Samsung Officially Unveils the Quad Core Cortex A9 Exynos 4412

Yesterday, Samsung introduced the first quad-core Cortex A9 application processor built on the High-k Metal Gate (HKMG) low-power process technology. the The Exynos 4412, clocked up to 1.4GHz, targets smartphones and tablets and enables double the processing power at a 20 percent lower power bill over the 45nm process-based Exynos 4210 (Dual core Cortex A9). Power efficiency has been improved thanks to hot-plug functionality to support on-off switching for each core and per-core dynamic voltage & frequency scaling (DVFS).  The Exynos 4412 is pin-to-pin compatible with the 32nm process based Exynos 4 Dual (aka Exynos 4212) making it simply a replacement part for existing designs based on Exynos 4212. The new processor also features a video hardware codec engine capable of recording and playing 1080p video @ 30fps (MPEG4 ASP/H.264 HP/H.263 P3 encoding and decoding, and MPEG2/VC1 and WMV9 decoding) , an embedded image signal processor interface for high-quality camera […]

Rockchip Unveils RK3066 Dual Core Cortex A9 Processor

Rockchip announced the RK3066 processor featuring a dual core Cortex A9 with a quad-core Mali-400 GPU and the company is currently showcasing tablets, e-Readers and set-top boxes powered by RK3066 at Hong Kong Electronics Fair on 13-16 April, 2012. Information is sparse, but I managed to find more information on Engadget China website which shows the key features of RK3066: Dual Core A9 + Quad Core GPU 2 banks, 8/16 bit Nor flash / SRAM interface 8 banks, 8/16 bit async NAND flash, LBA NAND flash and 8-bit sync ONFI NAND flash, all up to 60-bit hardware ECC 2 GB space for 2 ranks, 16-bit / 32-bit DDR3-800, LPDDR2-800 and LVDDR3-800 3 channels SD/MMC interface to support MMC 4.1 and SD3.0 2 channels TFT LCD interface with 5 layers and 3D display with resolution up to 1920×1080 HDMI 1.4 to support 1080p@30 3D video 2 channels 8-bit CCiR656 interface and […]

Shenzhen Tena Electronic Wi-Fi Display Mirroring Smart Box

Shenzhen Tena Electronics showcased an interesting “Smart Box” that can mirror a device display (smartphone, tablet, laptop..) on a TV via Wi-Fi at the Shenzhen Electronic Fair, on 10-11 April, 2012. In the video below shot by Charbax, an HTC smartphone, running a specific Android application (apparently not available on Google Play), plays back a 720p movie which is displayed on a television via sztena’s Smart Box. It’s rather choppy, but there may be quite a lot of noise with all the WiFi signals at the exhibition. I very much like this concept, but the current retail price (999 RMB – about 160 USD) makes it unattractive to me for tasks such as video playback or checking email. However, provided it’s smooth enough, games using accelerometer and gyrometer might be fun to play. Imagine a car racing game, where your mobile phone or tablet is your steering wheel and gear […]

AMLogic Announces AML8726-MX Dual Core Cortex A9 Processor

Amlogic announced the availability of the AML8726-MX, a SoC based on a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor clocked at 1.5 GHz with a Mali-400 MP GPU. It is the successor of the similarly named AML8726-M with a single core Cortex A9 @ 1 GHz. The company explains this SoC is particularly suitable for Over The Top (OTT) delivery, 3D Gaming and other Internet applications and targets the tablet, set-top-box and smart-TV markets. AMLogic AML8726-MX include 10/100/1000 Ethernet, 2x USB interfaces, 3-in-1 Card Reader support, Analog and digital video outputs, LVDS and T-CON (Timing Controller) with backlight control, digital video and camera interfaces. Wi-Fi is supported via external chipsets. Here are the highlights of the AML8726-MX family provided by AMLogic: A dual-core Cortex-A9 processor achieving over 7500 DMIPS of performance Direct to panel connection with advanced scaling, de-interlacing and picture quality enhancement Industry leading power management technology to extend battery life […]

