Hardware Category - Page 504 of 1133 - CNX Software

August 27, 2019August 27, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Fairphone 3 Socially Responsible Android Smartphone Launched for 450 Euros

Most phones today are disposable items, and if yours stops working for whatever reason it’s hard to repair it yourself work, and repairing it at the shop may prove to be too expensive. They are not really expandable either, so if you want a new feature, you may have to buy a completely new phone instead of simply adding a module with the functionality. The difficulty in repairing the phone and the lack of modularity leading to electronics waste. Finally, consumer products are cost-optimized, and that’s great for your wallet, but it may come at the cost of being made by slave labor either directly at the factory, or indirectly through the mining of materials. Aren’t you already feeling bad being complicit in destroying the planet and sponsoring human suffering while reading this on your device? Good! But luckily there’s a solution with Fairphone that aims to be an ethical […]

August 27, 2019August 27, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Banana Pi BPI-R64 Linux Router Board Launched for $68

SinoVoIP introduced Banana Pi BPI-R64 router board in the summer of 2018. The Linux router board is powered by MediaTek MT7622 dual-core Cortex-A53 WiFi processor with 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 built-in, and offers more connectivity options namely 802.11ac WiFi 5 via MT7615 chip, as well as Gigabit Ethernet ports. 4G LTE is optional via a mini PCIe socket, and a SATA port is included for storage. At the time, I envisioned an official launch in Q1 2019, but I was off by a few quarters, as the company has only just launched Banana Pi BPI-R64 on Aliexpress for $68 plus shipping. The specifications of the Banana Pi BPI-R64 board have slightly changed since last year announcement, and we’ve got a few more details: SoC – MediaTek MT7622 dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.35GHz with dedicated network accelerator, 4×4 802.11n and Bluetooth 5 connectivity System Memory – 1GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage […]

August 26, 2019August 26, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 42 Comments

ODROID-N2 CoreELEC Edition Media Center Launched for $65 and Up

ODROID-N2 is an Amlogic S922X single board computer with 2GB or 4GB RAM that’s fairly popular thanks to its great performance/price ratio, good cooling, and decent support from Hardkernel. Hardkernel have worked in collaboration with CoreELEC, and have just introduced ODROID-N2 CoreELEC Edition media center featuring the SBC. The company offers the media center at introductory prices of $65 for the 2GB RAM model, and $75 for the 4GB model with limited stocks at those discounted prices. ODROID-N2 CoreELEC Edition media center includes the following: ODROID-N2 SBC with either 2GB or 4GB RAM ODROID-N2 Case Black An 8GB Industrial MicroSD UHS-1 card pre-loaded with CoreELEC for ODROID-N2 preinstalled 12V/2A Power Supply (with chosen type of plug) CoreELEC Logo Sticker CoreELEC for ODROID-N2 supports 4K HDR10 and HLG high dynamic-range, Auto frame rate switching & dynamic range matching, DTS-HD & Dolby-HD audio pass-through including DTS:X and Dolby Atmos. The firmware is […]

August 26, 2019 by Karl Johnson - 10 Comments

Beelink GT-King (Amlogic S922X) TV Box Review

Rant Karl here. I have been playing around with Android boxes for several years. Unfortunately, some fundamental issues from when I first started playing around with these boxes are still there. They have come a long way since the MK808 with Rockchip RK3066 processor. The MK808 was my first endeavor into Android on the TV in 2013. I can’t believe it’s been nearly 6 years. In 2014 Google introduced Android TV and the Nexus Player. It was designed for a TV and controller. The first boxes/sticks adapted the stock Android experience to run on a TV, but without a touch interface the experience was/is not optimal. Sure you get thousands and thousands of apps but a lot of them don’t work. Unfortunately, this hasn’t changed much. If these boxes came with Linux and Android I don’t think I would complain as much. I would consider it a tinkering box. But […]

August 26, 2019 by Stephen Vicinanza - No Comments

Innocomm Unveils MediaTek i300/i500 SoMs for IoT and AI Applications

SB30 MTK i300 and SB50 MTK i500 AI IoT Platforms Just announced by Innocomm are the SB30 and the SB50 SoMs carrying the MediaTek i300 and i500 SoC’s, and running either Linux or Android. The rundown on the systems is the MediaTek AIoT processor series has been out for some time, and we reported on the latest SoC in the MediaTek i700 article last July. Innocomm is also known for its NXP-based compute modules such as the i.MX8M Mini driven W15 and i.MX8M powered W10. MediaTek i300 Specs The MediaTek i300 (MT8362) SoC is running a Cortex-A35 power-efficient quad-core processor clocking at 1.5 GHz. The SoC is further equipped with an Imagination PowerVR Series8XE GE8300 GPU. The i300 also integrates a PMIC, an RF chip for 2.4 GHz 802.11/b/g/n as well as Bluetooth 4.0. There is support for the MediaTek MT7668 chipset for 802.11ac (WiFi 5). Rounding out the system […]

August 26, 2019August 25, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Getting Started with ANAVI Gas Detector Starter Kit and Home Assistant

ANAVI Gas Detector is an ESP8266 based board designed for MQ gas sensors supported by Arduino. This allows you to easily monitor air quality, or more accurately air conductivity using MQ-135 sensor as part of the starter kit either visually on the OLED display, or through your smartphone or computer using MQTT via automation platform such as Home Assistant. Leon Anavi sent me an ANAVI Gas Detector Starter Kit to have a look, and I’ll report my experience with the kit using it standalone, and through Home Assistant. Starter Kit Unboxing The kit contains the open-source hardware, ESP8266 based ANAVI Gas Detector board, a plastic stand, an OLED display, a USB to serial adapter, a gas sensor, and a few KiCad and ANAVI stickers. The board itself comes with an ESP8266MOD module, features a micro USB port for power, a reset button, four LEDs, a UART console, a 4-pin GPIO […]

August 25, 2019 by Ayo Ayibiowu - 4 Comments

ESP32-MeshKit is a Development Kit for ESP32 Mesh Networking

The ESP8266 was a jewel in its peak, it ruled the maker’s world in the need for creating a low-cost WiFi module. Being Arduino compatible also furthered its glory then the ESP32 came in. ESP32 offered so much more than the ESP8266, and most importantly it was also affordable. With support for Bluetooth and WiFi, ESP32 was to open a new frontier for the development of Internet of Things applications. A major drawback of the affordable ESP32 was the lack of official support of mesh network for the chip, something that was easily possible with the ESP8266. Mesh network allows you to build a network of nodes that can communicate with each other, self heal, and many more possibilities. But thankfully, back in 2018, Espressif Systems released the ESP Mesh Development Framework (ESP-MDF) which sits on top of the IoT Development Framework (ESP-IDF), the official development framework for the chip. […]

August 24, 2019August 24, 2019 by Stephen Vicinanza - 8 Comments

Philips Crowdfunds PicoPix Max Android Pico Projector with Autofocus

PicoPix Extra Connectivity The latest entrant into the miniprojector market is the Phillips PicoPix Max Pico Projector in two versions, x10 and x100, a very versatile projector with many features and large aspirations. The mini projector is nothing new and we have reported on it in depth for units that came out some time ago such as the Rikomagic RKM R1 or Doogee Smart Cube P1. The fact that a major electronics manufacturer is launching a mini projector through a crowdfunding campaign is somewhat unusual, but let’s have a look at the details. Portable Native Full HD Phillips is calling the PicoPix Max Pro a premium, portable cinematic experience. The unit is made to go anywhere and not need a phone or laptop to function but has a large number of ports and options for each port. The LED light bulb is said to last 30K hours, and the source […]