Dealextreme is selling a board (Model SAA-250) featuring Telechips TCC8925 Cortex A5 processor with 1GB RAM, and 4GB Flash. They sell it as a “Android 4.0 DIY Intelligent TV Box / Advertising / Development Motherboard”, but it’s basically an Android set-top box board without casing, power supply, nor remote control, and you should not expect to do that much development (except Android app development) on it since no source code is available.
Here are the board specifications:
- SoC – Telechips TCC8925 up to 833 MHz ARM Cortex A5 + 1080P VPU + Mali-400 GPU. (Dealextreme says it’s a dual core Cortex A5 up to 1.2 GHz, but if it’s TCC8925, that’s just plain wrong)
- System Memory – 1GB RAM
- Storage – 4GB flash + SD card slot
- Video Output – micro? HDMI 1.3 up to 1080p + CVBS AV output
- Video formats – RM/RMVB, MPEG, MKV, AVI, FLV, VP8 up to 1080p
- Audio I/O – Headset input, Optical Audio SPDIF.
- Connectivity:
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
- 10/100Mbit Ethernet
- USB – 3x USB Host + 1x USB OTG
- IR sensor
- Power – 5V/2A
- Dimensions – 12.0 x 12.0 x 2.1cm
- Weight – 91g
The board comes preloaded with Android 4.0.3. When I look at the board picture, I actually see 4x USB host and 1x mini USB OTG, and no HDMI output. I can’t not find other references to this board anywhere, so you’re probably out of luck if you want to find the original firmware. Telechips TCC8925 did release the Linux kernel and part of Android source code, so in theory Linux could run on the board as well, without GPU and VPU support. One the advantage of Telechips TCC8925 is low power consumption thanks to Cortex A5, so for example it should be possible to power the board with one USB port (no power supply needed).
The board is sold for $77.30 on DealExtreme. If you don’t really need all the extra USB ports, Ethernet or SPDIF output, you’d probably be better off with something like CX-01 mini PC that’s available for about $37.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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I wish they’d get there product descriptions right. If it was really dual core it’d be a bit more interesting…
*their
“When I look at the board picture, I actually see 4x USB host and 1x mini USB OTG, and no HDMI output.”
I think the HDMI connector is on the left in the middle.
@zoobab
I thought about that, but normally it looks like. And if it is a (mini) HDMI connector, where is the OTG port? Could it just be one of the full-sized USB port. I thought OTG was always connected to micro or mini USB port.
I actually bought this board. There was some problems : – The electronic part of the optical SPDIF was not present. I only found the melt plastic case under the board… For me it was disappointing but I had an old one in an old DVD reader so I used it and it works. – an other problem : The WIFI does’nt work well. I can scan and find networks but when I enter the key I have message telling me the signal is not strong enough. I think there is a antenna missing. On an other board they sell… Read more »
@jefraya
Thanks for providing a feedback about this board. Did you get the firmware file and/or source for the board? Usually those are provided with a “development motherboard”.
There was only 2 sheets of paper with the board… mainly in chineese (which I don’t even read a word of course 🙂 with some english words disseminated… (and even if it’s not my usual language I can read it obviously). Very few informations and only in descriptive terms… This was not really helping me. Today I tried to put an antenna where I expected the jonction was. I used a simple wire of about 56mm but the WIFI doesn’t work better. I think that for the user who loock for a development board it may be better to loock… Read more »
@jefraya
Thanks for the detailed answer. I can see the price of (ARM Linux) development boards has been slashed last year. In 2011, low cost meant $150 to $200, and now prices of low cost boards range between $25 and $100. It can go a bit higher for the latest processors (e.g. based on Cortex A15 or 4x Cortex A9), but it’s usually possible to find something below $200.