We’ve previously seen compact Rockchip RK3399 powered single board computer with support for dual displays with the likes of Rock Pi 4 and NanoPi M4B thanks to HDMI and MIPI DSI interfaces. Novasom M9 is another compact RK3399 SBC with both HDMI and MIPI DSI, as well as DisplayPort or embedded DisplayPort (eDP) for a wider choice of display interfaces, although as I understand it is still limited to dual independent display configurations. Another differentiating feature is the option for a wider -20 to +85°C operating temperature meaning it can be equipped with Rockchip RK3399K processor instead of RK3399, and the board also happens to come with an M.2 socket for NVMe SSDs just like Rock Pi 4 board. SBC-M9 board specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 or RK3399K hexa-core processor with two Cortex A72 cores, four Cortex-A53 core, Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU System Memory – LPDDR3 up to 4GB @ 64bit […]
Allwinner A133 tablet processor pairs with XR829 or AW859A WiFi & Bluetooth chip
Last year, Allwinner published an updated roadmap for tablet processors that included A100, A200, and A300 SoC’s. None of those have been launched yet, but I’ve just noticed the Allwinner A133 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor showed up on the company’s website. That’s yet another entry-level processor coupled with a PowerVR GE8300 GPU, but you’d get support for Android 10, instead of the older Android 7.1/8.1 SDK provided for the earlier Allwinner A-series tablet processors. This time around, the company also pairs A133 processor with its own wireless chips, either XR829 WiFI 4 and Bluetooth 4.2 chip, or AW859A dual-band 802.11ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5 chip. Allwinner A133 specifications: CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.6GHz with 32KB L1 I-cache + 32KB L1 D-cache per core, 512KB L2 cache, and CoolFlex power management architecture GPU – Imagination PowerVR GE8300 with support for OpenGL ES3.2, Vulkan 1.1, OpenCL 1.2 Memory I/F – […]
Station P1 & M1 fanless mini PCs run media or desktop-optimized Android OS
T-Chip has recently introduced two fanless “Geek” mini PCs under their Firefly brand with Station P1 & M1 respectively powered by Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor, and RK3328 quad-core processor. Both mini PCs can run Firefly’s Station OS in either desktop or media mode, as well as Android or Ubuntu. There are also some community efforts to port Armbian and LibreELEC to the devices. Station P1 specifications Specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor with two Cortex A72 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores, Mali-T860 MP4 GPU with support for OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.0/3.1, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL, DX11, VPU with support for 4K H.265 10-bit 60fps video decoding, multi-channel 1080p video decoding and encoding System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 dual-channel 64-bit RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash (16GB/64GB/128GB Optional), onboard 16MB SPI flash, MicroSD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.0a up to 4Kp60, HDCP 1.4/2.2 DisplayPort 1.2 up to 4Kp60 […]
F(x)tec Pro1 X smartphone runs LineageOS or Ubuntu, features a sliding keyboard (Crowdfunding)
F(x)tec Pro1 Android smartphone was introduced last year with the main differentiating features being its sliding keyboard. The company also mentioned support for Android-based LineageOS as well as Sailfish OS, but those need(ed) to be installed by the user. FX Technology has now unveiled F(x)tec Pro1 X smartphone with similar specs, except for the blue case and the option of having additional memory and storage, as well as official support for LineageOS and Ubuntu Touch thanks to a collaboration with XDA. Another difference is the availability of Scandinavian and AZERTY keyboard layouts F(x)tec Pro1 X specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (MSM8998) octa-core Kryo 280 processor with 4x higher performance cores @ 2.45 GHz, 4x low-power cores @ 1.9 GHz, Adreno 540 GPU System Memory – 6GB or 8GB LPDDR4 Storage – 128GB or 256GB flash, MicroSD card up to 2TB Display – 5.99-inch 2160 x 1080 (FHD+) AMOLED display with […]
Qualcomm QCS610 micro SoM and devkit to power AI and ML smart cameras
Last July, we missed Qualcomm’s announcement of QCS410 and QCS610 processors designed to bring “premium camera technology, including powerful artificial intelligence and machine learning features formerly only available to high-end devices, into mid-tier camera segments”. The new SoC’s were recently brought to our attention by Lantronix as they have just introduced a new Open-Q 610 micro system-on-module (μSOM) based on Qualcomm QCS610 processor, as well as a development kit designed to bring such smart cameras to market. I first got a bit confused by the product name, but this goes without saying that it is completely unrelated to Qualcomm Snapdragon 610 announced over six years ago. Open-Q 610 micro system-on-module Open-Q 610 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm QCS610 CPU – Octa-core processor with 2x Kryo 460 Gold cores @ 2.2 GHz (Cortex-A76 class), and 6x Kryo 430 Silver low-power cores @ 1.8GHz (Cortex-A55 class) GPU – Qualcomm Adreno 612 GPU @ […]
VIA VAB-950 SBC Features MediaTek i500 SoC for AIoT Applications
While MediaTek is better known for their mobile SoCs and they also offers processors made for AIoT (AI + IoT) applications such as MediaTek i700, i500 or i300 SoCs. We only covered a few development / evaluation boards so far, with Pumpkin i500 SBC or Innocom SB30 EVK, but we’ve now got another one with VIA VAB-950 single board computer equipped with MediaTek i500 AIoT octa-core processor, up to 4GB LPDDR4, 16GB flash storage, HDMI, dual Fast Ethernet, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, and support for 4G LTE cellular connectivity. VAB-950 SBC specifications: SOM-9X50 system-on-module SoC – MediaTek i500 octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A73 @ 2.0GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 @ 2.0GHz Arm Mali-G72 GPU up to 800 MHz with support for OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenCL ES 1.1, and Vulkan 1.0 VPU for 1080p30 H.264/H.265 decoding 2x Cadence Tensilica Vision P6 DSPs System Memory – 2GB or 4GB LPDDR4 SDRAM Storage – […]
Imagination IMG B-Series GPU family scales from IoT to the datacenter
Last year, Imagination Technologies unveiled IMG A-Series GPU family scaling from low-power IoT to mobile and high-performance server applications with up to 2.5 times the performance of the earlier PowerVR 9-series GPUs, as well as eight times faster AI processing and 60% less power under similar conditions. While I’m not aware of any SoCs announced with the new IMG A-Series GPU yet, the company has already announced the next-gen IMG B-Series GPU family with up to 4 times the multi-core performance thanks to decentralized multi-core technology, 30% lower power consumption, and 2.5 times the fill rate. The company offers four types of IM B-series GPU, each optimized for specific applications IMG BXE for high-resolution displays – From 1 up to 16 pixels per clock (PPC) BXE scales from 720p to 8K for UI rendering and entry-level gaming. IMG BXM designed for mid-range mobile gaming and complex UI solutions for DTV […]
Teracube 2e is a user-serviceable, sustainable phone with a 4-year “premium care warranty”
Most smartphones have limited software support, but in my experience with Xiaomi smartphones part of Android One, the hardware tends to fail even earlier than the 18 to 24-month support window for such phones. It’s also close to impossible to repair those by yourself. So it would be nice to have a phone with a longer warranty, software support, and that the user can service himself. If it was made of recycled materials, it would be a bonus too. That’s exactly what Teracube 2e phone provides with recycled materials, a fully biodegradable case, and a 4-year “premium care warranty” for hardware repairs, and since it runs Android 10 stock, you’d get 3-years of Android and security updates. Teracube 2 phone is also meant to be affordable going for $99 and up on Indiegogo with the following specifications: SoC – Mediatek Helio A25 octa-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.8GHz with IMG PowerVR […]