GOLE1, also called GOLE1 F1, is an interesting device because it’s quite difficult, it’s like the offspring of a mini PC and a tablet with a smallish phone-like 5″ capacitive touch screen. It also dual boot Windows 10 and Android 5.1. I’ve already discussed about the hardware, and taken picture of the device, accessories, and motherboard, in the first part of the review, so today I’ll report my experiences with Windows 10 and Android 5.1, as well as the potential use cases. Since I’ve already reviewed Intel Atom x5-Z8300 mini PCs, as well as a dual boot Windows and Android Intel mini PC, I’ll focus on what makes GOLE1 different in this review. GOLE1 Dual Boot and Use Cases I normally check my emails on my smartphone while having breakfast in the morning, but one day the charging micro USB cable was not connected properly to my phone, so I […]
Ubuntu 16.04.1 ISO Images Released for Intel Atom Bay Trail & Cherry Trail Compute Sticks
Canonical has recently released Ubuntu 16.04.1, which is now considered stable enough to update from Ubuntu 14.04.04 LTS, and while I could do that easily on my main machine using update-manager, upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04 on Intel Atom “Bay Trail” and “Cherry Trail” devices is a bit more complicated if you need audio & wireless networking (WiFi/Bluetooth) support since the kernel needs to be patched, and on top of that recent Linux kernels are not stable on such platforms without some extra hacks. Linuxium has done all the hard work, and created Ubuntu 16.04.1 ISO images for Intel Atom Compute Sticks with working audio, WiFi, Bluetooth, and “C-state” patchsets to avoid freezes. The images may also work on other devices, but this has not been tested so far. If you want to give it a try, you can download ubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-linuxium-ics.iso, and flash it to a USB drive with Rufus (Windows) […]
Sunty SP-001 Portable Windows 10 mini PC Features a 7″ Touchscreen Display, an HD Projector
Sunty SP-001 mini PC looks quite similar to GOLE1, but comes with a large 7″ touchscreen display, and adds a TI 720p DLP projector. You can also carry it around thanks to its 6,500 mAh, and the brain of the device consists of an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor coupled with 2GB RAM and 32GB flash. Sunty SP-001 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8300 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.44 GHz / 1.84 GHz with Intel Gen8 HD graphics (2W SDP) System Memory – 2GB DDR3L Storage – 32GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up Display – 7″ capacitive touchscreen display with 1280×800 resolution Video input – HDMI 1.4 port Audio I/O – HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, speakers, built-in microphone Projector – 0.3” TI DMD, DLPC3438/DLPA3000/DLP3010 DLP, 720p resolution, 200 Lumen brightness, 5000:1 contrast ratio, 20 to 300” screen size, autofocus, and 3000 hours life; Connectivity – Dual band […]
Partaker M3 is a Windows 10 Projector Powered by Intel Atom x5-Z8300 Processor
Inctel is a Chinese manufacturer specializing on Intel based mini PCs, and selling them under the Partaker and other brands. Their latest product is a little different as Partaker M3 is a projector with the guts of a Cherry Trail mini PC, and pre-loaded with Windows 10. Partaker M3 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8300 quad core processor with 12EU Intel HD graphics System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 32GB internal storage Projector – 1280 × 800 resolution with 16:10 and 4:3 aspect ratio; LED lamp up to 200 lumens; 2000:1 contrast ratio. “Screen” dimensions: 60 to 150″. Video – 2x HDMI, 1x VGA, 1x RCA composite, 1x component (3x RCA connectors); It’s unclear if all are inputs, or some are also outputs for a secondary display. Audio – HDMI, 2x stereo audio (RCA), built-in 2W stereo speakers Connectivity – Dual band WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 2x USB […]
Morefine M1+ Review – A Dual Boot Windows and Android TV Stick
Karl here and I will be reviewing the Morefine M1+. It is an Intel based stick PC with an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor with 2GB RAM and 64 GB of storage. It dual boots Windows 10 Home 32 bit and Android 5.1. In this review, I won’t be doing many benchmarks because they have been done a lot in the past. Be careful when researching this product because there are 2 devices with same name with different specs. The other one has an Intel Atom z3735 and only 32GB storage and Android 4.4. The box came expertly wrapped and I have never seen a package delivered and protected so well. In the box was the stick, short HDMI extension, power cable, and instruction manual. No micro USB OTG cable is included. I didn’t find this an issue because I had several already. Specs OS Version: OS Windows 10 (Trial Version) […]
PGS Portable Game Console Runs Windows 10 & Android 6.0 on Intel Atom X7-Z8750 Processor (Crowdfunding)
GPD HD Win portable game console is getting some competition, albeit in a slightly different form factor, with PGS portable game console based on Intel Atom x7-Z8750 quad core processor, running Windows 10 and Android 6.0, and featuring D-Pad, buttons, and a touch pad, replacing the QWERTY keyboard in GPD device. Two models are available, namely PGS Lite and PGS Hardcore, with the following specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x7-Z8750 quad-core “Cherry Trail” processor @ 1.44/2.56 GHz (Burst) with 16EU Intel HD Gen8 graphics @ up to 600MHz System Memory Lite – 4GB LPDDR3-1600 Hardcore – 8GB LPDDR3-1600 Storage Lite – 64GB eMMC flash Hardcore – 128 GB SSD Display Lite – 5.5″ capacitive touch IPS screen; 1280×720 resolution Hardcore – 5.7″ capacitive touch AMOLED screen; 2560×1440 resolution Video Output – 1x micro HDMI port Audio micro HDMI, 3.5mm earphone jack Lite – Stereo speakers Hardcore – 5.0 speakers Connectivity […]
Improve YouTube Video Playback on Low Power Intel mini PCs by Disabling VP9 Support in Chrome or Firefox
I’ve been reviewing several Intel Bay Trail, Cherry Trail, and Braswell mini PCs in the last year or so, and I always end up recommending Microsoft Edge browser over Firefox or Chrome for people wanting to watch YouTube videos, as the last two browsers always drop many frames with the video stuttering regularly. However I noticed that while Edge is playing MP4/AVC (H.264) video, the other two browser would normally stream WebM/VP9 videos, and it could be the cause of the problem as H.264 can be hardware accelerated, but VP9 not, and the low power processor might not quite powerful enough to handle 1080p VP9 video decoding smoothly. So I investigated the issues with Vorke V1 mini PC powered by an Intel Celeron J3160 processor (6W TDP) with the three browsers by first checking enabled codecs in YouTube HTML5 page. Microsoft Edge has both VP8 and VP9 disabled When I […]
Dreamcade Replay is a Retro Gaming Console Powered by Intel Braswell or Cherry Trail Processor (Crowdfunding)
If you are old enough to have played with Sega or Atari game console, and feel nostalgic about playing retro games, Dream Arcades Inc. plans to launch a vintage gaming console powered by Intel Braswell or Cherry Trail processor, running Windows 10 and preloaded with licensed retro games such as Pacman, Asteroids, Canyon Bomber, Slot Machine, Warlords, and many other. The console also has Sega/Atari ports to be used with your old game controllers. Three main products will be offered: Wireless Arcade Controller, Replay Classic game console, and Replay Mobile arcade machine, with the last two using the same hardware with the following preliminary specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x7-Z8700 Cherry Trail quad core processor, or Intel Celeron J3160 (or other) Braswell quad core processor with Intel HD graphics System Memory – 4GB Storage – 64GB eMMC flash + micro SD and SD slots Video Output – HDMI Display (Arcade […]