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Pico-ITX i.MX8M Board Enables Offline Voice Control with Snips

A few days ago, we covered Estone Technology’s MJ-100 RK3399 rugged tablet. I’ve just realized Estone Technology used to promote their embedded product under the Habey USA brand, which we covered a few times here, and the company has also announced another new product ahead of Embedded World 2019 with their EMB-2238 Pico-ITX i.MX8M board specifically designed for voice control applications. The company setup two voice control demos with the board: one with Amazon Alexa Voice Service (AVS) and another with Snips that works locally without any Internet connection. We actually came across Snips previously for an article comparing microphone arrays, but I never looked into Snips into details or saw an actual demo. Let’s have a quick look at EMB-2238 board specifications first: SoC –  NXP i.MX 8MQuad  with 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.5GHz, 1x Arm Cortex-M4 realtime-core @ 266MHz, Vivante GC7000L/GC7000LVX with support for OpenGL/ES 3.1, OpenGL […]

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$100 Laptop Shell to Support Smartphones, USB Type-C PC Sticks, and SBCs (Crowdfunding)

Launched in 2011, Motorola Lapdock turned the company’s Atrix 4G smartphone into an Android laptop, but it did not end up being a commercial success so the company stopped manufacturing the laptop shell a few years ago. It is still used by hobbyist for example to create their own DIY Raspberry Pi laptop, and in recent years, with phoned getting much more powerful and desktop support for Android improving, lookalikes have been launched such as NextDock or Mirabook. A new option will soon be available, as Charbax known for his armdevices.net website and YouTube channel has just launched an Indiegogo campaign for a $100 Lapdock. Two models will be available with Lapdock 11.6″, and Lapdock 14.1″ referring to their size, but sadly no other specifications were provided for the display. We still know they’ll work with Samsung Dex / Linux on Dex modes, Huawei PC mode, and basically any device […]

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Xiaomi Mi A2 Review – Part 1: Unboxing, Firmware Update, Antutu

I’ve been using Xiaomi Mi A1 smartphone for well over a year, and during my initial review I was quite satisfied with the phone, and over time I was also pleased to receive regular firmware updates (monthly), and even an update to Android 8.0 and 8.1. Eventually, I found out the camera would be work that well in all situation as you can see from photos in that post, and a few months ago, I broken the display during a cycling trip, and eventually the phone basically died after one year due to an issue with the eMMC flash that become unbearably slow. I intend to use it at least for 18 months, since we can expect firmware update during that time frame. But it was not meant to be, and I was due for a new phone. Xiaomi Mi A2 / A2 Lite smartphones were launched in August, and […]

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Particle Mesh Networking Review – Part 2: Getting Started Guide with Argon & Xenon

I’ve recently received a Particle Mesh IoT Development Kit with one Argon WiFi + Mesh (802.15.4) board acting as gateway, three Xenon Mesh boards, and various sensors and accessories.  I’ve already showcased the hardware in the first part in the review, so in this post I’ll post my experience getting started with Particle Mesh networking using the kit. Beside the kit, you’ll need a few micro USB cables, a mobile phone running Android or iOS, a reliable Internet connection (more on that later), and a host PC for programming and debugging potential issues. Setting Up Particle Argon & Xenon boards First we’ll need to configure / setup the boards. Go to https://setup.particle.io to login or create an account if you don’t already have one, and you should be brought the following page. Select Mesh, and you’ll be asked to setup a gateway first. Any of the boards from Particle Mesh […]

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QNAP HS-453DX Fanless NAS Features Gemini Lake Processor, 10GbE, HDMI 2.0

Intel Gemini Lake processors are usually found in consumer products such as motherboards, mini PCs, tablets, and laptops, but QNAP has just announced a fanless NAS – QNAP HS-453DX – targeting home users,  and equipped with an Intel Celeron J4105 Gemini Lake processor, the same chip as found in the recently launched ODROID-H2 SBC. The NAS comes with 4 to 8GB RAM, supports two 3.5″ hard drives, two M.2 SSD, and includes interfaces like HDMI 2.0 outputs and 10Gb Ethernet, making it not only suitable as a high-speed NAS,  but also as a 4K media player. Two versions of the NAS are available: QNAP HS-453DX-4G and HS-453DX-8GB only differing by the amount of RAM. Specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J4105 quad-core processor @  1.5 GHz / 2.5 GHz with Intel UHD Graphics 600 System Memory – 4 or 8GB via 2x SO-DIMM DDR4 sockets Storage 4GB eMMC flash for firmware […]

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Intrinsyc Open-Q 670 HDK Development Kit Features Snapdragon 670 Processor

Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 670 this August with improved camera capabilities and improved performance, including a near doubling of the performance of the AI Engine over the one in Snapdragon 660. Intrinsyc is normally the first company to launch mobile development platform for Qualcomm processor, and this time is no exception, as the company has just introduced Open-Q 670 HDK Development Kit with Snapdragon 670 Mobile Platform. Open-Q 670 HDK specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon SDA670 Octa-core 64-bit Kryo 360 processor with 2x high-performance Gold cores @ 2.016 GHz, 6x low-power Silver cores @  1.708 GHz, Qualcomm Adreno 615 GPU @ 430 MHz, and Qualcomm Hexagon 685 DSP dedicated for Computer Vision and Video Post Processing System Memory – 6GB LPDDR4x RAM Storage – 64GB eMMC 5.1 Flash Storage (non-PoP memory) + uSD card socket Display MIPI DSI connector with 1x 4-lane DSI port + Touch for included LCD panel […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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TopJoy Falcon Review – A Windows 10 Mini Laptop (Prototype)

The Topjoy Falcon is a mini laptop reminiscent of netbooks and similar to the recent GPD Pocket 2 or One Mix Yoga devices. Marketed as an 8 inch (203mm) pocket-sized computer with the following specification: Intel Pentium Silver N5000 CPU 8G RAM 256G SSD disk 1920*1200 FHD IPS touch screen 6000 mAh battery for up to 8 hours working time 1 x USB A 3.0, 1 x USB Type-C 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack 1 x Mini HDMI port Active cooling 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 Backlit keyboard Windows 10 Home Weight 550g (1lb 3oz) Fits easily in your pocket Although you would need a large pocket as whilst It is physically small consisting of an approximately 8″ by 5.2” and about 0.7” thick (203mm x 132mm x 18mm) when closed it is in reality too big for the average pocket. It will soon be available on Kickstarter with an early bird price of $399 and an expected retail price of […]

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Review of Firefly-RK3399 Board with Android 8.1 Firmware

Last week, I tested Android 7.1 on NanoPC-T4 Rockchip RK3399 SBC, and this week, I’ve given a try at Android 8.1 (Beta) on Firefly-RK3399 Board. Since it’s still a beta version, I’m expecting some issues and we’ll have to see how it performs at this stage of development. Firefly-RK3399 Kit Assembly I had to do some assembly before starting the board.  It took me some 30 minutes to complete, so I’ll quickly go through the steps. Beside the default kit, the company also sent me a fansink ($7.9) and an M.2 to SATA board + required cable ($16) which will be part of the assembly instructions. The first step is to peel off the protective films on both sides of the acrylic case. I then fastened my own 2.5″ hard drive with four screws provided in the default kit. I then installed the M.2 to dual SATA adapter board in […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products