ces 2014 News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 3, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Huawei Ascend Y300 F1 Firefox OS Phone Features Qualcomm MSM8225 SoC

Firefox OS devices are slowly coming to market, but it could be that most of them are existing Android phones or tablets repurposed to run Firefox OS with little, if any, hardware changes. We’ve already seen Mozilla selected InFocus New Tab F1, an Android Tablet, for its development program, but actual products such as Huawei Ascend Y300 smartphone, will soon be sold with Firefox OS using the model name “Ascend Y300 F1” or “Ascend Y300 II”. Huawei Ascend Y300 F1 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm MSM8225 dual core Cortex A5 @ 1 GHz with Adreno 203 GPU System Memory – 512MB RAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash, microSD card slot Display – 4″ touchscreen (WVGA – 800 x 480) Connectivity – 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS with A-GPS Cellular networks – GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS 850/1900/2100. Camera – 5MP rear camera, 0.3MP front-facing camera Battery – 1730mAh Dimensions – 124.5 x 63.75 […]

January 28, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Asus ZenFone Android Smartphones Powered by Intel Atom CPU to Sell for as Low as $99

Last year, Lenovo sold Android smartphones based on Intel Atom SoC but sales numbers turned out to be disappointing. This year, Asus announced 3 smartphones powered by Intel Atom Z2520 and Z2580 SoC at CES 2014, with screen sizes ranging from 4″ to 6″, and much more aggressive pricing, as the 4″ version will sell for $99, the 5″ version for $149, and the 6″ version for $199. Asus ZenFone 4/5/6 Specifications: SoC ZenFone 4 – 1.2GHz Intel Atom Z2520 CPU with Quad-Thread Hyper-Threading Technology ZenFone 5/6 – 2GHz Intel Atom Z2580 CPU with Quad-Thread Hyper-Threading Technology System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 8 or 16 GB NAND Flash + micro SD card slot (Up to 64GB ) Display ZenFone 4 – 4″ WVGA 800 x 480-pixel TFT display ZenFone 5 – 5″ HD 1280 x 720-pixel IPS display ZenFone 6 – 6″ HD 1280 x 720-pixel IPS display Camera […]

January 24, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

The Open Source Robots Invasion Has Begun: BeagleMiP, uARM, and PiddyBot

In the last few days, I’ve come across three affordable open source robots either based on BeagleBone Black, or Arduino compatible boards, and I’m sure there are many other projects out there for people interested in getting started with robotics without breaking the bank. BeagleMiP Self-balancing Robot I’ve found out the first robots from a long armdevices.net video showing two Mobile Inverted Pendulum (MiP) robots, able to stand on two wheels, designed by the Coordinated Robotics Lab of The University of California, San Diego: BeagleMiP educational robotics development kit from Strawson Design. The kit features the BeagleBone Black board with Texas Instruments Sitara ARM Cortex A8 processor and Novus Robotics Cape, an add-on board that provides 9-axis IMU (Accelerometer, Gyro, Magnetometer), 6 PWM connectors to power servos or brushless ESCs, 2 user-accessible buttons and 2 LEDs, a cell balancer & overvoltage protector, H-bridges to drive 6 DC Motors, and connectors […]

January 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

ARM Mali GPU Demos at CES 2014 – 4K 3D UI and Games, ASTC Texture Compression, XBMC + Gesture Recognition, and HEVC Video Decoding

Phill Smith, Demo Manager at ARM, has filmed and uploaded four very interesting demos of what new features will be possible thanks to new generation ARM Mali-450 and Mali-T6xx GPUs including 4K 3D user interfaces and games, ASTC texture compression, and OpenCL accelerated gesture recognition and HEVC / H.265 video decoding. 4K Resolution 3D User Interface and Game Demo The first demo showcases a Geniatech box (ATV1800?) powered by AMLogic AML8726-M8 featuring an ARM Mali-450MP6 GPU running Android with a user 4K 3D interface designed by Autodesk using Scaleform UI. The rest of the video shows Timbuku 3D gaming demo running at 3840×2160 (4K2K) @ 24 fps. The frame rate appears to be low, but that’s because the box is using HDMI 1.4, which limits UHD output to 24fps. 2160p60 is only available via HDMI 2.0. ASTC Compression Demo on Samsung Galaxy Note 3 3D Textures are getting bigger and […]

January 19, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

AllGo Embedded Systems Android IVI System Boots in 4 Seconds

We’ve already seen several sub-second boot times for embedded Linux systems with platforms such as Beagleboard (TI OMAP 3530) and an AllWinner A10 based device, but I had never seen fast boot optimization for Android before, or I just forgot… Typically Android boots within 20 to 40 seconds on most devices, but AllGo Embedded Systems has optimized Android Jelly Bean boot time for their IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) platform running a media player called RACE. Charbax interviewed then at CES 2014, where they demoed the 4 seconds (actually 4.2 seconds) boot on Texas Instruments OMAP5 from reset and power, as you can see in the video below. (The video starts at 2:20 to show the demo directly). Beside Texas Instrument OMAP5, the solution is also available for Freescale i.MX6. 0xlab did some boot time optimizations for Android dropping the boot time from 30 seconds to 15 seconds. AllGo Embedded Systems did […]

January 15, 2014January 15, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Amaryllo iCam HD is a Smart Wireless IP Camera Controllable via Skype

Amaryllo iCam HD is a Linux based smart network HD (720p) Camera with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n + WPS connectivity, infra-red vision, 100 degrees view angle, and 360 degrees view possible via remote pan-and-tilt, a microphone, a speaker, a micro SD card slot for video recording, a motion sensor, and a micro USB port for power via a standard USB power adapter or a USB power bank. On top of that, you can easily remotely access the camera via Skype by calling from your computer or your smartphone just like you would do to call a friend or family member. The camera can be used to watch after your loved ones: babies, aging parents, pets…, and for home security. I could also envision using it with people who are close to you that are not comfortable with computers. You could just set it up for them, and call them directly without […]

January 10, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 51 Comments

A80 OptimusBoard Features AllWinner Octa-Core big.LITTLE SoC

Allwinner is currently at CES 2014 showcasing their latest Octa-core A80 SoC, and corresponding development board, the A80 OptimusBoard. Apart from the picture below, there were very little details for the initial announcement, but we now know, the board comes with 2 GB RAM, 8 GB NAND flash, and other features of the board, as well as the company behind the GPU in AllWinner A80. A80 OptimusBoard specifications: SoC – AllWinner Ultra Core A80 4x Cortex 15, 4x Cortex A7 big.LITTLE processor with an unnamed Imagination Technologies PowerVR GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND Flash Video Output – HDMI 1.4a Connectivity – Dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and Ethernet (GMAC) USB – 1x USB 3.0 OTG HIC, 2x USB 2.0 host ports Audio codec – AC100 Codec Camera I/F – 12MP MIPI CSI Debugging – UART and JTAG Expansion – 32-pin GPIO header Misc […]

January 10, 2014January 11, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

NETGEAR NeoMediacast Android HDMI Dongle (NTV300D) Features Wi-Fi 802.11ac Module

NETGEAR has announced a new HDMI dongle called NeoMediacast, but also known as NTV300D model, running Android 4.2.2, with functionalities very similar to all the HDMI TV sticks / mini PCs originating from Chinese manufacturers we’ve seen for nearly 2 years. AFAIK, NETGEAR is the first relatively well-known global company to unveil an Android HDMI TV stick for the consumer market. [Update: see comments for details how it will reach the comsumer]Key features published for NTV300D by the company: Android 4.2+ supported with RDK support in the future 1080p/60 full HD, H.264/MPEG4 video decode Supports HDMI 1.4 and HDCP 2.1 Miracast-enabled Wi-Fi 802.11ac 1×1 AC 450 Mbps, Bluetooth 4.0 USB powered Micro SD slot for playback/storage Micro USB (OTG) for secondary storage Misc – Infrared Port, status LED DRM support for Microsoft PlayReady, Google Widevine and Adobe RTMPe Remote control unit – RF4CE or Bluetooth supported So there’s now information […]