Huawei Kirin 950 Octa-core Processor Comes with 4 Cortex A72 Cores, 4 Cortex A53 Cores, and a Sensor Hub

Smartphone based on MediaTek Helio X20 (MT6797) processor with 10 cores including two Cortex A72 cores should start shipping next month, but MediaTek will soon be joined by another Asian company with a mobile SoC with Cortex A72 cores with Huawei that has recently demonstrated their Kirin 950 Octa-core processor with four Cortex A72 coers and four Cortex A53 cores, achieving over 82,000 points in Antutu 5.6 (why an older version?) on a reference board. For reference the top 10 Antutu scores so far in 2015, only got as high as ~77,000 points fro Meizu Pro 5.  Since the benchmark was run on a reference, it’s possible the score will drop once it’s in a tighter package. Some key features of Kirin 950 processors: CPU – 4x Cortex A72 cores @ 2.3 GHz, 4x Cortex A53 cores @ 1.8 GHz GPU – ARM Mali-T880MP4 GPU @ 900 MHz Co-processor – […]

Espressif ESP32 Dual Core SoC Features Faster WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, and More Peripherals

Espressif teased us about a successor to ESP8266 a few months ago that would support both WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy, and John Lee, working for Espressif Systems, has now sent a letter to ESP8266 developers announcing the new wireless SoC with two Tensilica L108 cores and called ESP32. Espressif ESP32 key improvements over ESP8266: Faster WiFi – Wifi has been upgraded to support HT40 speed (144.4 Mbps) and has a new RF architecture to simplify the application schematics Bluetooth Low Energy and Classic Dual core processor – 2x Tensilica L108 processors clocked at up to 160 MHz Low Power Mode Improvements – ADC conversions, level thresholds, etc.. can now be performed in deep sleep Peripherals – Capacitive touch, ADCs, DACs, I2C. UART, SPI, SDIO, I2S, RMII, PMW, etc… but no USB. More RAM – ~400 KB on-chip RAM Security – Hardware accelerated AES and SSL, and more undisclosed improvements. […]

EmbPower Provides Nvidia Tegra K1 RTX Modules, Carrier Boards, and Industrial Computers

EmbPower is a Taiwanese company that first focused on graphic cards, but has since then also developed other solutions requiring high GPU performance for military & aerospace applications as well as medical equipment. One of these products is TK1 Carrier Board with TK1 SoM powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core processor, that can be encapsulated into TK1 PowerUnit industrial computer. There are actually two TK1 carrier boards: the larger V1.2 with more ports and features, and the smaller V2.0 that is used in TK1 PowerUnit Box, but they share most of the same (preliminary) specifications: SoC – Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core ARM Cotax-A15 processor with Nvidia Kepler 192-core GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 @ 933 MHz Storage – 16GB eMMC flash and SPI serial flash. V2.0 only: Adds micro SD slot; V1.2 only: Adds SD slot and SATA Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet; optional 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 […]

Giveaway Week – A80 Optimusboard Development Board

Together with Rockchip RK3288, Allwinner A80 is one of the most powerful Chinese ARM processors for mini PCs or development board, and today I’m starting a giveaway for A80 OptimusBoard development board based on Allwinner octa core big.LITTLE processor. When I got the board last year, it was indeed powerful as shown in benchmarks. But unfortunately after Allwinner provided me with a new firmware supposed to fix some NTFS write performance issues, I quickly discovered it also had some stability issues whose reasons were not clear, and Merrii Technology support is not very good to say the least, at least for hobbyists, and even now there’s no operating system for download on the board page. Luckily PcDuino Arches (previously known as PCDuino8) is basically the same, and you can download some Lubuntu & Android images on Linksprite website instead. The firmware has not been updated since 2014 however. To enter […]

Manifold mini PC Powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 Processor is Designed for Drones

DJI is known for their high-end drones such as Phantom 3 quadcopter, but the company has now launched Manifold mini PC powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core Cortex A15 processor and running Ubuntu 14.04 in order to allow developers run their own applications performing complex computing tasks and advanced image processing “on the fly”. DJI Manifold specifications: SoC – Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core Cortex-A15 processor @ up to 2.2 GHz with 192-core Kepler GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3L Storage – 16GB eMMC 4.51 flash, micro SD slot Video Output – mini HDMI port Audio I/O – mini HDMI, combo audio jack for microphone and headphone Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet port USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports, 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB port (supports Force Recovery mode and Host mode) ,  and a non-standard USB 2.0 interface with the drone. Camera – Camera In and […]

Teclast X16 Tablet Comes with an Intel Atom x7-Z8700 Processor and 8GB RAM, Dual Boots Android 5.1 and Windows 10

There’s been a few Cherry Trail devices launched recently, but the Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor found in most new devices does not offer that much over the older Intel Atom Z3735F, and only an handful of devices have been released based on the more powerful Atom x7-Z8700 processor such as Microsoft Surface 3 tablet and Magicstick TV stick. I can also often read people complaining 2GB RAM is not enough, but Teclast X16 Power 11.6″ tablet addresses these two issues with an Atom x7-Z8700 quad core processor, 8GB RAM, and 64GB storage for dual booting Windows 10 and Android 5.1. Teclast X16 Power specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x7-Z8700 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.6 GHz (Bust freq: 2.4 GHz) with Intel Gen8 HD graphics with 16EU @ 600MHz (2W SDP) System Memory –  8 GB LPDDR3-1600 Storage – 64 GB eMMC + micro SD slot up to 64GB […]

Giveaway Week – M-195 Android TV Box

The third TV box of this giveaway week is a one year old device based on Realtek RTD1195 dual core Cortex A7 processor with a Mali-400MP2. However, beside relatively weak CPU and GPU, M-195 Android TV box features some fast interfaces like USB 3.0, and Gigabit Ethernet, as well as 4K video decoding and output, HDMI audio pass-through up to 7.1 channels, an HDMI input port, and H.265 video codec support. While I found out the device was quite slow at times during the review, video playback quite good using XBMC with an external player, and USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet interface provides a boost, albeit limited, compared to other devices with only USB 2.0 and Fast Ethernet. At the time of review, 7.1 audio pass-through did not work, nor SAMBA in XBMC (now Kodi), and HDMI input was not very useful, but M-195 has got several firmware updates, including […]

T20 Android 4.4 and Windows 10 Keyboard Computer Sells for $112

PiPo introduced a Windows 10 keyboard PC powered by an Intel Bay Processor called PiPo K1 a few weeks ago, but AFAIK it’s not shipping yet. At least one company beat them to market, as T20 Android and Windows 10 keyboard computer powered by Intel Atom Z3735F processor is currently selling for $169.99 on Banggood. [Update: It’s now on FocalPrice for $119.99 shipped] T20 keyboard PC specifications: SoC – Intel Atom Bay Trail Z3735F quad core processor @ up to 1.83 GHz with Intel Gen7 HD graphics up to 667MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3L Storage – 32GB eMMC + micro SD slot up to 64GB Keyboard – 76 keys QWERTY keyboard and (rather small) touchpad Video Output – 1x HDMI, 1x VGA Audio – Stereo speakers, 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 2x USB host ports Misc – Power button Power […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC