tronsmart News - Page 2 of 10 - CNX Software

March 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Tronsmart BJ19 Mini PC based on Intel Celeron J1900 Sells for $60 (Promo)

Tronsmart BJ19 is a barebone mini PC powered by Intel Celeron J1900 quad core “Bay Trail-D” processor with SO-DIMM slots for memory, and a SATA interface for a 2.5″ hard drive or SSD in a form factor similar to Intel NUC. It was launched last year, but GeekBuying is probably getting rid of stock, as it is selling it for just $59.99 shipped. Let’s remind us of the specs: SoC – Intel Celeron J1900 Quad core processor @ 2.0 GHz (base) / 2.41 GHz (burst) with Intel HD graphics (10W TDP) System Memory – DDR3L 1333/1666 MHz SO-DIMM slot Storage – 2.5″ SATA hard drive or SSD Video Output – mini HDMI + mini DisplayPort Audio – mini HDMI, 3.5 mm jack for headphone and MIC-in Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, mPCIe Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) and Bluetooth 4.0 module USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x USB 3.0 port. Misc – […]

January 20, 2016January 22, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

Tronsmart Ara X5 Plus mini PC Comes with Faster Storage, 802.11ac WiFi, and Higher USB 3.0 Speeds

Tronsmart Ara X5 was one of the first Intel Atom Cherry Trail mini PCs to launch on the market. It came with an Intel Atom x5-Z8300, and the now typical 2GB RAM combined with 32GB flash. But in my review of Tronsmart Ara X5, I found out that the flash was quite slower than other Windows mini PC I tested, and the USB 3.0 port would not recognize my 1TB Seagate USB 3.0 hard drive. The company has now introduced an upgraded model simply called Tronsmart Ara X5 Plus with a faster Samsung eMMC 5.0 flash, faster USB 3.0 read and write speeds (and hopefully better compatibility), 802.11ac WiFi support by replacing Ampak AP6330 module by Intel Wireless-AC 3160 and adding an external antenna, as well as fixed some micro SD card compatibility issues, and an updated UEFI binary that should reduce blue screen of death appearances in Windows. The […]

January 6, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

How to Stream Video from Zidoo X9 / Tronsmart Pavo M9’s HDMI Input

Zidoo X9 and Tronsmart Pavo M9 are TV boxes based on Mstar MSO9180D1R processor and featuring an HDMI input port that can be used for record video from an external source. Danman got a Pavo M9, and managed to successfully hack it to stream the HDMI input to the network using VLC and ffmpeg. One of his first task was to check out the hardware, and while the board has a different name (HDMI_4K_V1.2 vs MSO9810D1R-TF-V1.2), the board layout appears identical to Zidoo X9 board, so the instructions below should also work on Zidoo’s device. After doing some tests with VLC server on a Linux computer and running ffmpeg for Android in M9, as well as analyzing the recording app (ZidooRecorder.apk), and finding the app’s source code released by Zidoo (with some NDA protected binaries), he try to adapt the app to stream content instead, and called it ZidoStreamer. Eventually […]

December 23, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Tronsmart Orion R68 TV Box Discounted to $39? Nope.

Tronsmart Orion R68 is an octa-core Android TV box powered by Rockchip RK3368 processor with 2GB RAM, and 16GB internal storage. I actually received a sample a a few months ago, but I have not reviewed it yet as I’ve been waiting for a firmware upgrade to fix some of the issues I had in Beelink i68, but it has yet to come. Nevertheless, the device which normally sells for $75 on GeekBuying, is now sold for $39 shipped on Aliexpress in what looks like am amazingly good deal reported by AndroidPC.es. At first, I was about to write a post about this excellent deal, especially as I saw the link indicated 114 orders, but then on the top left corner, I noticed “Hot CCTV” seller had no feedback score and the store opened on December 9, 2015. It’s quite possible a store will do a promotion to gain attention, but […]

December 9, 2015December 9, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Antutu 6.0 Release Brings New Benchmarks and Different Scores

When Antutu 5.0 was released, it added some new tests such a single thread performance, and revamped its 2D and 3D graphics test among others, and that meant the new scores were could not be compared to Antutu 4.x. If you now download Antutu from the play store, you’ll get Antutu 6.0 and Antutu 3DBench apps, which handle the 3D graphics test separately. I can confirm Antutu 6.0 scores cannot be compared with Antutu 5.x ones, as Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos TV box got 36,741 points in Antutu 6.0, while typically competitors achieved 28,000 to 29,000 points in Antutu 5.7.1. There are now 4 main section in the benchmark: 3D, UX, CPU and RAM, so the details are much different. One neatr featuer is the QR core of the result, which allows you to keep a link with the complete result, in this case: http://antutu.com/qr/?c=18af306ecb85f6d42df2d4a1285d10eed87bf15e. And if we do look […]

December 8, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos TV Box Unboxing and Teardown

Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos is an Android mini PC powered by Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor, but contrary to the two other S905 device I previously reviewed, namely K1 Plus and MINI MX, it’s not been designed for the ultra low end, as it comes with 2GB RAM, 16 GB eMMC flash, 802.11ac WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, and a SATA port. GeekBuying sent me one sample for review, and I’ll start with some pictures of the package, device, and board, before running it through a full test procedure. Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos Unboxing I got the box via DHL in the following package with makes it clear it’s a 4K media player. The box comes with a simple IR remote control requiring two AAA batteries, an HDMI cable, a SATA cable for laptop drives, a 12V/2A power supply, and a user’s manual in English. The device looks somewhat like […]

December 1, 2015December 1, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 50 Comments

Tronsmart Vega S95 4K Android TV Box Features an External SATA Port

Tronsmart is adding three new devices to the long list of Amlogic S905 TV boxes on the market with: Vega S95 Pro – 1GB RAM, 8GB flash, AP6212 wireless module (2.4GHz WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0) Vega S95 Meta – 2GB RAM, 8GB flash, AP6330 wireless module (Dual band WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0) Vega S95 Telos – 2GB RAM, 16GB flash, AP6335 wireless module (802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0), and SATA All three models also include Gigabit Ethernet. The Pro and Meta models have a lot of competition, but Telos is quite unique so far, as it’s the first to include a SATA port. Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC 5.0 flash by Samsung + SATA connector + SD card slot Video HDMI […]

November 29, 2015December 1, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Intel Atom x5-Z8300 vs x5-Z8500 Benchmarks Comparison

We’ve previously seen there’s not that much difference in benchmarks between Intel Atom Z3735F and the newer Atom x5-Z8300 processor, except when it comes to 3D graphics performance where the latter can be up to twice as fast. The same benchmarks have been run in Windows 10 on an Atom x5-Z8500 based device, namely Kangaroo Mobile Desktop computer, and the difference seemed large enough that I decided to make a comparison against the Atom x5-Z8300 processor used in Tronsmart Ara X5. The three benchmarks – PCMark 8 (Accelerated 3.0), Passmark 8, and 3DMark – were run in Windows 10 64-bit Home in both devices. A Ratio greater than one indicates Kangaroo (x5-Z8500) is the faster device. Benchmark Tronsmart Ara X5 Intel Atom x5-Z8300 @ 1.44 GHz / 1.84 GHz (Turbo) Kangaroo Mobile Desktop Intel Atom x5-Z8500 @ 1.44 GHz / 2.24 GHz (Turbo) Ratio PCMark8 Overall Score 1,354 1,597 1.18 […]