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September 4, 2016September 4, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Coowell V4 Android TV Box Review – Part 2: Camera, Skype, Google Hangouts and Duo

Coowell V4 Android TV box is based on Rockchip RK3368 octa-core processor with 2GB RAM, and 16GB flash, and also includes a camera. In part 1 of Coowell V4 review, I have already taken photos of the device, and torn down the device to have a closer look at the board, and the camera which is based on a GC2145 2MP image sensor. Today, I’ll mostly test the camera and microphone, including firmware compatibility with Skype, Google Hangouts, and the latest Duo by Google app. Finally, it’s been a while since I’ve tested a RK3368 TV box, so I’ll run CPU-Z and Antutu again. Coowell V4 Hardware Setup and Launcher Coowell V4 hardware setup is pretty usual, and I connect an Ethernet port, and the USB RF dongle for MINIX NEO A2 Lite air mouse, as well as a USB keyboard to take screenshots. However, while normally I’d use my […]

August 31, 2016August 31, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Yi Technology Releases an Open API SDK for Yi and Yi 2 4K Action Cameras

Yi Technology, the maker of Yi actions cameras, often wrongly reported as Xiaomi Yi cameras as they are sold in Xiaomi stores, has now released an Open API to allow software and hardware engineers to develop products – such as drones, robots, or 360 deg. video recording setups – using their cameras. YiOpenAPI supports three types of APIs available in Java or Swift languages: Camera control (start/stop recording, capture picture, turn on/off viewfinder, etc…) Camera settings (date/time, video resolution, photo size, video standard, etc…) Camera state (record started/completed, video finder started etc…) There are also some app samples, one of which being YI360Demo available in both binary and source code, and used to control multiple Yi cameras in order to shoot 360 deg. / VR videos. You can find YiOpenAPI on github, get support on YiOpenAPI Facebook group, and sign-up for news updates on YiOpen.com. Via GeekBuying Blog Jean-Luc Aufranc […]

August 26, 2016September 3, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Ambarella A12S SoC Allows For Cheaper 4K 30 fps Action Cameras, or Does it Not?

[Update: I’ve been informed that Ambarella A12S product brief from their website contains outdated information, and that A12S does indeed support 4K @ 30 fps, not only 2K @ 30 fps] [Update 2 (03/09/2016): The company has now updated the page, and I’ve myself updated the article accordingly] Some ultra cheap Allwinner V3 based cameras are advertised as 4K cameras, but in reality they are limited to 4K @ 15 fps, and on top of that the software have to extrapolate data to get to that resolution. So there are not usable for most people, unless maybe if you somehow need a 4K CCTV camera. Currently one of the cheapest “true” 4K action cameras is Yi Technology / Xiaomi Yi 2 sports camera based on Ambarella A9S SoC, capable of recording up to 4K @ 30 fps, and selling for around $250. But there’s now a new wave of cheaper […]

August 24, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Coowell V4 Android mini PC with Camera Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

Coowell V4 is one of the rare Android mini PCs with a built-in camera. It is powered by Rockchip RK3368 octa-core processor combined with 2GB RAM and 16GB flash. GearBest asked me whether I wanted to review it, and since I was curious about the camera, I took the offer up. Today, in the first part of the review I’ll start by checking out the device and its accessories, and tear it down to find more about the hardware design, before specifically testing the camera in the second part of the review in a similar way to what I did for HD23 review. Coowell V4 Unboxing The device comes in a black retail package with SMART MEDIA HUB text. The only icon that may cause troubles at custom might be the Android logo and text lacking TM. There’s also sticker on the side indicate Model: V4. SO there may be […]

August 12, 2016August 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Project OWL Open Source Hardware Ophthalmoscope is 25 Times Cheaper than Commercial Products

Medical grade equipments are usually very expensive, partly because of their complexity, but also because of certifications, legal reasons, and low manufacturing volumes. That’s where open source hardware can make a big difference, and there has been several open source hardware prosthetic hands or arms such as Openbionics hand, but Ebin Philip and his team has tackled another issue with Project OWL, an open indirect ophthalmoscope (OIO) designed for screening retinal diseases, which normally costs between $10,000 to $25,000, but their open source hardware design can be put together for about $400. The design features a Raspberry Pi 2 board connected to a WaveShare 5″ Touchscreen LCD, a Raspberry Pi Pi IR Camera (M12 lens mount) with 16mm FL M12 lens, a 3 Watt Luxeon LED, two 50x50mm mirrors, a linear polarizer sheet, a 20 Dioptre disposable lens, and various passive components. While the Raspberry Pi board is not open […]

August 10, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Multiple Videos Encoding and Decoding in Android on Firefly-RK3288 Development Board

Some applications like digital signage and video surveillance may require simultaneous video playback, and encoding to send over the network. ARM platforms may not be powerful enough to achieve those tasks with the processor only, but luckily many ARM SoCs include powerful video processing unit (VPU) capable of doing both hardware video encoding and decoding, leaving the CPU cores mostly free for other tasks. Firefly team has demoed such capabilities on their Firefly-RK3288 development board by displaying 7 videos on a single screen, including two previews from two USB cameras attached to the board, which are then encoded and decoded on the fly and displayed on the screen. The last three videos are played from 3 different files. So that means that 5 video decode and 2 video encode are running simultaneously. The board can achieve 26 to 30fps with 720p videos, and around 13 to 15 fps with 1080p […]

August 7, 2016September 5, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Coowell V4 is an RK3368 Android TV Box with a Retractable Camera

Coowell V4 looks like another typical Rockchip RK3368 Android TV box with 2GB RAM and 16GB flash, except for one little detail: it features a retractable camera to use with Skype, Google Hangouts and other video conference apps. Most Android mini PCs already claim support for USB UVC cameras, but in my past reviews I noticed that my camera were not always properly recognized in one or more apps, so in theory. the built-in camera is more likely to work with all app, since the company has (probably) tested it. Coowell “Smart Media Hub” V4 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3368 octa core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with PowerVR G6110 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K60, and AV ports Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF […]

August 2, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Embedded Linux Conference & IoT Summit Europe 2016 Schedule

Embedded Linux Conference & IoT summit 2016 first took place in the US in April, but the events are now also scheduled in Europe on October 11 – 13 in Berlin, Germany, and the schedule has now been published. Even if you are no going to attend, it’s always interesting to find out more about the topic covered in that type of events, so I had a look, and created my own virtual schedule with some of the sessions. Tuesday, October 11 10:40 – 11:30 – JerryScript: An Ultra-lightweight JavaScript Engine for the Internet of Things – Tilmann Scheller, Samsung Electronics JerryScript is a lightweight JavaScript engine designed to bring the success of JavaScript to small IoT devices like lamps, thermometers, switches and sensors. This class of devices tends to use resource-constrained microcontrollers which are too small to fit a large JavaScript engine like V8 or JavaScriptCore. JerryScript is heavily […]