Mobile Tech, a Hong Kong based company, showcased two Android tablets (8″ and 10″) based on the new Telechips 8803 processor (ARM Cortex A8) running at 1.2GHz that supposedly offers better performance than the first Galaxy Tab. Both devices use an Innolux capacitive touchscreen, the 8″ version has a resolution of 800×600 and the 10″ 1024×768, both have 512MB RAM and 4GB Flash memory, HDMI output, 802.11n Wifi and optionally 3G and a 1.3MP front camera. They plan to support Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) with this version of the hardware for the time being. Honeycomb will need more RAM (at least 1GB) and more time for the porting with Telechips TCC8803. They only expect Android 3.0 to be ready by the end of the year on that platform. The 8″ version is already in mass production, their price target is 300 Euros retail. The 10″ version should be ready in May […]
Android 2.2 Media Player: Cidecko Simple Box AB03
Cidecko, a Taiwanese company, demoed its new Android media player the Cidecko Simple Box AB03 running Android 2.2 on an undisclosed 500 Mhz CPU (Based on this frequency, could it be one of Sigma Designs SMP8650 series, e.g. SMP8653?) at CeBit 2011. They have an innovative remote control (named Air Keyboard AK02d) in the shape of a game controller with a full keyboard, an accelerometer and of gyroscope to control the menu. The set-top box has HDMI, component (YPbPr) and composite video outputs, optical audio output, 2x USB Host, an SD card reader (supports SDHC), an Ethernet port and support Wifi (802.11n) via an external dongle. Although it’s running Android 2.2, note that it does not support full flash, but only Flashlite 9.0. It can support the most popular video codecs including MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264/AVC, RMVB and VC-1 and audio codecs such as MPEG, Dolby, DTS.. The retail price of the […]
Low Cost Freescale i.MX53 (Cortex A8) Development Board
Possibly inspired by Texas Instruments low cost Beagleboard (OMAP 3 – 129 USD) and Pandaboard (OMAP4 – 179 USD) and the large following in the development community, Freescale announced its own “Quick Start Development Board” based on i.MX53 for a cost of 149 USD. i.MX53 QSD Board Hardware Description Listed Hardware Features of the i.MX53 Quick Start Development Board: Processor i.MX53 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 Processor Power management IC 1 GB DDR3 memory Display LVDS connector VGA connector Parallel LCD add-on card (via expansion connector) HDMI add-on card (via expansion connector) Audio SPDIF output via HDMI add-on card Freescale SGTL5000 audio codec Microphone jack Headphone jack Expansion Connector Enables parallel LCD or HDMI output Camera CSI port signals I2C, SSI, SPI signals Connectivity Full-size SD/MMC card slot microSD card slot 7-pin SATA data connector 10/100 Base-T Ethernet port Two High-Speed USB host ports Micro USB device port Debug JTAG connector […]
Freescale Home Energy Gateway Reference Platform
I’ve previously introduced Atmel / Mentor Embedded smart grid solutions, specifically Atmel In-Home Display hardware with Mentor’s Inflexion User Interface. Today, I’ll present Freescale Home Energy Gateway Reference Platform based on i.MX283 ARM 9 MCU, MC13224V Zigbee IC, 9S08QE32 MCU & MC34726 Regulator and running Windows® Embedded Compact 7. The home energy gateway is the interface between the utility-controlled smart grid and energy-consuming in-house objects. The graphical user interface (GUI) has been design with Silverlight. Functions of the Home Energy Gateway Collect real-time energy consumption from smart meter and power consumption data from various in-house objects Control activation/deactivation of home appliances Generate dashboard to provide feedback about power usage Provide control menus to control appliances Provide a ubiquitous link to the broadband Internet Freescale home energy gateway solutions allow every point of the smart home to be connected and controlled from a central point, enabling power efficiency and energy optimization. […]
Freescale Wireless Charging Systems
