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SMA-Q Smartwatch Mini Review and Teardown

I had great hopes for SMA-Q smartwatch, as it features an always on color e-Paper display, a built-in heart rate monitor, and promised 30-day standby battery life, as well as being 30-meter water resistant. But last week, I found out that the latter did not mean waterproof, and instead the watch was rated IP65 that’s only good enough to wash hands and a little rain, but not showering let alone swimming. In the last week, I could play with the watch, and found some serious Bluetooth connectivity issues (with Iocean M6752 smartphone), and I was recommended to upgrade the firmware of SMA-Q watch, and after that my Bluetooth issue have somewhat improve, but everything pretty much went downhill, and the watch is now out of order, and shows no sign of life. So while I was expecting to write a full review, I’ll simply report with experience with the watch […]

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GigaDevice GD32 is a Faster, Software and Pin-to-pin STM32 Compatible Cortex M3 MCU

Las month, Olimex discovered a Chinese company called GigaDevice has made an STM32 clone called GD32 and compatible with STM32F103, but with higher core frequency (108MHz). Olimex has now posted an update after receiving a letter from GigaDevice, and trying GD32F103RBT6 MCU on their own STM32F103 boards. The company explained that GD32 was their own implementation, and claimed rights on GD32 trademarks, while Olimex discovered than GD32 was working just fine on their board having passed “all functional tests without any modifications”, and with all the same development tools and software code running fine. GD32F103xx datasheet (PDF / English version) can be downloaded to find a few more details: The GD32F103xx device incorporates the ARM Cortex-M3 32-bit processor core operating at 108 MHz frequency with Flash accesses zero wait states to obtain maximum efficiency. It provides up to 3 MB on-chip Flash memory and up to 96 KB SRAM memory. […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
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GeekBox and Landingship Android Overview and Benchmarks

This week-end I checked out GeekBox TV box, and Landingship baseboard, explained how to connect the two together and install various optional accessories such as an RTC battery and a cooling fan. GeekBox comes pre-loaded with Android 5.1 + Ubuntu dual boot image, and as I’ve already reviewed other Rockchip RK3368 TV boxes, and GeekBox is also a development platform, I’ll simply run several benchmarks on GeekBox, as well as test SATA performance with an SSD connected to Landingship carrier board in Android, before checking out the Linux part a little latter. That’s no quite how you want to place the fan, but I wanted to show the USB to TTL debug board and other wires can be connected with the case closed. This allowed me to easily check whether the fan was spinning during testing, and it never did… According to one forum post, the temperature currently needs to […]

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Texas Instruments Introduces Entry level Sitara AM3351 Cortex-A8 Processor

Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x processor are designed by industrial applications, and found in develompent board such as BeagleBone Black or BeagleBone Green, and the company has recently launched the new Sitara AM3351 Cortex A8 processor without 3D GPU, no PRU just like AM3352, but they’ve also canned the two CAN interfaces (sorry, I had to) in order to bring the cost lower, while keeping the processor software and pin-to-pin compatible with other AM335x processors available in 13×13 mm package. TI Sitara AM3351 CPU clock will also be limited to 300 MHz to 600 MHz with respectively AM3351BZCE30 and AM3351BZCE60 parts. It will only come with one Gigabit Ethernet port instead of up to two ports of other members of the family that are produced in 15x15mm package, and temperature range is limited to 0 to 90 C. Other features remain the same, and the processors will support TI-RTOS, Linux, Android, […]

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GeekBox TV Box Unboxing and Development Kit Assembly Guide

GeekBox is both an Android TV box based on Rockchip RK3368 octa-core processor, and a Linux development kit thanks to the CPU module inside the device, a baseboard and various accessories. The company has sent me a review sample, as well as the accessories currently available. So today, I’ll have a look at the box, and show how to connect everything together. GeekBox TV Box Unboxing I’ve received two carton boxes via DHL, one with GeekBox itself, and the other with some accessories. You could use GeeBox has a TV box, and forget about its development attributes, as the device comes with the usual accessories include a case, an HDMI cable, an infrared remote control, and a 5V/2A power supply. I was really surprised by how small it was compared to other 64-bit ARM TV boxes recently launched on the market, and looks very much like a small router with […]

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TI SimpleLink CC1310 Wireless MCU Promises 20 Km Range, 20-Year Battery Life on a Coin Cell

Some LPWAN standards such as SigFox, LoRa, or nWave allows for transmission of data at low bitrate over several kilometers, and I’ve very recently featured Microchip’s LoRa modules and motes in this blog. So when Texas Instruments sent their December 2015 newsletter entitled Wireless MCU spans 20 km on a coin cell, I decided to have a look, and the company’s CC1310 wireless Cortex-M3+M0 MCU based on a proprietary sub GHz technology also claims to last 20-year on a coin cell for applications such as grid communication infrastructure and heat and water meters. SimpleLink CC1310 key features: Microcontroller – ARM Cortex-M3 @ up to 48 MHz with up to 128KB programmable flash, 8KB DRAM for cache/general purpose, 20KB Ultralow Leakage SRAM Sensor Controller – Ultralow power and autonomous; 16-Bit Architecture; 2KB of Ultralow Leakage SRAM for code and data RF core Cortex M0 core with 4KB RAM, and ROM Data […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
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Why Do UL and CE Certifications Matter For Anything That Connects to the Mains (110V/220V) ?

I’ve been featuring a few cheap automation appliances such as Orvibo Wiwo S20 WiFi smart socket or lately Sonoff & Slampher WiFi and RF switch and lightbulb adapter, and people mentioned that Wiwo S20 socket was unlikely to be compliant with CE up to 10A since it lacked the ground pin, and I was also informed that Sonoff & Slampher was probably not compliant with UL certifications. Why does not matter? The picture below may give a clue… UL and CE certifications are used to make sure the device complies with safety regulations, and in some case make also improve reliability, as in UL compliant power supplies will feature inexpensive TVS device to protect against thunder. And if you think you are covered because you have an house insurance, it’s quite likely it will be void if the on-site expert find a non-compliant device on the site of the fire. […]

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Unboxing and Teardown of Eny EM95 4K Android TV Box with Front Panel LCD Display

Eny EM95 was first unveiled in early July, as the flow of Android TV boxes based on Amlogic S905 started. Eny Technology has now sent me a sample of this device with the typical 1GB RAM and 8GB Flash, but it adds an LCD display on the front panel. Today, I’ll take a few photos of the device, and open it to find more details about the hardware. Eny EM95 TV Box Unboxing I received the device by DHL in a colorful retail package referring to EM95 as a Quad core Smart TV box, with some specs on the back, which I already listed in my first post. The media player ships with a 5V/2A power supply, an IR remote control with IR learning function requiring two AAA batteries, an HDMI cable, and a user’s manual in English. The style of the box it’s pretty neat, and I usually like […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications