USB Armory is an Open Source Hardware Freescale i.MX53 Dongle for Security Applications

Most computers-on-a-stick come with an HDMI port, and a few USB ports, but Inverse Path’s dongle is quite different. USB Armory is a flash drive sized computer powered by Freescale i.MX53 Cortex A8 processor with only a USB port and a micro SD slot, that targets security applications such as mass storage devices with automatic encryption, virus scanning, host authentication and data self-destruct, VPN routers, electronic wallets, password managers, portable penetration testing platforms, and so on. USB Armory specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX53 ARM Cortex-A8 @ 800Mhz with ARM TrustZone System Memory – 512MB DDR3 RAM Storage – microSD card slot USB – 1x USB host port. USB device emulation: CDC Ethernet, mass storage, HID, etc. Expansion Header – 5-pin breakout header with GPIOs and UART Misc – customizable LED, including secure mode detection Power – 5V via USB  (<500 mA power consumption) Dimensions – 65 x 19 x 6 […]

Intel / Rockchip XMM 6321 Solution for Low Cost 3G Smartphones and Tablets

Back in May, Intel and Rockchip announced a partnership to develop 3G and LTE “Sofia” SoC for mobile devices, a few months later, Rockchip VP posted a picture of dual core development board (6321 solution) on Weibo with Rockchip and Intel technology, and the companies have showcased solutions based on XMM 6321 during the Hong Kong Electronics Fair. Intel XMM 6321 appears to be a two-chip solution comprised of: XG632 SoC with a dual core Intel processor, a GPU, ISP?, VPU and a 2G/3G modem Intel/Infineon AG620 Communication Combo with 2G/3G RF, Wi-Fi/BT, GPS, GLONASS and Audio/PMU. XG632 will be the first processor from Intel and Rockchip collaboration, but it may not be part of “Sofia” family. with quad core 64-bit Sofia 3G-R and Sofia LTE SoCs coming at later date. XG632 is for entry-level smartphones (<$30) and tablets (<$40), whereas the upcoming Sofia SoCs will be seen in mainstream […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

M85 HDMI TV Dongle Powered by Amlogic S805 SoC Features Two Wi-Fi Antennas

We’ve already seen Ugoos S85 board with Amlogic S805 processor for HDMI TV sticks some time ago, and now Android TV dongles based on the low power quad core Cortex A5 processor are finally up for sale, starting with M85 model coming with 1GB RAM, 8GB flash, HDMI and USB ports, and two Wi-Fi antennas. M85 technical specifications: SoC – Amlogic S805 Quad-Core Cortex-A5 @ 1.5GHz with Quad Core ARM Mali-450MP GPU @ 600MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND FLASH + micro SD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 1080p Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi with two external antennas, Bluetooth. USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 2x micro USB ports (1x OTG, 1x for power) Power Supply – DC 5V/2A The device runs Android 4.4. It’s not clear whether any cables or even a power supply are included. I’ve already […]

Cube T7 is a 64-bit ARM Android Tablet Powered by Mediatek MT8752 Octa-core LTE SoC

That’s it! The 64-bit ARM era is upon us! ARMv8 servers have been available to companies for a few months, entry-level 64-bit ARM smartphones such as HTC Desire 510 are coming soon, and so are low cost 64-bit ARM development boards, Nexus 9 tablet leaks (Tegra K1 64-bit) are flooding the blogosphere, and Cube T7 tablet / phablet powered by Mediatek MT8752 octa core Cortex A53 processor will start shipping next month, and is available for pre-order right now for about $200. Cube T7 (preliminary) specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT8752 Octa-core Cortex-A53 Processor @ 1.7 Ghz with Mali T-760 MP2 or T-764 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L Storage – 16 GB flash + micro SD card slot up to 64 GB Display – 7″ capacitive touchscreen @ 1920×1200. 5 or 10-point multi-touch (TBC) Wireless Connectivity –  Dual band WiFi (802.11 b/g/n and ac), Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, A-GPS, FM […]

Allwinner A80 Android TV Boxes Coming Soon, Starting with Zero Devices Z8C Alice

Allwinner A80 based tablets such as Onda V989, and development boards such as A80 OptimusBoard started to ship one to two months ago, but there was absolutly no news about Android mini PCs / media player based on the latest Allwinner processor. This is about to change as ZeroDevices twitted about their Z8C Alice TV Box, apparently designed by Sunchip, and in collaboration with a UK based digital signage company called Eclipse Digital Media. Preliminary technical specifications that we can infer from the picture above: SoC – AllWinner Ultra Core A80 4x Cortex 15, 4x Cortex A7 big.LITTLE processor with Imagination Technologies PowerVR GC6230 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.0, Directx 9.3 System Memory – N/A Storage – ?? GB eMMC + SD card slot + SATA port (most probably via a USB 2.0/3.0 bridge) Video  Output – HDMI + AV port Audio – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF […]

MXQ S85 Android TV Box (Amlogic S805) Review

MXQ S85 (aka MXQ OTT TV box) and EM6Q-MXQ are two main Full HD H.265 Android media players based on Amlogic S805 currently selling on Chinese online stores. I’m lucky enough to have received both, and I’ve already completed the review for EM6Q-MXQ, so today I’ll complete MXQ S85 review and compare both devices. I’ve already taken picture of the device, accessories, and checked out the board’s components in my unboxing post, so in this post, I’ll focus on the user interface, evaluate performance, and test most hardware features of this media player. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I’ve started by a quick test of the IR remote control, and it works as expected after inserting two AAA batteries, before switching to Mele F10 Deluxe air mouse for convenience. I’ve connected all ports of the device except the S/PDIF output: Ethernet cable, HDMI and AV cables, micro SD card, […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

Camera Not Working on Your Smartphone? No problem, Massage It!

I bought ThL W200 last year as my main (and only) phone, and my review was rather positive, because after testing the phone for a week or so I did not encounter some of the issues. After a short while I found GPS was not working very reliably, so I had to find instructions to fix GPS on Mediatek phones, then the first battery died after about 8 months, maybe that’s normal for my usage, but I was expecting it to last longer. Finally, after a while both front and rear cameras started to have issues such as green screen, color lines, or simply refusing to work with the message: “can’t connect to camera”. In all of this the good news (for me) was I was not alone, and I saw some instructions saying, you had to terminate the camera app, clear all data, and restart the phones. It seemed […]

Linux 3.17 Released

Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux Kernel 3.17 on Sunday: So the past week was fairly calm, and so I have no qualms about releasing 3.17 on the normal schedule (as opposed to the optimistic “maybe I can release it one week early” schedule that was not to be). However, I now have travel coming up – something I hoped to avoid when I was hoping for releasing early. Which means that while 3.17 is out, I’m not going to be merging stuff very actively next week, and the week after that is LinuxCon EU… What that means is that depending on how you want to see it, the 3.18 merge window will either be three weeks, or alternatively just have a rather slow start. I don’t mind getting pull requests starting now (in fact, I have a couple already pending in my inbox), but I likely won’t start processing […]

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