also come with an Adreno 430 GPU, support H.265 harware encode and decode, feature a dual 32-bit LPDDR4-1600 memory interface, and a 14-bit dual ISP camera interface. Snapdragon 808 (MSM8992) will have an Adreno 418 GPU, support H.265 hardware decode, feature a dual 32-bit LPDDR3-933 memory interface, and a 12-bit dual […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Mele Cast S1 EZCast / Miracast / DLNA / Airplay Dongle Review

Mele Cast S1 EZCast / Miracast / DLNA / Airplay Dongle Review

EZCast is a Wi-Fi display protocol that allows you to display local and online media and office files from your Android/iOS smartphone or Mac/WIndows computer onto your TV. It requires an app and an hardware EZCast dongle to connect to your HDMI enabled TV. I’ve already reviewed two EZcast dongles: Tronmart T1000, and WiDiCast EC-E2.  Mele sent me their own version, Mele Cast S1, together with Mele X1000 Blu-ray Navigation Android TV box, which I’ll review another day. Today, I’ll go through Mele Cast S1 specs, show some pictures including a comparison with T1000, and try it with an Android smartphone. Mele Cast S1 Specifications Unsurprisingly the hardware specs are the same of the other EZCast dongles, and the only thing that changes is the enclosure. SoC – Action Semi AM8251 @ 600MHz (MIPS) System memory – 128 MB DDR3 RAM Storage – 128 MB NAND Flash Video output – […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on USB2Go ARM Cortex M3 Development Board for Android Smartphones (Crowdfunding)

USB2Go ARM Cortex M3 Development Board for Android Smartphones (Crowdfunding)

Many MCU based development boards such as Arduino or mbed platform connect to a computer via USB for power and programming, at least during the development stage. USB2Go, however, is designed with a micro USB port to connect directly to your Android smartphone, although it can also be used for standalone project, and an Arduino compatible baseboard is also available. This board powered by an STM32 ARM Cortex M3 MCU is however mainly destined to interface hardware such as LED, servos, sensors to your smartphone via micro USB providing both power and a communication channel with your Android device. USB2Go hardware specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32 ARM Cortex M3 MCU @ 72 MHz with 128 KB Flash, 64 KB SRAM USB – Micro USB for power and programming Headers – 2x 12 pin headers giving access to GPIO, ADC, PWM, UART, I2C, SPI… Debugging I/F – JTAG 20-pin to SWD […]