I reviewed Ugoos AM1 TV box based on Amlogic S905 processor a few weeks ago, and while the hardware was rather good, and found the firmware lacking with some bugs such as the remote control and one USB port not port, some instability issues with Google play and Kodi, Bluetooth transfer corruption, etc… The company has now released a firmware update (v 0.0.4) that will fix most of the issues I reported, and also sent me a new remote control as the one I had was an early model, and we’ve decided to giveaway one Ugoos AM1 to one lucky winner, the same way we had done for Ugoos UT4. The Rafflecopter form below has three options, each optional, but if you do all three you’ll get more chances to win. The contest will run for 4 days until March 16 10am (GMT+7), I’ll select the winner randomly through RaffleCopter, […]
Unuiga S905 TV Box Runs Remix OS 2.0 on Amlogic S905 Processor (Crowdfunding)
There are many Android TV boxes based on Amlogic S905 processor on the market selling for as low as $40 shipped, and hardware-wise Unuiga S905 and S905+ TV boxes look quite similar to their competitors with respectively 1GB RAM and 16GB flash, and 2GB RAM and 32GB flash, but the main differentiating factor is official support for Remix OS 2.0. Unuiga S905 and S905+ specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – S905: 1GB RAM; S905+: 2GB RAM Storage – micro SD slot; S905: 16GB flash, S905+: 32GB flash Video Output – HDMI 2.0, AV Audio – HDMI, AV, coaxial S/PDIF Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet WiFi – S905: 802.11 b/g/n; S905+: dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 4.1 (according to comment on YouTube) USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – IR receiver, touch button for power on/off and […]
Amlogic 2016 Roadmap Reveals Upcoming S905D Processor, Android 6.0 for Amlogic S905 and S912 SoCs
A new Amlogic roadmap reveals the company will release at least three new processors this year: Amlogic S905X, Amlogic S912 and Amlogic S905D all based on four to eight ARM Cortex A53 cores, and that Android 6.0 support is coming to Amlogic S905 X/D and S912 processors. Since the processors are in development, there are always some tweaks and new information about the specifications, as now Amlogic S905X and S912 quad and octa core processors will be clocked at 2.0 GHz (instead of just 1.5GHz as previously reported), and S905X will support 2-layer PCB, while all other recent Amlogic processors require 4-layer, which promises some very cheap 4K TV boxes with H.265 and VP9 support. Amlogic S912 will apparently not support USB 3.x since the new document only shows 3x USB 2.0 interfaces for the SoC. Amlogic S905D is similar to S905X except it supports Gigabit Ethernet (RGMII), TS video […]
WeTek Hub Android & OpenELEC TV Box Features Amlogic S905-H Revision C Processor
WeTek has been working not on one, but two four new devices recently. I’ve already covered WeTek Play 2S (previously known as WeTek Play+) based on Amlogic S905 Rev. C , running Android 5.1 or OpenELEC, and featuring digital TV tuners (ATSC, DVB-S2, DVB-T2/C), which should become available in Q2 2016. The company has unveiled another model called WeTek Hub with features closer to the ones found in other Amlogic S905 TV boxes I’ve reviewed so far, except it is based on Amlogic S905-H revision C, comes with Widewine and Microsoft PlayReady DRM, and supports both Android 5.1.1 and OpenELEC. WeTek Hub specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905-H revision C quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 up to […]
Zidoo X5 TV Box Review
Zidoo X5 is TV box running Android 5.1 powered by Amlogic S905 processor like so many competing products on the market. I’ve already listed the full specs and taken pictures of the Zidoo X5 case and hardware, so today we’ll see how the device performs against the many Amlogic S905 mini PCs I’ve reviewed so far, and if it fixes some common bugs. First Boot and First Impressions Before starting the media player I’ve connected all cables and made sure to fill the two USB ports with a bunch of peripherals including a 1TB hard drive, keyboard, webcam, and so on. There’s no power button, and the device boots immediately once you connect it to the mains, with a standard boot time being around 40 seconds. The company has used the exact same Zidoo launcher as in their X6 Pro TV box, however they’ve decided to use a 1280×720 framebuffer, […]
Raspberry Pi 3, ODROID-C2 and Pine A64+ Development Boards Comparison
Raspberry Pi 3 and hardkernel ODROID-C2 launched the same day, and together with Pine A64/A64+, are the only ultra low cost (<$40) 64-bit ARM development boards available or soon-to-be available, so I’ve decided to make a comparison of the three boards the same way I did with ~$10 boards with a Raspberry Pi Zero, C.H.I.P, and Orange Pi One comparison. I’ve used features of Pine A64+ instead of Pine A64 since features and price are closer to the other two boards. Text highlighted in green means a board is clearly better than the other two for a given features, while a red highlight means it’s the weakest of the three. Raspberry Pi 3 ODROID-C2 Pine A64 Plus Processor Broadcom BCM2837 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz(4x ~2760 DMIPS) Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 2.0 GHz(4x ~4600 DMIPS) Allwinner A64 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ […]
64-bit ARM (Aarch64) Instructions Boost Performance by 15 to 30% Compared to 32-bit ARM (Aarch32) Instructions
Yesterday was quite an eventful day with the launch of two low cost 64-bit ARM development boards, namely Raspberry Pi 3 and ODROID-C2, and as usual there were some pretty interesting discussions related to the launch of the boards in the comments section. One of the subject that came is that while Raspberry Pi 3 board is using a 64-bit processor, the operating systems are still compiled with 32-bit instructions (Aarch32) and even optimized for ARMv6, and they intend to keep it that way according to Eben Upton interview: Eben readily admits that not all the capabilities of the new parts are going to be used at launch, however. “Although it is a 64‑bit core, we’re using it as just a faster 32-bit core,” he reveals about the Pi 3’s central processing unit. “I can imagine there’d be some real benefits [to 64-bit code]. The downside is that you do […]
Geniatech ATV195e 4K TV Stick Features Amlogic S905 Processor, 802.11ac WiFi
While there are way too many Amlogic S905 TV boxes to keep up, the number of TV sticks based on the processor is fairly low, and until today I had only heard about Guleek A8 a few months ago, but I can’t even see it for sale anywhere.Potential reason include people have released TV stick are not that convenient, or electronic design houses had issues to cool the thing down, as we’ve seen even some full-size TV boxes have issues with cooling. Nevertheless, Geniatech has designed their own Amlogic S905 TV stick called ATV195e with 1GB RAM, 8GB flash, and 802.11ac WiFi. Geniatech ATV195e preliminary specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta core Mali-450MP GPU up to 750MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (2 to 32GB on-request) Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz […]