Android

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments on Bluetooth Versions Walkthrough, and Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy Development Resources

Bluetooth Versions Walkthrough, and Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy Development Resources

I’ve seen more and more Bluetooth 4.0 LE devices in the last few months including RFDuino, Wimoto Motes, TI SensorTag, and Scadanu Scout, so I thought it would be good to write a bit about Bluetooth. First, I’ll write about the different version of Bluetooth, since I was still confused with the practical implications between the versions, and then I’ll show some development kits and software resources to play around and/or develop Bluetooth 4.0 LE applications both on devices and hosts. Bluetooth Versions Bluetooth v1.0 and v1.0B The Bluetooth 1.0 Specification was released in 1999, and according to an entry in Wikipedia, 1.0 and 1.0B devices had many issues, mainly interoperability issues. You won’t find any Bluetooth 1.0 device today. Bluetooth v1.1 Bluetooth v1.1 was ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.1-2002 in 2002. It fixed many issues found in the previous specifications, added the option to use non-encrypted channels, as well […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Scanadu Scout Medical Tricorder for Android and iOS

Scanadu Scout Medical Tricorder for Android and iOS

Low cost personal medical tricorders have the potential to dramatically bring down the cost of health care, and avoid unnecessarily wasted time in hospitals, which is probably the XPRIZE Foundation has launched a competition for  medical tricorders, where the winners will get 10 millions US dollars in funding. Scanadu Scout is one of the entry, and they currently have an indiegogo campaign, already oversubscribed, for their medical grade tricorder which gather data by placing it on your forehead for 10 seconds, and display medical data transferred via Bluetopoth Low Energy (Bluetooth SMART) on your iOS and smartphone. The company did not disclose full specifications, but they still revealed the device runs 32-bit Micrium RTOS, which is already FDA approved (pre-market 510K notification and PMA approval), it supports Bluetooth 4.0 SMART, and a micro USB port is included to recharge the battery. I fired up few Google image searches to look […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Asus Launches Memo Pad HD7 Tablet Powered by Mediatek MT8125

Asus Launches Memo Pad HD7 Tablet Powered by Mediatek MT8125

Just about 5 days after Mediatek announcement of their quad core Cortex A7 SoC for tablets, Asus unveiled the Memo Pad HD7, and Android 4.2.2 tablet powered by MT8125, at Computer 2013. The device will be available for just $129 with 8GB flash for developing markets, and for $149 with 16GB Flash worldwide. Asus low cost quad core tablet comes with the following specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT8125 quad core Cortex A7 + PowerVR SGX544 GPU System Memory – N/A Storage – 8 or 16 GB NAND Flash + micro SD Display – 7″ IPS display with 1280×800 resolution, and 10 point capacitive touchscreen. Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS Camera – 5MP rear camera and 1.2MP front camera. USB – micro USB port Audio – Stereo speakers Battery – N/A mAh, said to last 10 hours. Weight – 302 grams Dimensions – 10.8mm thick It looks […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Bsquare Announces Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Series Mobile Development Platforms

Bsquare Announces Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Series Mobile Development Platforms

BSQUARE has recently announced the availability of its Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 Mobile Development Platform (MDP), based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8974 (LTE), which will be released both in tablet and smartphone form factor. This development platfom has been designed for application developers and device manufacturers so that they can develop, test, optimize and showcase apps in Android 4.2.2 powered by the latest Qualcomm SoCs. Snapdragon 800 Tablet and Smartphone MDP specifications: SoC – 8974 Quad Core Krait 400 Snapdragon Processor @ 2.3GHz with Adreno 330 embedded GPU and Hexagon v5 QDSP6 Memory and Storage – N/A, apparently you don’t need to know… Display: Tablet MDP – 11.6” 1080p HD Multitouch Display Smartphone MDP – 4.3” 720p HD Multi-touch display Video Playback – UltraHD/4K video support via HDMI output Camera – 12MP rear camera w/ Flash (1080p HD @ 30fps) & 2MP front facing camera (1080p HD @ 30fps) Audio – Surround sound […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on $60 MK805 II Android STB Features AllWinner A20 SoC, HDMI and AV Outputs

