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Tronsmart Mars G01 Wireless Gamepad Review on Android

One way to play games in Android TV Box with a gamepad is to use a Sony Playstation 3 Controller with Sixaxis Controller app. It can work, but you need a device that supports Bluetooth, with the right drivers, and most games require you to do the mapping manually which is not that user-friendly. Now, they make Android compatible Bluetooth Gamepad such as G910 which seems really nice, but I’ve been told it’s rather hit or miss, and some people have problem with the Bluetooth connection. GeekBuying instead recommends Tronsmart Mars G01, based on 2.4 GHz technology, that requires an external USB RF dongle, but which alledgly does not  have connection problems. It works with Android, Windows, and Playstation 3. The company sent me a sample, so I’ve taken some pictures and tried a few games with Tronsmart Vega S89 Elite TV box. Tronsmart Mars G01 Unboxing I’ve received the […]

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AllWinner V10 and V15 SoCs Target Video Recording Applications

AllWinner A-series that can be found in tablets and media players are pretty well known, but AllWinner also has V-Series processors with V10 and V15. A first glance, AllWinner V10 is quite similar to AllWinner A31 with a quad core Cortex A7 CPU coupled with a PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU, and AllWinner V15 has the same CPU/GPU combo as AllWinner A10 (CortexA8/Mali-400). But AllWinner V-Series are actually video encoders targeting applications such as IP cameras, car DVRs, and sports digital video cameras thanks to features such as motion detection, video scaling, and digital watermarking. Let’s go through AllWinner V10 specifications, and I’ll mark differences with AllWinner A31, or features not mentioned in A31 specs, in bold: CPU – Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 with· 256KB L1 cache, 1MB L2 cache GPU – PowerVR SGX544MP2 compliant with OpenCL 1.1 EP and delivering up to 20GFLOPS. Memory – 32-bit DDR3/LPDDR2 SDRAM controller, supporting up to […]

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HP to Sell Leap Motion Enabled Keyboard for $99

Leap Motion is a tiny device tracking your hands, fingers, and joints movements to control a computer, device, and even a quadcopter. The product was announced in 2012, and HP started selling computers with the technology in 2013. But later this month, you’ll be able to buy a gesture control keyboard from HP for $99, instead of just the Leap Motion USB device for $75. HP featured Leap Motion in notebooks such as “HP ENVY17 Leap Motion Special Edition”, and this keyboard was actually available previously, but only with some of Hewlett Packard’s desktops, and all-in-one PCs, and you’ll be able to purchase it separately. The company says the keyboard can be use with any Windows 7 or 8 computers or tablets as long as you install the software. Leap Motion software is also supported on Linux and Mac OS, so I’d assume it might also work with these operating systems (TBC). Via […]

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AMD Introduces Embedded G-Series “Steppe Eagle” SoCs and “Crowned Eagle” CPUs

​AMD has added six new members to is Embedded G-Series family with “Steppe Eagle” SoCs comprising a CPU, GPU and I/O in a single chip, and “Crowned Eagle” CPUs that are not actually CPUs in the old sense, but SoCs comprised of a CPU and I/O chipset, and all of them also include AMD’s ARM based PSP (Platform Security Processor) built upon ARM TrustZone architecture. You may also remember AMD G-Series APUs which are comprised of a CPU and GPU, and connected to an external I/O chipset, but none of these were announced today. The six new AMD G-Series processors are as follows: “Steppe Eagle” SoCs: GX-424CC – Quad core @ 2.4 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, and a GPU @ 497MHz. DDR3-1866 support. TDP: 25W GX-412HC – Quad core @ 1.2 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, ad a GPU @ 300MHz. DDR3-1333 support. TDP: 7W GX-212JC – Dual core @ 1.2 GHz […]

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EzeeCube is a Modular XBMC Media Hub with Up to 9TB Storage (Crowdfunding)

EzeeCube is a media hub that automatically synchronizes photos, videos and contacts from your iOS and Android phones or tablets. The hardware is based on Freescale i.MX6 Dual SoC, includes a 1 TB hard drive upgradable to 9TB with 4 extra drives, can be upgraded with hardware modules, and runs a custom version of XBMC on top of Linux built with the Yocto Project. EzeeCube specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Dual with two ARM Cortex A9 cores @ 1 GHz and Vivante 3D GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 @ 1066MHz Storage – 4GB eMMC,  1TB 2.5″ hard drive @ 5400rpm, and SD/SDXC card slot Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi (2.4GHz), and Bluetooth 3.0 Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with CEC support Audio Output – HDMI and optical S/PDIF Video Containers – AVI, MPEG, WMV, ASF, FLV, MKV/MKA, QuickTime, MP4, M4A, AAC, NUT, OGG, RealMedia RAM/RM/RV/RA/RMV8, OGM, 3gp, VIVO, […]

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ARM Cortex A15/A17 SoCs Comparison – Nvidia Tegra K1 vs Samsung Exynos 5422 vs Rockchip RK3288 vs AllWinner A80

We’re now starting to get quite a few players with ARM Cortex A15 cores on the market, as well as some with ARM Cortex A17. So a comparison table of different quad and octa SoCs might be a useful thing to do. I’ve put aside SoCs such as HiSilicon K3V3, and OMAP5, and focused on the four latest processors: Nvidia Tegra K1 (32-bit), Samsung Exynos 5422, Rockchip RK3288 and AllWinner A80. I haven’t included Mediatek MT6595 and Qualcomm SnapDragon 805, because the two companies mainly focus on smartphones and tablets (although it appears to be slowly changing for Qualcomm), documentation is usually difficult or impossible to find, and in the case of Qualcomm they use their own ARMv7 Krait cores. I’ve highlighted some features in green, in case a particular SoC appears to have an edge. Rockchip RK3288 AllWinner A80 Nvidia Tegra K1 Samsung Exynos 5422 CPU 4x ARM Cortex-A17 […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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Snapdragon 600 based IFC6410 Development Board is Available for $75 For a Limited Time

Despite their popularity with tablets and smartphones, I don’t see much developer community around Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and only a few low cost development boards. One of them is Inforce Computing IF6410 pico-ITX board powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 (APQ8064) quad core processor with 2GB RAM, 4GB eMMC flash, Gb Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SATA,  micro HDMI and LVDS video outputs, etc.., that normally sells for just $149. But the company is having a promotion for $75 with the coupon code “makerfaire” until May 18, or until the 500 units they’ve reserved are sold out. Shipping is not included in the price, and you’ll have to add about $50 for Fedex delivery (It may be cheaper in the US) for a total of about $125, which still probably makes it the cheapest “Cortex A15 class” board that you can get. The board appears to only officially support Android, and if you […]

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Rikomagic MK902 II Android TV Box with Rockchip RK3288 Coming Soon

Rikomagic MK902 is an Android mini PC powered by Rockchip RK3188 quad core processor, and there’s even a Linux version. The company has announced it has been working on an upgrade of the device named MK902 II, and powered by Rockchip RK3288. It will initially sell with Android, but I would not be surprised with a PicUntu version is also sold later, and even an MK 902 II Chromebox could hit the market, since Rockchip released Chromium OS overlay files for RK3288. They’ve also provide MK902 II specifications: SoC – Rockchip 3288 quad core ARM Cortex A17 up to 1.8 GHz with Mali-T764 GPU System Memory – 2G DDR3 Storage – 8 or 16 GB flash + micro SD slot (up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI, AV Audio Output / Input – HDMI, stereo audio (via AV port), optical S/PDIF, microphone Video Codecs – MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products