SEI 520 is a 2-in-1 Android TV Hybrid Set-top Box and Smart Speaker

SEI 520 Android TV Smart Speaker

SEI Robotics has showcased a new device at CES 2019 that looks like a smart speaker, and SEI 520 is indeed a smart speaker with Google Assistant support, but it also adds a digital TV tuner and a quad-core Cortex A53 processor running Android TV 9.0 operating system to allow you to watch live TV, and stream videos. Preliminary specifications for SEI 520 smart speaker: SoC – Quad core Arm Cortex-A53 processor, possibly Amlogic S905X2 System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI up to 4K UHD Video Decode – VP9 and H.265/HEVC Audio Output – HDMI audio + optical S/PDIF Input – Far-field microphone Speaker – No technical details provided Connectivity – Ethernet, 2T2R MIMO WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0 Tuner – DVB-S2X/T2/C, ATSC, ISDBT USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB 2.0 port Misc – IR blaster Power Supply – 12V DC via […]

MECOOL KM8 P Octa-core TV Box Sells for $21 and Up (Promo)

MECOOL KM8 P TV Box Promo

From time to time some pretty good deals come up in my news feed, and today I’ve found out MECOOL KM8 P, a TV box powered by Amlogic S912 octa-core processor is sold for $21.28 and up including shipping. The lowest price is for the 1GB RAM / 8GB flash version, so you may consider selecting the 2GB/16GB model for $33.60 instead if you are interested in this type of device. Mecool KM8 P specifications: SoC – Amlogic S912 octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz with Arm Mali-820MP3 System Memory – 1 or 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8 or 16GB eMMC flash, micro SD slot up to 32GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60Hz with CEC and HDR support, and 3.5mm AV port (composite + stereo audio) Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 USB – 2x USB […]

Year 2018 in Review, Top 10 Posts, and Some Stats

cnx software year 2018 review

That’s it, we’ve already reached the last day of 2018, and it’s time to have a look back at what happened during the past year. On the mini PC front, Gemini Lake based mini PCs took over from Apollo Lake with some performance improvements, but I expected the price point to be a bit lower than it is today.  Apart from further developments with regards to mobile processors, it feels 2018 was an off-year for processors, such as the ones found in TV boxes and development boards, with mostly more of the same. Allwinner and Rockchip did not release any really interesting processor, and Amlogic only launched S905X2 and S905Y2 which are mostly evolutions of their previous generation with an OpenGL 3.x capable GPU and USB 3.0. Rockchip RK3399 stood out this year, as despite being launched in 2016, it suddenly became popular again with many RK3399 SBCs coming to […]

Linux 4.20 Release – Main Changes, Arm and MIPS Architectures

Linux 4.20 Changelog

After Greg K-H handling Linux 4.19 release, Linus Torvalds is back at the helm, and released Linux 4.20 just before Christmas: Let’s face it, last week wasn’t quite as quiet as I would have hoped for, but there really doesn’t seem to be any point to delay 4.20 because everybody is already taking a break. And it’s not like there are any known issues, it’s just that the shortlog below is a bit longer than I would have wished for. Nothing screams “oh, that’s scary”, though. And as part of the “everybody is already taking a break”, I can happily report that I already have quite a few early pull requests in my inbox. I encouraged people to get it over and done with, so that people can just relax over the year-end holidays. In fact, I probably won’t start pulling for a couple of days, but otherwise let’s just […]

$100 Laptop Shell to Support Smartphones, USB Type-C PC Sticks, and SBCs (Crowdfunding)

100 dollar lapdock

Launched in 2011, Motorola Lapdock turned the company’s Atrix 4G smartphone into an Android laptop, but it did not end up being a commercial success so the company stopped manufacturing the laptop shell a few years ago. It is still used by hobbyist for example to create their own DIY Raspberry Pi laptop, and in recent years, with phoned getting much more powerful and desktop support for Android improving, lookalikes have been launched such as NextDock or Mirabook. A new option will soon be available, as Charbax known for his armdevices.net website and YouTube channel has just launched an Indiegogo campaign for a $100 Lapdock. Two models will be available with Lapdock 11.6″, and Lapdock 14.1″ referring to their size, but sadly no other specifications were provided for the display. We still know they’ll work with Samsung Dex / Linux on Dex modes, Huawei PC mode, and basically any device […]

A95X Max S905X2 TV Box Supports 2.5″ SATA Drives

S905X2 SATA Drive HDD

Several Amlogic S905X2 TV boxes have launched in recent months with models such as X96 Max or Beelink GT1 Mini, and if you’re the kind of user who mostly play videos from local storage as opposed to streaming, you can always connect a hard drive to one of the USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 ports of the media players.  However, if you prefer something neater, A95X Max TV box offers similar features, but adds support for internal 2.5″ SATA drives. A95X Max specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X2 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.8 GHz with Mali-G31 MP2 “Dvalin” GPU System Memory – 4GB DDR3L Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, micro SD card slot up to 128GB, support for internal SATA SSD/HDD Video Output – HDMI 2.1 output up to 4K @ 75 Hz with CEC, HDP, HDR support, AV output Video Codecs –  VP9 Profile-2 up to 4K […]

WeTek Air Android TV 4K HDR Set-Top Box Comes with DVB-T2/C, DVB-S2 or ATSC Tuners

WeTek Air

WeTek was one of the first manufacturers to launch Android set-top boxes with built-in tuners starting with WeTek Play, later followed by WeTek Play 2 model a few years later. In recent years, the company also introduced other Android media devices for the business sector with WeTek Hyperion 4G LTE Android TV TV box, and WeTek Nix with all DRM required for the IPTV market. But it appears WeTek is coming back to the consumer market with their Google certified WeTek Air TV box running Android TV, and equipped with DVB-T2/T/C (Europe), ATSC (US), or DVB-S2 (Worldwide) tuner. WeTek Air hardware specifications are pretty similar to their WeTek Play 2 model, but with various improved features thanks to a new processor: SoC –  Quad core Arm processor (Likely S905D, TBC) System Memory – 2 GB DDR4 Storage – 16 GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot Video & Audio […]

Ugoos Clever Canvas Cube TV Dongle Makes Digital Signage Easy

Ugoos Clever Canvas Cube

When I was first informed about Ugoos Clever Canvas Cube, I ignored it because it just looked like an another “old” Amlogic S905 TV stick running Android 5.1. But I came across it again today, and I realized the device is not designed to stream video per se, but instead it’s loaded with digital signage software that makes it easy to compose layout from photos, and text directly from your mobile phone, with the content then uploaded to the stick over the cloud. Ugoos Clever Canvas hardware is actually Ugoos AM2 with the following specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor with penta-core Arm Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB flash, micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4k @ 60 fps, 3.5mm AV output with composite and stereo audio Connectivity – Dual band […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC