PineTab Linux Tablet Coming Soon for $100. Watch an Ubuntu Touch Demo in the Meantime

PineTab Linux Tablet with Detachable Keyboard

People have been trying to launch Linux tablets for years from PenPod 700 to Jolla Tablet, or more recently NTablet. You may not know or remember about those, as Linux tablets that actually shipped never really gained traction. But in early 2019, Pine64 started to mention development work on PineTab, an Allwinner A64 powered BSD/Linux tablet, and the company/community is really good at developing low-cost hardware and providing decent firmware support, so hopes were high. After COVID-19 related delay, Pine64 has now announced the first PineTab tablets would go for pre-order at the end of the month for $99. PineTab specifications: SoC – Allwinner A64 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with Arm Mali-400 MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 RAM Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot, M.2 slot for SATA SSD Display – 10″ MiPi 720p Capacitive LCD Video output – Mini HDMI up to 4K @ 30 Hz […]

NANOTE 7″ 2-in-1 Mini Laptop with Intel Atom X5 Processor to Launch for $185 in Japan

NANOTE

Mini laptops have been a thing for the last 2 or 3 years thanks to companies such as GPD and OneNote. However, most of the models rely on fairly powerful and expensive low-power processors from Comet Lake and Amber Lake families, and that may be fine if you want a versatile, ultra-portable machine as your main driver, but not everybody wants to spend $700-$1,000 on this type of device. In the recent past, we’ve seen a couple of cheaper Intel Cherry Trail mini laptops such as Pretech F700mi and Peakago. But the former does not appear to be for sale, and the latter was offered for $269 and the company decided to upgrade it to an Intel Celeron N4100 processor. Peakago is still not available, as Indiegogo backers are still waiting for their perks. So if you’re looking for an entry-level mini laptop NANOTE appears to be a better option as […]

Allwinner A-Series Processors 2020-2021 Roadmap – Allwinner A33E, A100 and A200 SoCs

We previously discussed Allwinner business units where each can share the same silicon (with different a name) but maintains its own software stacks for different target applications. Allwinner A-Series is the most well-known as Allwinner A10 & A20 were very popular SoC for tablets and TV boxes many years ago. CNX Software received two slides that originated from Allwinner this morning. The first one shows the different Allwinner processor families, and the second provides a roadmap for A-Series processors for tablets with A33E, A100, and A200 coming this year and next. Let’s go through the Allwinner processor families first and their main use case: R-Series and MR-Series – Smart home applications A-Series – Tablets VR-Series – Virtual reality H-Series and F-Series- High-performance applications like multimedia (TV boxes) T-Series- Automotive, I suppose mostly infotainment V-Series – Camera SoCs XR/XIN-Series – Wireless chips like the infamous XR819 WiFi chip. AXP – PMIC […]

Onyx Boox Nova 2 7.8″ eReader Runs Android 9.0

Onyx Boox Nova 2

We wrote about reMarkable 2 10.3″ e-Paper Tablet running Linux a few days ago, but there’s now another option with Onyx Boox Nova 2 eReader equipped with a 7.8″ display and running an operating system based on Android 9.0. The device comes with an unnamed octa-core processor coupled with 3GB  RAM, 32GB storage, support for Wacom pen and touch input, and a 3,150 mAh battery. Onyx Boox Nova 2 specifications: SoC – Unnamed octa-core processor @ 2.0 GHz, but likely Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 found in the company’s Boox Max 3 eReader. System Memory – 3GB RAM Storage – 32GB flash, MicroSD card reader Display – 7.8″ E Ink Carta Plus inductive Wacom + capacitive touch screen with 1872×1404 resolution, 16 shades of grey, and the SNOW Field function to reduce artifacts during a partial refresh Frontlight – MOON Light 2 to use the device in the dark or under poor […]

reMarkable 2 is a $399 e-Paper Tablet with Pressure Sensitive Pen

reMarkable 2 ePaper Display

reMarkable digital notepad and e-reader was unveiled in 2016, and designed to feel like using actual paper sheets. The device came with a single-core Cortex-A9 processor, a 10.3″ E-Ink display with 1872×1404 resolution, and WiFi connectivity to backup your notes and/or drawings to the cloud or mobile phone. The company is now back with reMarkable 2 e-Paper tablet equipped with a faster and more efficient dual-core Cortex-A7 processor, 1GB RAM, a second-generation CANVAS 10.3″ e-Paper display with the same 1872×1404 resolution but lower latency. The second-generation e-Paper tablet also benefits from a thinner design and much-improved battery life. reMarkable 2 specifications: SoC – Dual-core Arm processor @ 1.2 GHz (possibly NXP i.MX 7Dual processor) System Memory – 1GB LPDDR3 RAM Storage – 8GB internal storage good for around 100,000 pages Display – 10.3″ monochrome digital paper “CANVAS” capacitive touch display partially based on E-Ink Carta technology with 1872×1404 resolution (226 […]

HiGole F11APL Apollo Lake Industrial Mini PC Comes with a 11.6″ Touchscreen Display

HiGole F11APL

We’ve previously reviewed a few unusual mini PCs and tablets from Shenzhen Qianhai Gole Technology Co., Ltd – better known as just GOLE – such as GOLE F7 rugged tablet very recently, and before that some mini PCs with built-in display as GOLE 10. The company has now come up with an update to the latter with a more powerful Apollo Lake processor. HiGole F11APL comes with a slightly larger 11.6″ touchscreen display, but the Intel Celeron N3450 processor combined with 4GB RAM and 64GB eMMC flash storage will provide much better performance than the previous Cherry Trail-based solution. HiGole F11APL specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N3450 quad-core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.2 GHz (Burst frequency) and 12 EU Intel HD Graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 700 MHz (Burst freq.); 6W TDP System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 64 GB eMMC flash,  micro SD slot […]

CNX Software is 10 Years Old – Top 10 Posts of the Last Decade

CNX Software Anniversary

Around 10 years ago, I decided it might be a good idea to have an online presence. At the time, I just thought I would write from time to time, and I had no idea it would eventually become my main activity. My very first post was on February 14, 2010 about software development tools such as CVS and Bugzilla. That means today is the 10th anniversary of CNX Software website! So I thought it might be fun to look at the most popular posts of the last ten years. I only installed Google Analytics sometimes in 2011, but it should not affect the results since I did not have many readers at the time, and the post that really started to bring more visitors, and made me switch from a $1 monthly hosting plan to a VPS, was “74 USD AllWinner A10 Android 4.0 Mini PC” published in May […]

GOLE F7 Windows 10 Tablet Review – Part 2: Barcode & QR Code Scanner, NFC, and Ruggedness

GOLE F7 Waterproof tablet

GOLE F7 is a waterproof, shock resistant, rugged tablet running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit.  The company sent us a sample together with a charging dock, and you can check out “GOLE F7 Rugged Tablet Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Charging Dock” to find out more about the hardware interface and other physical features of the tablet. I’ve now spent more time with the tablet and tested some of the features such as Barcode scanner and NFC reader. I’ve only done minimal testing of the usual Windows 10 benchmarks since the Intel Atom x5-Z8350 processor powering the tablet has been around for many years, and we have previous mini PC’s reviews showing the performance of the platform in Windows 10 with MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro or even the previous GOLE F10 model. Instead, I’ve focused on the differentiating features including the ruggedness of the device. GOLE F7 System Info Windows […]