This Low End Android Tablet Comes with a (Non-Removable) Stand with Speaker

The tablet shown below has pretty low specifications with an AllWinner A13 SoC, 512 MB RAM, 4GB, a 7″ 800×480 display, and a not so attractive price. However its stand makes it somewhat unique, and this tablet may be practical as a media frame, kitchen tablet, or possibly as an input console for some external device. Here are the specifications of the device: SoC – Allwinner A13 ARM Cortex-A8 Processor @ 1GHz with Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 512 MB Storage – 4GB NAND Flash + (full size) SD card slot Display – 7″ capacitive touchscreen TFT display with 800×480 resolution Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n Sensor – Gravity USB – mini USB port Battery – Unknown Audio – Built-in speaker This Android 4.0 tablet comes with a power adapter, an OTG cable, and a user’s manual. You can purchase it for $83.59 on TinyDeal, but if you really need […]

Cubietruck Development Board Features AllWinner A20 SoC, 2GB RAM, and Gb Ethernet

When Cubietech announced the availability of the Cubieboard2 last week, some people seemed disappointed it only came with 1GB RAM and no Gigabit Ethernet. We already knew a board called Cubietruck was in the work with those features, but work has gone faster than I expected as pictures of the Cubietruck board are already available. Instead of simply listing the specifications, I’ll show a comparison table of the specifications against Cubieboard2. Cubietruck Cubieboard2 SoC AllWinner A20 Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A7 with Mali400 MP2 AllWinner A20 Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A7 with Mali400 MP2 System Memory 1GB or 2GB DDR3@480MHz 1GB DDR3@480MHz Storage SATA 2.0 interface + NAND + Micro SD slot (or 2x micro Sd slot) SATA 2.0 interface + 4GB NAND flash + micro SD slot, Video Output Connectors HDMI & VGA HDMI Audio I/O 1x TOSLINK (Optical SPDIF), 1x headphone jack 1x headphone jack, 1x line in Connectivity 10M/100M/1G Ethernet 10M/100M […]

Rockchip RK3066 is Now Part of Mainline Linux Kernel

After AllWinner A10/A13 SoCs, it’s time for another Chinese SoC to be included into mainline kernel, with Rockchip RK3066(a). A few hours ago, Heiko Stuebner’s commit for basic support in Linux kernel 3.11 has been accepted. This is the commit message: This adds a generic devicetree board file and a dtsi for boards based on the RK3066a SoCs from Rockchip. Apart from the generic parts (gic, clocks, pinctrl) the only components currently supported are the timers, uarts and mmc ports (all DesignWare- based). Don’t get too excited though, as it may take a little while until you can actually build a kernel for Rockchip RK3066 or AllWinner A10 from mainline linux source code. But this is definitely another step in the right direction, and hopefully, Chinese SoC companies will eventually get involved, instead of relying on the community, as it is in their best interest. To access the full list […]

Mele M9 Android Set-top Box Powered by AllWinner A31

After Mele A1000G Quad, Mele has just launched another model called M9, still based on AllWinner A31 quad core processor, with an external Wi-Fi antenna, but no SATA support. Mele M9 specifications: SoC – AllWinner A31 quad core Cortex A7 @ 1.5GHz + PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 RAM Storage 16GB NAND Flash SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 1.4 Audio I/O – HDMI + S/PDIF optical out + Audio jack output Video Playback – Up to 2160p @ 60 Mbps USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x mini USB 2.0 OTG port Connectivity Ethernet – 10/100Mbps Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g/n Power Supply – 5V/2A The device runs Android 4.1 with a customized “Windows 8” user interface, and comes with a 5V/2A power adapter, an IR remote control (show below), an HDMI cable, a user’s manual, and a warranty card. The remote above as a […]

Cubieboard2 Powered By AllWinner A20 is now Available for $59

Cubieboard is a low cost board based on AllWinner A10 with lots of ports and expansion pins, that supports Linux and Android. There’s now a new version called Cubieboard2 based on the same board but powered by AllWinner A20 dual core Cortex A7 processor instead, and still with 1GB RAM and 4GB Flash. As you can see the specifications are the same as the original Cubieboard except for the SoC: SoC – AllWinner A20 Dual core ARM Cortex-A7 processor with Mali-400 MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB internal NAND flash, up to 64GB on micro SD slot, and up to 2TB on 2.5″ SATA disk Video Output – HDMI Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, plus optional Wi-Fi module USB –  2x USB 2.0 HOST, 1x USB 2.0 OTG Expansion headers – 96 pins including I2C, SPI, RGB/LVDS, CSI/TS, FM-IN, ADC, CVBS, VGA, SPDIF-OUT, R-TP, and more Misc […]

Rockchip RK3168 Powered Tablets Are Starting to Show Up for Sale

Rockchip first showcased a tablet prototype with RK3168 dual core processor at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair in April, showing lower power consumption compared to RK3066. At the time, tablets based on this processor were still in development, but this has changed as a few RK3168 tablets are now showing up in Aliexpress. Prices for 7″  Android tablets such as Cube U25GT PRO, are now about $110 as low as $75 including shipping, but this should come down as more sellers provide the devices. Cube U25GT PRO is an updated version of the U25GT pictured above. Here are the specifications of the PRO version: SoC –  Rockchip RK3168 @ 1.2 GHz with PowerVR SGX540 GPU System Memory – 512 MB RAM Storage – 8GB NAND Flash + micro SD card slot Display – 7″ 5 point touch capacitive screen (1024×600) Camera – 0.3MP front camera Connectivity – Wifi 802.11b/g/n + […]

Quick 3D Game Performance Comparison – Rockchip RK3188 vs AllWinner A31 HDMI TV Sticks

When comparing SoCs, most like to look at the overall score, and as I mentioned this morning, Tronsmart T428 (based on RK3188) easily beats Kimdecent CS868 (Based on A31) in Antutu benchmark, the former scoring 15207 points against 10559 points for the latter, both using stock firmware, and similar resolution (1280×720 vs 1280×672). The difference in resolution is because the status bar was hidden in T428. If we look at GPU performance, both the 3D scores in Antutu are about the same for both devices: T428 CS868 2D Graphics 1549 998 3D Graphics 2696 2866 But according to an earlier GPU comparison post, PowerVR SGX544 MP2 should be much faster than Mali-400 MP4. So I’ve decided to perform two quick tests: Epic Citadel benchmark and Real Racing 3 game. T428 could render Epic Citadel 1.07 at 41.3 fps in high quality, but I failed to install Epic Citadel, either via […]

Measy U4K – AllWinner A31 Powered Mini PC for 4K2K Video Playback

Apart from CS868, I had not seen other HDMI TV sticks based on AllWinner A31, the main reason being the performance to price ratio, with RK3188 devices cheaper than AllWinner A31 ones, and benchmarks such as Antutu showing better score for RK3188. 2D/3D performance is about the same as RK3188 (based on Antutu benchmark), despite A31’s PowerVR SGX544 MP2 GPU. So the only remaining advantage of A31 over RK3188 is 4K2K (UHD) video playback, which is probably why Measy called their A31 mini PC “Measy U4K”. Measy U4K Specifications: SoC –  Allwinner A31 quad-core cortex A7 @ 1.0GHz + PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB dual channel 64-bit DDR3 Storage – 8GB Nand dual channel 16-bit Flash + micro SD card slot (Up to 32 GB) Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (Ralink8188) + Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 1x micro USB OTG for power, and 1x USB 2.0 host Video Output […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC