virtual reality

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on ARM Introduces Bifrost Mali-G51 GPU, and Mali-V61 4K H.265 & VP9 Video Processing Unit

ARM Introduces Bifrost Mali-G51 GPU, and Mali-V61 4K H.265 & VP9 Video Processing Unit

Back in May of this year, ARM unveiled Mali-G71 GPU for premium devices, and the first GPU of the company based on Bifrost architecture. The company has now introduced the second Bifrost GPU with Mali-G51 targeting augmented & virtual reality and higher resolution screens to be found in mainstream devices in 2018, as well as Mali-V61 VPU with 4K H.265 & VP9 video decode and encode capabilities, previously unknown under the codename “Egil“. Mali-G51 GPU ARM Mali-G51 will be 60% more energy efficiency, and have 60% more performance density compared to Mali-T830 GPU, making the new GPU the most efficient ARM GPU to date. It will also be 30% smaller, and support 1080p to 4K displays. Under the hood, Mali-G51 include an updated Bifrost’s low level instruction set, a dual-pixel shader core per GPU core to deliver twice the texel and pixel rates, features the latest ARM Frame Buffer Compression […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 121 Comments on Giveaway Week – VR SKY CX-V3 Android Virtual Reality Headset

Giveaway Week – VR SKY CX-V3 Android Virtual Reality Headset

It’s been a while since I’ve organized a Giveaway week, and with Christmas less than two months away, it might be a good time to launch another one. It will take place on October 31 – November 6 with one device or board offered every day, starting with VR SKY CX-V3 All-in-one Android VR Headset. CX-V3 review showed that it’s good enough to play 2D and 3D videos, but Allwinner H8vr might not be quite powerful enough for VR games, and the IPD (Interpupillary distance) is not adjustable, so depending on the distance between your eyes, virtual reality apps may not be usable at all. That’s not a problem for videos however. I’ll send the kit with all accessories to the lucky winner. To enter the draw simply leave a comment below. Other rules are as follows: Only one entry per contest. I will filter out entries with the same […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on PiPo V5 Android Virtual Reality Headset Powered by Rockchip RK3399 SoC to Sell for $200

PiPo V5 Android Virtual Reality Headset Powered by Rockchip RK3399 SoC to Sell for $200

Las month I reviewed VR SKY CX-V3 Android virtual reality headset based on Allwinner H8vr octa-core SoC, and based on a report from Netbook Italia at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair, PiPo will launch a device looking exactly the same but featuring a much more powerful Rockchip RK3399 processor, next month for about $200. Beside Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core SoC with two cores ARM Cortex-A72 cores and four Cortex-A53, and a Mali-T864MP4 graphics, Pipo V5 VR headset will support 4K video with HEVC/H.265, H.264 and VP9 video codec support, features 2GB RAM, 32GB storage, one USB type C port, one USB 2.0 host port, a microSD slot, an audio jack,  and a 5.5″ Full HD (1920×1080) IPS display.  The headset will also include sensors such as an accelerometer and s gyroscope. Just like VR SKY CX-V3, it will include power, back and Nibiru buttons, and a touchpad. One important features missing from […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Google Announces Pixel and Pixel XL Smartphones for $649 and Up

Google Announces Pixel and Pixel XL Smartphones for $649 and Up

Google used to collaborate with smartphone manufacturers for their Nexus devices, but the company is now promoting their own Pixel brand, and has just launched Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, and running Android 7.0 Nougat operating system. Both smartphones share most of the same specifications, but XL has a larger screen, a bigger battery, and a higher price tag: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (MSM8996 pro AB) Quad core Kryo processor with two cores at up to 2.15GHz, two cores at up to 1.6GHz, Adreno 530 GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 32 or 128 GB storage Display Pixel – 5.0″ FHD (1920×1080) AMOLED display; 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4 Pixel XL – 5.5″ QHD (2560×1440) AMOLED display; 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4 Camera 12.3 MP rear camera (IMX378 sensor) with laser and phase detection auto focus (LDAF + PDAF), f/2.0 aperture […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on SoftKinetic Announces DepthSense 544 ToF Camera for Mobile Devices