$60 MK805 II Android STB Features AllWinner A20 SoC, HDMI and AV Outputs

Almost exactly one year ago, I wrote about MINI X (aka MINI XPlus H24, or MK805), an Android 2.3 media player powered by AllWinner A10 with 4GB flash and 512MB Flash, and it sold for $77.50. Today, I’ve come across an updated version, called MK805 II or MINI XPlus H34, with AllWinner A20 dual core SoC, 1GB RAM, 4GB Flash, and running Android 4.2.2. Here are the specifications of the device: SoC- AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 processor @ 1.2GHz + Mali-400 MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash + micro SD card slot Connectivity – Built-in WiFi 802.11b/g/n, and firmware is said to support external USB Ethernet and 3G dongles. Video Output – HDMI 1.3 (1080p) + AV Video Codecs – MPEG1/2/4, H.264, HD AVC, VC-1, Divx, Xvid, RealVideo8/9/10, VP6 Video Container Formats – MKV, TS, TP, M2TS, RM/RMVB, AVI, MPG, VOB, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 72 Comments on G-Box Midnight MX2 Giveaway

G-Box Midnight MX2 Giveaway

I reviewed Matricom G-Box Midnight MX2 Android set-top box about a month ago, and I was pretty happy with the device with regards to performance, stability, and XBMC support. During my initial review, Wi-Fi was really excellent, the best, by far, I had seen in the dozen of devices I had tested, although an upgrade to my router firmware somehow changed that. This is also one the rare device that will support OTA firmware update. There were still some problems in the firmware I tested: some videos could not play, composite output did not work…, but overall I find it’s a pretty good device. The company also seems committed to fix issues, as they even have a public bug tracking system for the MX2. If you plan to use Android app, and not only XBMC, the IR remote provided may not be the ideal input device, and you’ll probably need […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 51 Comments on $96 Kingnovel K-R42-1 (MK888) Android Set-top Box Powered by RK3188 Processor

$96 Kingnovel K-R42-1 (MK888) Android Set-top Box Powered by RK3188 Processor

I’ve now got several RK3188 mini PCs, but I hadn’t found full sized set-top boxes based on Rockchip RK3188 quad core processor with Ethernet, and multiple USB ports. Thanks to a post in mini PC G+ community, we have now a nice looking quad core STB called K-R42-1 by Kingnovel, which might be the manufacturer design house behind the device, and sold for  $96 including shipping in one Aliexpress store under the model name MK888. K-R42-1 / MK888 Specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3188 quad Cortex-A9 CPU @ 1.6 GHz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU @ 500 MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 8GB Nand Flash +  MicroSD slot (Up to 32GB) Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet WiFi 802.11 b/g/n with external antenna Bluetooth EDR 2.0 Video Output – HDMI 1.3 + AV output jack Audio Output – HDMI + S/PDIF Video Codecs (Decode) – MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 (up […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Critical Link MityARM-5CSX CoM Powered by Altera Cyclone V SoC

Critical Link MityARM-5CSX CoM Powered by Altera Cyclone V SoC

Earlier this week, I wrote about EnSilica eSi-ZM1, a system-on-module based on Xilinx Zynq7000 Extensible Processing Platform that comes with a dual core ARM Cortex A9 and FPGA fabric. It turns out Xilinx is not the only game in town, and Altera’s Cyclone V SoC, announced last December, also includes a dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor with Altera FPGA logic, and Critical Linux recently announced MityARM-5CSX computer-on-module based on this platform. Target applications include machine vision, scientific imaging, motor control, medical imaging and instrumentation, test and measurement, industrial instrumentation, as well as a military & aerospace. MityARM-5CSX specifications: SoC – Altera Cyclone V SX-U672 with FPGA logic and dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 up to 800MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM, and 256MB DDR3 FPGA RAM (optional) Storage – 32MB QPSI NOR flash FPGA I/O fabric: PCIe  hard core Up to 145 user-programmable I/O lines (including several 875MHz SerDes lanes) […]