Review of Open Hour Chameleon Android Media Player

Open Hour Chameleon is yet another Rockchip RK3288 based Android TV box, but it comes with aluminum enclosure, and boots from SD card instead of internal storage like all other devices I’ve seen on the market so far. Cloud Media (previously Syabas) also have a long history of making Linux based media players based on Sigma Designs processor, and when I worked on IPTV products, we used their PopCorn Hour has comparison platforms. So we should probably expect some interesting customization and features from the company. I’ve already posted pictures of Chameleon box and its board, so today, I’ll focus on reporting my experience with Android 4.4, and later I may also try their Lubuntu image. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions Normally I quickly try the remote control, and get it out of the way. But this time, I’ve spent a little bit more time with the remote since […]

Create-android-sdcard Script Creates a Bootable SD Card for any Rockchip RK3188 Devices

Bootable Linux SD card images for some Rockchip RK3188 devices such as MINIX NEO X7, MK809III, Tronsmart T428 have already been released this summer, and it provided any easy way to try Linux on Rockchip RK3188 devices without messing with your Android installation. But now you can create Android bootable images with any Rockchip RK3188 devices thanks to create-android-sdcard script written by Ian Morrison, as long as you have the firmware for your Android mini PC, and I don’t see why it would not even work for tablets. It allows you to try Android firmwwre before replacing your existing installation (great for developers), and it can also be a way to handle multiple users on a single device. There could be one SD card for dad, one for mum, and one for the kid, and all you have to do is to take out and replace the SD card with […]

Rikomagic MK80, MK12, MK05, V5 Android TV Boxes and Sticks Are Now Available for Purchase

Rikomagic unveiled their MK80, MK12 and MK05 Android media players a few week ago, and somehow I missed (or ignored) their Rikomagic V5 TV stick, which looks very similar to Jesurun T034 / MK802 V powered with Rockchip RK3288 processor, and features an Ethernet port, but differs as full-sized USB ports are used instead of mix of micro and full-sized USB ports. All four devices, even five with MK80 Plus, are now available on Rikomagic’s Aliexpress store. MK80 and MK80 Plus are Android mini PCs powered by Allwinner A80 SoC, and are probably using the same Sunchip board as Tronsmart Draco AW80 Meta and Telos, The standard version comes with 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, and the “Plus” version with 4GB RAM, and 32GB eMMC, and can be purchased respectively for $155.90 and $199.99 including shipping. MK12 is based on the new Amlogic S812 processor which adds HEVC/H.265 hardware video decoding […]

Firefly-RK3288 Development Board in Mass Production, Selling for $140

Firefly-RK3288 development board has been an interesting, yet confusing story, at least to me. We’ve first heard about the Firefly board on July, but I was privately told in September that the board would only be sold in China by a T-Chip sales person, only to see it become available for $189 on Ebay, as well as on Taobao a few days later. But those first boards may have only been engineering sample, or more likely from a limited trial runs, as the company has now announced mass production had started. Let’s refresh our memory with the specifications: SoC – Rockchip 3288 quad core ARM Cortex A12 / A17 up to 1.8 GHz with Mali-T764 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0, and OpenCL 1.1 System Memory – 2G DDR3 Storage – 16 GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot Video Output HDMI 2.0 up to 3840×2160@60p VGA out (D-SUB connector) Dual MIPI, Dual LVDS and and […]

Dual Boot Ubuntu 14.10 / Android 4.4 Image Released for Ugoos UT3

There has been several Ubuntu images released for Rockchip RK3288 based devices, even dual boot Android / Ubuntu images, first thanks to Ian Morrison who published instructions to install Linux on RK3288 devices based on the work done by T-Firefly team, then Nagrace released a preliminary dual boot Android / Ubuntu for HPH NT-V6, Open Hour Chameleon can boot either Android or Lubuntu from an SD card, and more recently Ugoos released a dual boot Ubuntu 14.10 / Android 4.4 image for their Ugoos UT3 mini PC, as well as a demo video. Three images are now available for Ugoos UT3: Dual boot (Android 4.4.2 – Ubuntu 14.10) – ut3_dualboot_0.1t.rar Ubuntu 14.10 only – ut3_ubuntu14.10_v0.1.rar Android 4.4.2 only – ut3_2.0.4.zip As a side note, I love mega.co.nz links as the download speed usually maxes out my Internet connection bandwidth. There are two files and one folder in the dual boot rar file: […]

Zero Devices Z5C Thinko 4K H.265 TV Stick Review

Zero Devices Z5C Think is one of the rare HDMI TV sitck powered by Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A12/A17 processor available on the market. I’ve already take a few pictures of the device and internals, so today I’ll focus on testing the firmware, and performance of this thin and nice looking TV stick. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions There was a time when HDMI stick were powered by much slower, but power efficient processor based on Cortex A5 cores. One of these was CX-01 mini PC, and they could be powered by the USB port of the TV without problems. Now the processor are much more powerful, so normally you can’t power the device directly from the TV, but since I’ve seen people claim it was possible to drive RK3288 stick directly from the USB port of some TVs, I gave it a try, connected the stick to […]

Unboxing of Jesurun T034 RK3288 TV Dongle with a Gigabit Ethernet Port

Jesurun T034 is an Android HDMI Stick that looks just like MK802 V, and with the same specifications. GearBest sent me a sample of this Rockchip RK3288 based HDMI TV dongle that have the particularity to include an Ethernet RJ45 port that most sticks lack. I’ll take a few pictures of the device, and the internal of this product today, before writing a full review. Jesurun T034 Unboxing I’ve received the parcel via DHL together with a dreaded piece of paper reading “Inbound Charges Invoice”. The package is a white brand box reading “Smart TV BOX” with RK3288 logo. The stick comes with a 5V/2.5 power adapter, a short HDMI cable, a micro USB to USB cable, a IR remote control. and the IR receiver cable. There’s also a user’s manual in English that seems to be for other RK3288 TV boxes (CR12, CR13, and CR16), but I’m sure nobody […]

Unboxing of Cloud Media Open Hour Chameleon Android Media Player

Cloud Media (previously Syabas) recently announced Open Hour Chameleon Android media player powered by Rockchip RK3288 processor. Compared to the many competing solutions based on Rockchip’s quad core Cortex A12/A17 processor, Open Hour comes with a metallic case to provide better casing, and instead of coming with internal NAND or eMMC flash, they provide a bootable SD card (Class 10) pre-loaded with Android 4.4.2, and they also have a preliminary Lubuntu image. They also recommend to use SPMC for video playback as “going forward, Rockchip will fully support SPMC instead of their custom Kodi”. Before writing the full review, I’ll show some pictures of the device, and take it apart to check out the hardware and their thermal dissipation solution. Open Hour Chameleon Unboxing I’ve received the box by Fedex in the following package. They list the key features on the top of the box namely RK3288, XBMC,  Android Kitkat, […]

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