FXI Technologies has unveiled a USB stick that turns any screen into an a computer running Android or Ubuntu, and in the future Windows 8 will also be supported. The Cotton Candy will include a Samsung Exynos 4210 dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU clocked at 1.2GHz, with a Quad Core Mali 400MP GPU, like the Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone. It will also feature 1GB of RAM, a microSD slot capable of holding up to 64GB of flash memory, Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity and an HDMI port. This small device (it measures 8cm x 2.5cm) has decent multimedia capabilities as it can support 1080p decode of MPEG4-SP/H.263/H.264 AVC/MPEG-2/VC1, as well as MP3, AAC, AAC+, Real Audio decoding and JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG pictures. Extra third party codec can also be added. There are 2 main use cases for the Cotton Candy: Connection to a HDMI-capable TV or Display: Connect an HDMI monitor/TV […]
Linaro’s Android Platform – ELCE 2011
Zach Pfeffer, Linaro Android Platform team leader, describes Linaro’s work on the Android platform and future plans at Embedded Linux Conference Europe 2011. Abstract: Linaro uses components from the Android Open Source Project, member companies, community supported efforts and Linaro engineering teams to build integrated, easy-to-use and well tested Android platforms for upstream work, product baselines and hobby projects. The team currently has platforms for TIs PandaBoard, BeagleBoard and Beagle xM, ST Ericsson’s Snowball, Samsung’s Origen and Freescale’s iMX53. They recently released platforms with Android 2.3.4 built against GCC 4.6 and running the 3.0 Linux kernel. In this session Zach reviews what’s been done, the Linaro Android concept, how Linaro brings Android together and what their plans are. 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 […]
Linaro 11.10 Release with Linux Kernel 3.1
Linaro has just released version 11.10 based on Linux Kernel 3.1. Here are the highlights of the release: Android Audio playback and recording works on LEB-panda. TJBench into all Android builds benchmarked against the original Android libjpeg implementation: TomGall/LibJpegTurbo All strict-aliasing violations in 2.3.5 have been fixed and sent to AOSP. (for build optimization) Linaro Gerrit is integrated with Android Build Service for change verification as part of Continuous Integration effort. Tip toolchain tracked and released against all targets for 11.10. iMX53 will now boot with a 3.0 or later Android Kernel. The multimedia test application has been extended to cover encoding and give better benchmark results. Linaro’s Android distribution can now base builds off a tip toolchain build. Linaro’s 11.09 toolchain has been benchmarked. USB camera (UVC) now works on linaro-android builds. Developer Platform The Linux Linaro packages are now generated and validated in a continuous integration loop. New […]
Samsung Galaxy S3 to be based on Exynos 4212 Processor
A picture which the next Samsung Galaxy S3 has been leaked on the Internet. Phandroid has posted a screenshot of what are being rumored to be the specs of the Galaxy S III. The Samsung Galaxy S3 should have the following specs: 1.8 GHz dual-core processor (Exynos 4212) 2GB RAM Android OS (I suppose ICS) 4.6″ SuperAMOLED Plus HD display 12MP Rear Camera The phone will be available sometimes in 2012 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
CubeStormer II Solves The Rubik’s Cube in 5.352 Seconds
Do you remember the ARM Android Based Rubiks Cube Solver ? Last year it could solve the puzzle in an average of 15 seconds. David Gilday has upgraded its robot with the help of Mike Dobson and named the device CubeStormer II. They released a video showing the CubeStormer II solve the Rubik’s Cube in 5.352 seconds, faster than the human world record (5.66 seconds). The mechanics are constructed entirely from LEGO, including four MINDSTORMS NXT kits, with the addition of a Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone running a custom Android app as the robot’s brain. The app uses the phone’s camera to capture images of each face of the Rubik’s Cube which it processes to determine the scrambled colours. The solution is found using an advanced two-phase algorithm, originally developed for Speedcuber (originally developed by Mike Dobson), enhanced to be multi-threaded to make effective use of the smartphone’s dual-core […]
Samsung Unveils New Dual-core Exynos 4212 Processor
Samsung unveiled its new Exynos processor this week at Samsung Mobile Solution Forum 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan. The Exynos 4212 is a dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor clocked up to 1.5 GHz and “will improve processing power by 25 per cent and enhance a device’s 3D abilities by a massive 50 per cent” according to Samsung. The processor will also consume 30 percent less power than its predecessor (Exynos 4210) thanks to Samsung new 32nm HKMG process. Finally the company said that the Exynos 4212 will incorporate a rich portfolio of advanced codec accelerators that support digital still images, video recording and play-back at 1080p full-HD resolution, an image signal processor and an on-chip HDMI 1.4 interface. Samsung’s Exynos 4212 processor will sample to select customers in Q4 2011. Samsung also announced a website dedicated to Exynos processors. This website has a lot of information on Exynos 3110 and […]
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 Android Tablet
On September 1, at the IFA 2011 in Berlin, Samsung unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core processor, probably Samsung Exynos Cortex-A9 processor used in Samsung Galaxy S2. Nobody could have guessed but the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 actually features a 7.7″ touchscreen display using Super AMOLED Plus technology (as in Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone), at first for a screen of this size. The resolution is 1280×800 (WXGA). It is almost as thin as Toshiba AT200 tablet with a thickness of 7.89 mm (vs 7.7 mm) and weights only 335 grams. Here are the specifications of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7: Display: 7.7″ 1280×800 (WXGA) Super AMOLED Plus Processor: 1.4 Ghz Dual Core application processor Network: LTE & HSPA + 21Mbps | Wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n Memory: 16/32/64 GB movi NAND + microSD 9up to 32 GB) Cameras: 3MP AF LED (Main) + 2 MB FF […]
Linaro 11.08 Release with Linux Kernel 3.0.3
Linaro has just released version 11.08 based on Linux Kernel 3.0.3 with support or TI Beagleboard, BeagleBoard-xM & Pandaboard, ST Ericsson Snowball, Freescale i.MX53 development board and Samsung Origen board. Here are the highlights of the release: Android The Linaro 11.08 toolchain release of GCC 4.6 has compiled the Origen, BeagleBoard, BeagleBoard-xM, PandaBoard and Snowball builds, and are running Android 2.3.5 with a 3.0 Linux kernel. Together with the mainline kernel focused builds for BeagleBoard and PandaBoard and a preliminary i.MX53 build, the Android Platform Team ships 6 builds this month. A first! Android Platform code aliasing violations have been fixed allowing the use of strict-aliasing for better optimizations with gcc 4.6 based toolchains. The Android toolchain 11.08 has been released and has received numerous updates, including updated binutils and current gmp/mpfr/mpc. Benchmarks are available here. libjpeg-turbo 1.1.1 and ffmpeg with support for H.264 and WebM build are available on […]