You can now buy Khadas VIM4 SBC for $199.90

Khadas VIM4 Ubuntu 22.04

Khadas VIM4 single board computer was first unveiled last October with Amlogic A311D2 octa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor, 8GB LPDDR4X, but it’s only been launched today, and you can now buy the Khadas VIM4 board for right under $200. It is an upgrade to Khadas VIM3 Pro launched with Amlogiv A311D hexa-core processor a few years ago, and our testing in Android 11 revealed the main benefit may be the upgrade GPU that delivered a 67% boost in 3DMark, but CPU multi-core performance and memory bandwidth will also see some benefits over Amlogic A311D, even against in overclocked systems like ODROID N2+. Here’s a reminder of Khadas VIM4 specifications: SoC – Amlogic A311D2 octa-core processor with 4x Arm Cortex-A73 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz and 4x Cortex A53 cores @ up to 2.0 GHz, Arm Mali-G52 MP(8EE) GPU, (Note: no NPU at this time) System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4X @ 2016 […]

Bee Motion ESP32-S2 PIR motion sensor offers GPIOs, over a year of battery life

Bee Motion ESP32-S2 motion sensor

Smart Bee Designs’ Bee Motion is an ESP32-S2 board with a PIR motion sensor, some GPIOs for expansion, and promising over a year of battery life under the right circumstances. If the name “Bee Motion” rings a bell, it’s because we covered the Bee Motion Mini board last month with an ESP32-C3 processor and a PIR sensor, but no USB port for programming and no expansion ability. It was just designed to be used as a battery-powered wireless PIR motion sensor. The Bee Motion expands the use cases of the solution, although it only features WiFi connectivity, and loses Bluetooth LE. Bee Motion specifications: Wireless module – Espressif ESP32-S2-MINI-1 module with Espressif ESP32-S2FH4 single-core 32-bit LX7 microcontroller @ up to 240 MHz, RISC-V ultra-low-power co-processor, 320 kB SRAM, 128kB ROM, 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 connectivity, 4MB flash, PCB antenna PIR sensor – Passive infrared motion sensor with dome lens, 5-meter […]

Android 13 Beta for TV available for Google ADT-3 devkit

Android 13 Android TV OS

Google released the first Android 13 Developer preview in February, and we know quite a lot about Android 13 including virtualization support, as well as security and privacy updates. But the company has now released Android 13 Beta for TV (aka Android 13 for Android TV) for Google ADT-3 developer kit and the Android Emulator for TV in Android Studio. The beta release allows app developers to test their apps and provide feedback on the latest release before it is released to customer devices. Google does not provide any changelog specific to Android 13 for Android TV, but you’ll find the OS image for ADT-3 and installation instructions on the release page. Mishaal Rahman tried it on his ADT-3 box expecting some new features, but he noted that expanded PiP support, low power standby ( which could disable wakelocks and cut off network access to apps in order to preserve […]

Khadas VIM4 Review – Part 2: Android 11 preview and benchmarks

Khadas VIM4 Android 11 Review

In the first part of Khadas VIM4 review, I showed off the Amlogic A311D2 SBC and some accessories such as the DIY case and M2X expansion board to add M.2 SSD and modem and tried out OOWOW cloud services to install Ubuntu 20.04 server. I’ve now just gotten Fiber Internet at home, so it’s much more practical to test the system, and in the second part of the review, I’ve installed Android 11 on the VIM4 board, checked out settings and system info, and ran some benchmarks.  It will be more like a preview since Android 11 is not a consumer-friendly system at this time, and is more designed for people wanting to build their own applications. Installing Android 11 on Khadas VIM4 with OOWOW system Last time around, I used OOWOW system install in the SPI flash on the board to download and install Ubuntu 20.04 server to the […]

