I’ve just noticed Liliputing posted an article about Datawind UbiSlate 7Ci tablet, the commercial version of Aakash2 tablet, that sells for $37.99. There are two caveats however: it’s only available in the U.S., and the price does not include a $9.99 shipping charge which brings the total price to $47.98. That’s still dirt cheap, but I’ve decided to look for the cheapest 7″ tablet that ships internationally. I did so on Chinese websites, including Aliexpress, where you can find such tablets for as low as $12 including shipping from sellers without feedback. These are obvious scams, so I filtered the products sold from sellers with decent feedback, and products with reviews. Based on these criteria, the cheapest Android tablet I could find is SF-M703A, or just called 703A. It goes for $43.99 including shipping via Swiss Post. Let’s compare the specifications of SF-M703A with Datawind UbiSlate 7Ci. SF-M703A Datawind UbiSlate […]
Teclast T97 Air Tablet Features AllWinner A80 Octa-core big.LITTLE SoC
AllWinner A80 octa core big.LITTLE ARM Cortex A15/A7 SoC was announced as part of AllWinner Roadmap a couple of months ago, and one of the first devices based on the new processor will be Teclast T97 Air, an Android tablet with 9.7″, 2048×1536 display. There are currently very few other details about the device, but we do know it will be extra slim with a thickness of just 7.5mm, and Edward Weinert reports the device is getting around 40,000 points in Antutu (if Google Translate Polish is right). Teclast T97 Air will be available early 2014, and price has not been disclosed yet. Via AndroidPC.es Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)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. www.cnx-software.com
Most Embedded GPUs Do NOT Support Hardware Video Decoding Acceleration. The VPU Does.
Many people seem to get confused with the actual function of GPUs used in embedded (ARM / MIPS) SoC, and I can often read comments similar to “with lima drivers we should get video decoding in XBMc soon”, and I’ve just received any email reading “My main task is to build a full hd media player based on ffmpeg with hardware decoding acceleration for Linux. Is it possible with mali400mp4?”. So I’ve decided to write a short post about it to make things a bit more clear. Contrary to GPUs in the PC world, embedded GPUs only take care of 3D, and sometimes 2D graphics, and leave video encoding and/or decoding to another block called Video Processing Unit (VPU). There’s at least one exception with Broadcom Videocore IV GPU as found in the processor used in the Raspberry Pi that apparently takes care of 2D & 3D graphics as well […]
Merrii Hummingbird Development Kit Features AllWinner A20 Processor, and an Optional 7″ Touchscreen Display
And yet another AllWinner A20 development platform shows up in my news stream in about 24 hours. Merrii Technology, a Shenzhen based electronics design house, has showed off their Hummingbird Development Kit to ARMDevices.net. The development board comes with 1GB RAM, 4GB NAND Flash, Gigabit Ethernet, SATA, HDMI output, and more. There’s also an optional 7″ capacitive touch screen display for the board. The company explains the kit can be used to develop application such as media players, game consoles, IPTV, automotive products (GPS & IVI), robots, servers, surveillance products, and home automation systems. Here are the board specifications: SoC – AllWinner A20 dual ARM Cortex-A7 core @ 1 GHz with ARM Mali400-MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 (2x 4Gb 16bits DDR3) Storage – 4GB MLC 64bit ECC NAND Flash (Hynix H27UBG8T2A), SATA II connectors, and micro SD card slot (Up to 32GB) Connectivity – Wifi & Bluetooth (two-in-one […]
Improv Open Hardware Platform Features EOMA68-A20 CPU Card Powered by AllWinner A20 SoC
After seeing a countdown clock on makeplaylive.com a few days ago, I was expecting the Plasma Active, Linux based Vivaldi Tablet to come up, but instead Improv, an open hardware platform, has just been launched. It features the long awaited EOMA68 CPU card with AllWinner A20 dual core ARM Cortex A7 processor, together with a “feature board”, and is now available for pre-order for $75, with shipping expecting in January. It’s only available in North America and Europe for now. Improv specifications: EOMA68-A20 CPU board: SoC – AllWinner A20 dual core ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR2 Storage – 4GB NAND flash Video – micro HDMI (video + audio), RGB/TTL pins USB – Micro USB OTG + USB 2.0 host pins Networking – 10/100M Ethernet Other buses – I2C, 8 GPIO, UART0 Weight – Under 40 grams Feature board: Storage – 32K EEPROM, […]
$69 PhoenixA20 Pico-ITX Board Features Allwinner A20 SoC
Anichips Technology, a Shenzhen based electronics design company, has just announced PhoenixA20, a pico-ITX board features AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A20 SoC with 1GB, 4GB Flash, HDMI and VGA output, Ethernet, and built-in Wi-fi and Bluetooth. PhoenixA20 specifications: SoC- AllWinner A20 dual ARM Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB NAND Flash, micro SD card slot (up to 32GB), and SATA Video output – HDMI and VGA connectors. LVDS, RGB and CVBS signals are accessible via the expansion headers Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0 (via AP6210) USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Camera Interface – CSI Expansion headers – 3x UART, 2x I2C, 1×I2S, 1xCVBS, 4x TVIN, 2x Line IN, 1x SPDIF, 2x PWM, 2x LRADC, 2x FMIN, 1xHeadphone, 4xTVOUT, MIC, IR, TP The board supports Android 4.2.2, and Linux 3.3 with source code for […]
Olimex Announces 30 Euros A10-OLinuXino-LIME Development Board for December
The Raspberry Pi, Beaglebone Black and Cubieboard are probably the best selling ARM Linux boards in the sub $50 category, but they’ll soon be joined by Olimex A10-OLinuXino-LIME powered by AllWinner A10 ARM Cortex A8 SoC with 512MB RAM that will sell for 30 Euros (About $40) when it becomes available in December. Another version of the board based on AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 SoC, called A20-OLinuXino-LIME will also be sold, adding Gigabit Ethernet, and scheduled for Q1 2014. Pricing has yet to be disclosed for the A20 version. A10-OLinuXino-LIME specifications: SoC – AllWinner A10 ARM Cortex-A8 @ 1GHz with Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 512MB DDR3 Storage – microSD card slot, SATA, and optional 4GB NAND Flash Video Output – HDMI 1080p USB – USB-OTG + 2x USB Hosts Connectivity – 10/100Mbit Ethernet Expansions – 200 GPIOs on 0.05″ connectors Misc – Lipo battery management and connector, […]
CS918S Android STB Features AllWinner A31s Processor, a Retractable Webcam, Built-in 3G
K-R42-1, now better known as CS918, has been a fairly popular Android set-top box based on RK3188 due to its low price. There’s no a new model called CS918S with a similar casing, but replacing Rockchip RK3188, by AllWinner A31s, adding more flash (16GB), a retractable webcam, and an internal bay with an optional 3G/4G module. Here are the specs of this device: SoC – AllWinner A31s quad cortex cortex A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz + PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB NAND flash + microSD card slot Video Output – HDMI and CVBS (AV) Audio Output – HDMI, optical SPDIF, and AV Video Playback / Encoding 2160p (UHD) H.264 decoding 1080p video decoding for Mpeg1/2, Mpeg4 SP/ASP GMC, H.263, H.264, etc. 1080p@30fps or 720p@60fps encoding 3840×1080@30fps 3D decoding, BD/SBS/TAB/FP supported 3840×1080@30fps 3D encoding Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 (Realtek 8723), 10/100M Ethernet, […]