SoftKinetic Announces DepthSense 544 ToF Camera for Mobile Devices

SoftKinetic has recently unveiled DepthSense 544 3D depth sensing ToF camera for mobile devices, which they claim is the world’s smallest ToF camera, with the “highest level of efficiency available on the market, perfect for small form factors such as smartphones and wearables”. That’s all nice, but what does ToF mean? ToF stands for Time of Flight, and ToF cameras calculate the distance by measuring the time the light signal travels between the camera and the object as explained by Wikipedia: A time-of-flight camera (ToF camera) is a range imaging camera system that resolves distance based on the known speed of light, measuring the time-of-flight of a light signal between the camera and the subject for each point of the image. The time-of-flight camera is a class of scannerless LIDAR, in which the entire scene is captured with each laser or light pulse, as opposed to point-by-point with a laser […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 51 Comments on VR SKY CX-V3 Android VR Headset Review – Part 2: GUI, 360° and VR Videos, and Issues

VR SKY CX-V3 Android VR Headset Review – Part 2: GUI, 360° and VR Videos, and Issues

VR SKY CX-V3 is an Android virtual reality headset powered by Allwinner H8vr processor and featuring a 1080p display. I had read VR requires 2K or 4K displays to be useful, but since that’s my very first VR headset, if we don’t count the a Google Cardboard clone as one, I did not mind testing one with a 1920×1080 display, and it ended up being an interesting learning experience. I’ve already shown the hardware with the various buttons, touch interfaces and lenses in the headset, as well as accessories like the charger and headphone in the first part of the review, so today, I’ll go through the interfaces, what works, and mention the issues I had with the device. If you’ve never used a virtual reality headset before, you’ll definitely want to read the user manual, which for once is written in proper English, both for entertainment value, and learn […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on ZTE CSX Crowd-sourced Project Gets to Concept Phase with Eye-tracking Phone, Robotic Glove, Submersible VR Headset

ZTE CSX Crowd-sourced Project Gets to Concept Phase with Eye-tracking Phone, Robotic Glove, Submersible VR Headset

ZTE launched CSX Project last month in order to design a smartphone or other consumer product based on input from the community. People submitted ideas last month, and voted for the best ideas at the beginning of September, and the results are now in. There used to be a popular proposal to make a ZTE Ubuntu phone, but for some reasons since they may make one anyway, this has not been selected by the jury, and instead the three winning ideas are: Self-Adhesive Smartphone with Optimized User Interface via Eye Tracking System and Split Screen Technology Powerglove (Android application control of hands) VR – Interactive diving mask The first solution had by far the most votes, and the main purpose is to use the phone without touching it. Two laser-focused front cameras would track the eye movement to let the user scroll the screen with eye, while it’s been stuck […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 820 4K TV Box and AiO Virtual Reality Headset Reference Designs

Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 820 4K TV Box and AiO Virtual Reality Headset Reference Designs

Qualcomm has recently announced two references platforms for ODM/OEM powered by Snapdragon 820 processor for 4K Ultra HD media boxes and all-in-one virtual reality headsets. Snapdragon VR820 Virtual Reality HMD Qualcomm Snapdragon VR820 VR headset comes with the following key features and specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad core Kryo processor with Adreno 530 GPU System Memory – Go figure Storage – Only god knows Display – 1440×1440 resolution per eye, AMOLED panel that supports up to 70Hz Audio – 4x microphones with Fluence HD noise filtering and active noise cancellation Video – 360° 4K video playback processing with HEVC compression and display refresh rates at 70 FPS Cameras – Integrated eye tracking with two cameras, dual front facing cameras for six degrees of freedom (6DOF) Sensors – gyro, accelerometer, and magnetometer sensors The reference platform, developed in collaboration with Goertek, leverages Qualcomm’s Virtual Reality SDK, and is expected […]