ROCK Pi 4 Model C+ SBC features 1.5 GHz Rockchip RK3399-T CPU, dual HDMI output

RK3399-T SBC

ROCK Pi 4 Model C+ is a single board computer (SBC) by a Rockchip RK3399-T hexa-core processor @ 1.5 GHz, equipped with 4GB RAM, and two micro HDMI ports to drive up to one 4K display, and one 2K display. It is yet another ROCK Pi 4 SBC from Radxa, and the first to use the down-clocked RK3399-T processor with other models based on Rockchip OP1 processor clocked at 2.0GHz (overclockable to 2.2/2.4GHz) or the traditional Rockchip RK3399 @ 1.8 GHz (overclockable to 2.0 GHz), and also the first of the family to offer dual HDMI output. ROCK Pi 4 Model C+ specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399-T big.LITTLE hexa-core processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 @ up to 1.5 GHz (up to 2.0 GHz overclock) 4x Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.4 GHz (up to 1.6 GHz overclock). Note the processor datasheet says the Cortex-A53 cores are limited to 1.0 GHz, but […]

Android RISC-V progress update, emulator support, and roadmap to 2023

Android 12 RISC-V

We’ve first covered Alibaba T-Head work on Android 10 for RISC-V in January 2021, and later that year they started selling the T-Head RVB-ICE dual-core RISC-V board with GPU for software development. The company has now provided an update for Android 12 RISC-V port, instructions to build Android RISC-V to run it in an emulator,  as well as a 2022-2023 roadmap. Alibaba T-head is working on hardware platforms, which appears to be similar to T-Head RVB-ICE board, with the following minimal specifications: CPU – At least Dual-core XuanTie C910 (rv64imafdcv) processor GPU – Compatible with OpenGL ES and OpenCL VPU – HW Video/Picture codec Neural Network Accelerator System Memory – 4GB or more DDR Memory Display – MIPI/HDMI Audio – Multi-Channel Audio output & input Camera – ISP with support for multiple MIPI CSI lanes USB interface(s) They built upon the work done on Android 10 to add support for […]

Ultenic T10 review – A self-emptying 2-in-1 smart vacuum robot with mopping function

Ultenic T10 smart vacuum cleaner review

Ultenic T10 is a 2-in-1 smart vacuum cleaner and mopping system with a self-emptying base that’s quite similar to the Cybovac S31 robot I reviewed a little over a year ago. The Cybovac vacuum cleaner still works fine, but it has some shortcomings, so when Ultenic asked me whether I would be interested in reviewing their T10 unit, I accepted, and here I am with a new smart robot vacuum cleaner that I’ll review with the Android app in a larger house. Ultenic T10 unboxing The package and hardware are very similar to what I got with the Cybovac model. The robot comes with a charging base that’s pretty large since it includes its own dust bag for the self-emptying function. Key features listed for the T10 vacuum cleaner: Navigation Type – LDS laser for visual SLAM function Suction power Carpet pressurization – 2700 Pa Fixed-point cleaning – 2700 Pa […]

Khadas VIM4 Review – Part 1: Unboxing, kit assembly, and first boot with OOWOW

Khadas VIM4 heatsink

Khadas VIM4 is a compact Amlogic A311D2 octa-core Cortex-A73/A53 SBC with 8GB RAM, HDMI input and output, WiFI 6 connectivity, and more. You can check our earlier post for the full specifications. The good news is that it will officially launch on May 10. I’ve also just received a Khadas VIM4 review sample today together with accessories. Today, I’ll start by checking out the board, assembling the kit, and trying out OOWOW services to boot OS from the cloud, before testing available operating systems in more detail in the second part of Khadas VIM4 review a little later. Khadas VIM4 kit unboxing I received everything in a blank cardboard package with several small packages inside. Besides Khadas VIM4 SBC, we’ve got a plastic + metal enclosure with screws and screwdriver, two antennas for WiFi and Bluetooth, a USB Type-C power supply, a USB-C cable, an M.2 expansion board, a short […]

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