55 USD 7″ Capacitive Touch Screen Android 4.0 Tablet Based on Allwinner A13

YOOE, a Chinese manufacturer, has designed a new Android 4.0 (ICS) tablet with a 7″ 5-point capacitive touch screen (1024×600) for about 55 USD (Factory price MOQ: 1000). This tablet is powered by AllWinner A13 (Cortex A8) processor, a cut down version of the AllWinner A10 without HDMI output nor SATA. This white brand tablet also features a 2,600 mAh battery which should last over 4 hours in typical usage and a front camera. The full specifications do not appear to be available right now. You can watch the video below to have a look at the device whose performance seems acceptable. Charbax also said the company expects the price to drop further to around 300 CNY (47 USD) by June 2012. If you are an individual interested to buy this tablet close to factory price (excluding shipping), charbax organizes group buying on his blog, just leave a comment over there […]

Archos G10 xs Teaser Video with Sliding Keyboard Dock

Archos has just released a teaser video for its next generation Android tablet, the Archos G10 xs (xs stands for extra small). The video does not show much, except the concept of the new tablet which features a sliding keyboard where the tablet can be docked. Archos has not released the specifications for the G10 XS yet, but we do know the casing is made of stainless steel, is 7.6mm thick (12mm with the keyboard) and Archos has worked for 3 years on this design. There will be several models whose retail price should be between 200 and 300 Euros (Which would be between 200 and 300 USD in the US thanks to lower taxes). The new tablets will be powered by a Texas Instruments processor (probably OMAP 4) like the Archos G9 tablets and run Android 4.0 and Windows 8 depending on the model. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX […]

Samsung Exynos 5250 Dual-core Cortex A15 and GAIA SMDK Development Board

Samsung showcased its new Exynos 5250 Dual-core Cortex A15 processor at Mobile World Congress as well as the corresponding Samsung Exynos 5 GAIA SMDK Development board. Announced in November 2011, the new Samsung Exynos 5250 processor features 2 Cortex A15 clocked at 1.7 GHz or 2 GHz, with a Mali-T604 GPU and support for dual-channel 800 MHz LPDDR3 RAM that allows for a data bandwidth of up to 12.8 GB/s. The processor is manufactured using 32-nm HKMG (High-K Metal Gate) technology that reduces leakage by 30% proving lower power consumption. Samsung claims the new Exynos 5 processors are twice as fast and consume twice as less power than its previous Exynos 4 application processor based on Cortex A9. This seems to confirm TI OMAP 5 vs. Nvidia Tegra 3 benchmark results. The Exynos 5250 supports embedded DisplayPort  (eDP) interface up to WQXGA resolution (2560×1600), which is handy for Samsung since […]

Rockchip Introduces RK30xx Dual Core Cortex A9 Processors for Low Cost Tablets

Rockchip announced their next generation mobile processor at Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona, Spain. The Rockchip RK30xx series (RK3018?) features a dual core Cortex A9 clocked up to 1.4 GHz coupled with an ARM Mali-400 GPU and targets low cost Android 4.0 tablets. The Rockchip RK30xx platform features: Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor with up to 1.4GHz speed, implemented with Artisan Processor Optimization Pack (POP) Quad-core ARM Mali-400 MP GPU, supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 and OpenVG 1.1 Full memory support, including DDRIII, DDRII, and LPDDRII High performance dedicated 2D processor 1080P multi-format video decoder 1080P video encoding for H.264 and vp8  Stereoscopic 3D H.264 MVC video codec  Embedded HDMI 1.4a, supporting 3D display Embedded 60bit/s ECC, supporting MLC NAND, E-MMC, i-NAND and booting Support of dual panel display and dual camera Rockchip also said the complete BSP is already available for the chip. This company does not usually release BSP publicly […]