Huawei Honor WaterPlay is a Waterproof IP67 Tablet with Kirin 659 SoC

It’s quite easy to find smartphone with some level of dust and waterproofness, with many premium smartphone coming with IP67 or IP68 ingress protection rating, and if you search for IP67 / IP68 smartphones on Aliexpress, you’ll get a long list. Now replace smartphone by tablet, you’ll get a much shorter list, and most are rugged tablets. Huawei has just unveiled Honor Waterplay, that looks more like a normal tablet, and as it’s named implied is waterproof with an IP67 rating. Huawei Honor WaterPlay “HDN-W09 (WiFi)”  & “HDN-L09 (LTE)” tablets specifications: SoC – Hisilicon/Huawei Kirin 659 octa-core  processor with 4x ARM Cortex A53 @ up to 2.36 GHz, 4x Cortex A53 @ up to 1.7 GHz, ARM Mali-T830 MP2 GPU @ 900 MHz System Memory + Storage HDN-W09 – 3 to 4GB LPDDR3 + 32 to 64 GB eMMC 5.1 flash, micro SD slot up to 256GB HDN-L09 – 4GB […]

Zidoo H6 Pro (Allwinner H6) TV Box Review – Part 1: Unboxing & Teardown

Allwinner H6 is a quad core Cortex A53 processor designed for 4K HDR set-top boxes and TV boxes that also comes with high speed interfaces like USB 3.0 and PCIe. While at least one other company is working on an Allwinner H6 development board, Zidoo is the only company that I can find whose made a TV box based on the processor: Zidoo H6 Pro. They’ve just send me a sample from their local supplier for review, and as usual, I’ll start by checking out the hardware inside out, before testing the firmware and multimedia capabilities in the second part of the review in a few weeks. Zidoo H6 Pro Unboxing The company has slightly changed the design of their retail package. It also shows some icons with the main features like 4K, 3D,  H.265, 2GB DDR4, Android 7.0 with ZIUI, etc… The box ships with a HDMI cable, a […]

Intrinsyc Launches Open-Q 660 HDK Snapdragon 660 Development Kit

For many years now, Intrinsyc has been releasing Qualcomm mobile development platforms that that are used by companies wanting to design and manufacture smartphones or other products based on Snapdragon processors. Those are usually full featured, including a smartphone display, and well suited to such product development. Their latest development kit is the Open-Q 600 HDK (Hardware Development Kit) powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC, an upgrade to Snapdragon 653 with about 20 percent improvement in CPU performance, and 30 percent in GPU performance. The kit is also equipped with 6GB RAM, 64GB flash, a display, wireless modules, sensors, camera interfaces, expansion headers, and more. Intrinsyc Open-Q 600 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 octa-core processor with Four Kryo 260 performance cores @ up to 2.2GHz, four Kryo 260 low power cores @ up to 1.8GHz Adreno 512 GPU @ up to 650 MHz supporting OpenGL ES 3.0/3.2, Vulkan, DX12 FL […]

Rikomagic Introduces V3 TV Stick, MK39 TV Box, R3 Projector, and DS01 Digital Signage Player

Rikomagic will launch four new Android devices this month with RKM V3 TV stick powered by Rockchip RK3328 processor, RKM MK39 TV box / mini PC based on Rockchip RK3399, RKM R3 projector with an octa-core processor, and DS01 digital signage player. RKM V3 TV Stick RKM V3 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with Mali-450MP2 GPU System Memory – 2 GB RAM Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash + micro SD card up to 32GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR10 and HLG support Video Codec – 4K VP9, H.265 and H.264. 1080p VC-1, MPEG-1/2/4, VP6/8 Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2 USB – 1x USB 2.0 port, 1x USB 3.0 port Misc – IR receiver? (TBC) Power Supply – 5V/2A via power barrel jack The stick runs Android 7.1 […]

X96 Mini Amlogic S905W Android TV Box Sells for $25 and Up

Last week, we discovered Amlogic S905W processor through Tanix TX3 Mini TV box, with the processor maxing out at 4K @ 30 Hz in order to provide cost-competitive solutions, for example against Rockchip RK3229 TV boxes. However, at the time, the price was not that attractive. Prices have come down quickly, as Tanix TX3 Mini can be purchased for about $29 with 1GB RAM /16GB flash, and $32 with 2GB RAM/ 16 GB flash using coupon PYNNHDAH. X96 Mini is an even cheaper option as the Amlogic S905W is sold for as low as $24.99 shipped on Banggood. X96 mini TV box specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905W quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 1 or 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8 or 16GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a output with HDR, […]

YotaPhone 3 Dual Screen Smartphone to Launch for $360 and Up (in China)

Russia based Yota makes some unusual phones with dual display with a standard color front display, and an e-paper rear display that allows you to check the time without pressing a button, keeping displaying important information even when your battery is completely discharged, and more. The first Yotaphone was launched in December 2012, followed by a prettier and more powerful Yotaphone 2 in December 2014, but we’ve had to wait nearly three years for the company – with some fresh money and technical involvements from Chinese partners – to introduce YotaPhone 3 at the Russian Embassy in Beijing. The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, and features a 5.5″ super AMOLED display on the front, and a 5.2″ E-Ink display on the back. Yotaphone 3 preliminary  (& partial) specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Adreno 506 GPU System […]

Khadas VIM2 Amlogic S912 Development Board Sells for $75 and Up

Khadas VIM2 is the only low cost development board powered by Amlogic S912 octa-core processor that I know of, but when we first wrote about the board it was not available yet. The three versions of the boards are now being sold on GearBest with the Basic version going for $74.99, the Pro version for $94.99, and the Max version for $109.99. [Update: You can get VIM2 Max for $99.99 by using GBVIM2MAX coupon code for the first 100 boards daily, and the five first boards are sold for $49.99 daily at 9:00 UTC until August 28th. Details on promotion page.] Khadas VIM2 Basic/Pro/Max specifications: SoC –  Amlogic S912 octa core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with ARM Mali-820MP GPU System Memory Basic – 2 GB DDR4 Pro/Max – 3 GB DDR4 Storage micro SD card and 2MB SPI flash eMMC Flash – Basic: 16GB; Pro: 32GB; Max: […]

Videostrong VS-RD-RK3399 Development Board Review – Part 1: Unboxing, Kit Assembly, SDK and Documentation

Videostrong VS-RD-RK3399 development board is a full-featured development based on Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor with up to 4GB RAM, and 32GB eMMC flash, and plenty of I/Os. The company has sent me a sample, and after getting some trouble going through customs with questions like “what is a development board?” and “is it a board for TV boxes or computers?”, I finally got hold of the parcel. Today, I’ll check out the board and its accessories, show how to assemble it, and since the company shared more info about documentation and software, quickly go over what’s available. Videostrong VS-RD-RK3399 Development Kit Unboxing The board was in a bland carton box, which is fine since it’s not a consumer product, with a stick showing I got the 4GB LPDDR3 / 32GB eMMC flash version. There’s also a board using 2GB/16GB configuration. The package includes the board, bottom and top acrylic plates […]