xiaomi News - Page 12 of 14 - CNX Software

March 8, 2016March 15, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

$61 Xiaomi Mi Box 3 2016 Enhanced Edition is Powered by Mediatek MT8693 Hexa-core Cortex A72 + A53 Processor

There are few ARM Cortex-A72 “class” mini PCs available on the market, and the only one I can think of is Amazon Fire TV 2015, powered by Mediatek MT8173 hexa-core processor, and priced decently at $99.99, but hard or expensive to source if you don’t live in the US. There will soon be one more choice, as Xiaomi has upgraded its Mi Box 3 to use Mediatek MT8693 processor with two Cortex-A72 cores, and four Cortex-A53 cores combined with PowerVR GX6250 GPU. Xiaomi Mi Box 3 Enhanced / 2016 Edition specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT8693 hexa-core processor with two Cortex-A72 cores @ 2.0GHz, four Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.6 GHz, and Imagination PowerVR GX6250 GPU System Memory – 2GB 64-bit LPDDR3 memory Storage – 8GB eMMC 5.0 flash Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K/2160p @ 60 Hz Video and Audio Features – 10-bit H.265, Dolby and DTS audio Connectivity […]

December 31, 2015January 29, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Ten Most Popular Posts of 2015 and Statistics on CNX Software

In the second part of 2014, we saw a big jump in performance thanks to Cortex A15 and A17 based SoCs, and higher clocked Cortex A9 processors such as Rockchip RK3288 and Amlogic S812, but in 2015, TV box companies have focused on lowering the price and adding features such as HDMI 2.0, instead of looking for higher and higher CPU and GPU performance, and they’ve also moved to 64-bit ARM platform. Intel also continued its foray into low cost HDMI sticks and mini PCbased on Bay Trail, and later on Cherry Trail based devices. The development boards story was also very much about lower cosst with the $15 Orange Pi PC, follow a few months later by the $5 Raspberry Pi Zero, although people looking for performance at any price still saw the release of Nvidia Jetson TX1 board. It’s was also a big year for IoT with the […]

December 2, 2015May 27, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

Xiaomi Mi 3 TV Box Board’s Pictures Reveal Amlogic S905-H Processor

Xiaomi unveiled Mi 3 TV box based on Amlogic S905 processor a while ago, but since we’ve got so many Amlogic S905 boxes on the market, and the interface is only in Chinese, I did not find it that interesting. But somebody did a teardown of the device, and sent me some good pictures revealing that the device uses Amlogic S905-H with DTS and Dolby licenses paid for and enabled. So that means just like for Amlogic S812, where there’s a S812-H with Dolby and DTS, there are two versions for Amlogic S905. I understand the silicon might be the same, but the SDK will differ (TBC). Other main components include a 4GB Toshiba THGBMBG5D1KBAIT eMMC 5.0 flash, two NANYA NT5CB256M16DP-EK 512MB DDR3 chips (1GB in total), a Broadcom wireless chipset (BCM4345) for 802.11ac Wifi and Bluetooth 4.1, and Ricoh RN5T567A PMIC. There are few connectors as on other Xiaomi […]

November 26, 2015November 26, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Xiaomi MiPad 2 Tablet Runs Android or Windows 10 on Intel Atom x5-Z8500 Processor for $156 and Up

Xiaomi launched their first MiPad tablet last year with an Nvidia Tegra K1 processor and running Android, and the company recently introduced an update with MiPad 2, with similar features to the original one, but replacing the ARM processor by an Intel Atom x5-Z8500 quad core “Cherry Trail” processor supporting both Android and Windows. Gizmo China made a comparison table between the two model’s specifications which I reproduced and edited below. Model Mi Pad Mi Pad 2 Processor Nividia Tegra K1 quad core Cortex A15 @ 2.2 GHz Intel Atom X5-Z8500 quad core x86 up to 2.24GHz RAM 2 GB LPDDR3 Internal Storage 16 GB/32 GB + micro SD slot 16 GB/64 GB, no micro SD slot Display 7.9″ (2048 x 1536 pixels) Connectivity 802.11ac 2×2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 802.11ac 2×2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.1 USB micro USB USB type-C Camera 8 MP/ 5 MP Battery 6700 mAh 6190 […]

November 13, 2015November 13, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 101 Comments

List of Amlogic S905 TV Boxes and Sticks

Rockchip RK3368 TV boxes looked promising at the end of the summer, but ended up being disappointing, not because of their expected lower performance compared to RK3288, but simply because they could not deliver on their main selling point: 4K H.265 / H.264 video playback, and the sheer number of issues with the first devices selling for nearly the same price as equivalent Rockchip RK3288 devices. Rockchip RK3368 will soon have a worthy competitor with Amlogic S905, which won’t deliver amazing benchmark scores, but looks promising for its 4K 10-bit HEVC video playback, HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2, and historically Amlogic delivers better video playback than Rockchip. The first Amlogic S905 TV boxes should start shipping by the end of the month, and prices are starting very low, just over $40, thanks to competition between the many manufacturers launching devices based on the new Amlogic SoC. That’s why I’ve decided […]

October 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Top 10 Antutu Scores of 2015 for Smartphones So Far

I’m mainly focusing on Android mini PCs, and not so much on mobile devices. But this year, silicon vendors launched 64-bit ARM processor for TV boxes based on the low power Cortex A53 cores, lowering costs instead of improving performance of their 32-bit ARM processors, as media player don’t usually need very fast processor simply because video decoding is normally handled by the video engine. Two exceptions being Amazon Fire TV 2015 which gets over 51,000 points mostly thanks to MediaTek MT8173‘s two Cortex A72 cores, and Nvidia Shield Android TV box getting over 68,000 points, but sadly these two devices are not (easily) available worldwide yet. But on the mobile space, the race to faster and faster performance is still on, and according to a recent post on Antutu website (in Chinese), the fastest smartphones now reach over 75,000 points in the popular benchmark. I had to look up the […]

October 20, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Xiaomi Introduces Mi TV Bar TV Box Speakers Powered by Mstar 6A928 Processor

Xiaomi has introduced a few new products yesterday including Mi TV 3 60″ 4K UHD television, a cheap Bluetooth voice remote, as well as Ninebot Mini self-balancing two-wheel scooter. But the company has also launched a product that looks like the offspring of a sound bar and a TV box with MI TV Bar, featuring Mstar 6A928 quad core Cortex A17 processor with 2GB RAM and running Android 5.1 Lollipop as well as built-in speakers with Dolby Audio technology. It’s actually designed to be the smart system for Mi TV 3, as Xiaomi found out that while TVs may last 10 years, the “smart” part in smart TV may need an update every couple of years. Mi TV Bar specifications: SoC – Mstar 6A928 quad-core ARM Cortex A17 processor @ 1.4GHz with Mali-760 MP4 4 + 4 core GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC 5.0 flash […]

October 7, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Xiaomi Mi Smart Remote Center Review

Xiaomi Mi Smart Remote Center is a tiny box with WiFi connectivity and IR transmitters that is used to control infrared enabled devices such as TVs, medai players, air conditioners and more with your Android smartphone. The good thing is that it only costs $20, so I asked GearBest to send a sample to check it out, which they did. I’ll start this review by checking out the hardware, before running MiHome app to control a television and air conditioner. Xiaomi Mi Smart Remote Center Unboxing and Teardown The package is just a cardboard box with Mi logo. Once you open the page there’s a sticker with the QR core redirecting to MiHome app. You can peel it off, and take the box out of the package, where you’ll also find a USB to micro USB cable for power, and a user’s manual in Chinese only. To open the device […]