Freescale showcased two wireless charging systems at Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelena. The first product – Energizer’ InductiveCharger – is based on Freescale MC56F8006VLC and follows the Qi 1.0 Wireless Charging Standard. You simply need to use a specific casing (with a wireless power receiver) for your mobile device that integrates the necessary hardware to “communicate” with the power pad. The second product – PowerMat – is based on Freescale MC9S08Q2 andMC9S08K4 to provide intelligent control in the charging mat and phone receiver. It does not follow the Qi standard but works basically the same way. Both systems are available on the market and can be purchased on Amazon and other retailers. You’ll normally need to buy two pieces, the mat and the casing for your phone (for around 75 to 100 USD). Powermat also have one position mat together with the receiver for 37 USD. Watch the video […]
Linaro Development Board “Snowball” by ST Ericsson
ST Ericsson unveiled a development board based on Nova A9500 (dual ARM Cortex A9 processor and MALI 400 GPU) at MWC 2011 called Snowball (or SKY-S9500-ULP-CXX) for the embedded Linux community and professional developers. This board was designed by CALAO Systems and can be pre-ordered on their website for 200 USD (SKY-S9500-ULP-C11 / Software Development Kit – SDK) or 300 USD (SKY-S9500-ULP-C01 / Production development Kit – PDK). The difference between the SDK and PDK is that the former has no expansion connectors, no battery backup for RTC and only support serial over USB port (for Linux console). First, some pictures with description of the snowball development board. The full documentations for Snowball development board can be found in Calao Systems File Repository, where you’ll get the bottom and top assembly diagrams for both C01 and C11, the major components datasheet, documentation and some photos. The specifications of the boards: – […]
Samsung at MWC 2011: Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy S 2
Samsung will showcase two highly expected products at Mobile World Congress 2011, in Barcelona: The Galaxy S II smartphone with a 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus display and dual-core processor and the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 (aka Galaxy Tab 2) with a 10.1″ display (1280×800) running Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). Samsung GALAXY S II Product Specifications are as follows: Network GSM 850/900/1800/1900 HSPA+ 21 850/900/1900/2100 OS Android 2.3 Gingerbread Display 4.27” WVGA (480×800) Super AMOLED Plus Processor ( BB& AP ) 1 GHz Dual Core Application Processor Camera Main(Rear): 8.0-Mega Pixel Camera AF with LED Flash Front: 2.0-Mega Pixel Camera Single Shot, Beauty Shot, , Panorama Shot, Smile Shot, Action Shot, Cartoon Shot Video Codec : MPEG4/ H.264/ H.263/ DivX VC-1 Playback : FULL HD(1080p)@30fps Recording : FULL HD(1080p)@30fps Audio MP3, AAC, AAC+, eACC+ 3.5mm Ear Jack & Speaker, Stereo FM Radio with RDS, Voice Recorder Hub Social Hub – Integrated Contacts, […]
Ziilabs ZMS-05 and ZMS-08 SDK and Development Boards
Ziilabs (originally 3DLABS) is Singapore company, subsidiary of Creative Technology, that provides media application processors for consumers electronics and has offices in the UK, China, USA and Singapore. Ziilabs Media Processors Overview Ziilabs has two media processors: ZMS-05 – A Low Power HD Programmable Media Rich Processor based on two ARM9 core (ARM9-EJS) mainly aimed at smartphones and tablets with the following media capabilities: High compute density SIMD architecture High resolution – decode to 1080p / 720p encode Simultaneous video encode/decode at D1 Wide rage of optimised CODECs and APIs Accelerated OpenGL ES 3D graphics Hardware compositing Advanced image processing 8 GFlops programmable compute ZMS-08 – A HD Media Rich Applications Processor based on an ARM Cortex A8 running @ 1GHz mainly aimed at media players, set-top boxes and digital signage solutions with the following media capabilities: Blu-ray Quality 1080p H.264 Video Decode 1080p H.264 Video Encode 720p H.264 Video […]