In recent years, wearables such as fitness tracker have become popular to monitor the number of steps walked, calories burnt, and distance covered during your daily activities. These products are not always accurate however, and it get better data instead of having your wear a monitoring device, companies such as BodyCap are working on ingestibles, pills that some electronics, that the user swallows, and tranmit accurate data at a short range.

One of the first product from the company is e-Celsius Performance that aims to measure body temperature of athletes, in order to optimize their performance. The pill has the following technical specifications:

• Data
  • Storage – Up to one year, and up to 2000 samples
  • Sampling – 30 seconds
  • Accuracy – 0.2°C
• Connectivity – Wireless transmission (433 MHz); up to 1 meter range
• Battery – Not sure, but it can last 20 days
• Weight: 1.7g
• Dimensions – 17.7mm x 8.9 mm
• Operational range – 25°C to 45°C

Click to Enlarge

The pills come with a kit comprised of an activator to start temperature measurement, a memory stick with Windows software and documentation, a power adapter with a Y USB cable, and eViewer performance monitor to gather and display data transmitted from the pills. The company tried the pills on 10 footballers in September to help them improve pitch performance overtime, and you can see the temperature measures for a player during the two halves for two matches, as well as its evolution before, after and at half time.

You can find more details on BodyCap’s e-Celsius Performance pill including a quick start guide, and user’s manual.

Via Element14 Community

Renesas has recently unveiled R-Car H3 deca-core processor for automotive applications with four Cortex A57 cores, four Cortex A5 cores, and two Cortex-R7 “dual-lock step” cores for real-time processor, and has part the releases showed the expected roadmap for the implementation of driverless / autonomous cars.

Renesas R-Car H3 Processor and SiP (System-in-Package) Module Block Diagram (Click to Enlarge)

Let’s start with the processor (R8A77950) and SiP module (R8J77950) specifications:

• CPU cores –  quad core  ARM Cortex-A57, quad core ARM Cortex-A53, and dual lock-step ARM Cortex-R7 cores with respectively 48KB/32KB, 32KB/32KB, and 32KB/32KB L1 instructions/operand cache.
• GPU – IMG PowerVR Series6XT GX6650
• External memory – LPDDR4-SDRAM up to 1600 MHz, data bus width: 32 bits x 4 ch (12.8GB/s x 4)
• Expansion bus – 2 ch PCI Express2.0 (1 lane)
• Video
  • Out – 3x display output
  • Input / camera – 8x video inputs
  • Video codec module (H.265, H.264/AVC, MPEG-4, VC-1, etc.)
  • IP conversion module
  • 2x TS Interfaces
  • Stream and Security Processor
  • Video image processing (Up and down scaling, Dynamic γ correction, Color space conversion, I/P conversion, Super resolution processing, Rotation, Visual near lossless image compression)
  • Distortion compensation module x 4 ch(IMR-LSX4)
  • High performance Real-time Image recognition processor(IMP-X5)
• Audio
  • Audio DSP
  • 10x sampling rate converter, 10x serial sound interface
  • MOST DTCP
• Storage – 4x SD host interfaces. 2x MMC interfaces, 1x SATA
• USB – 1x USB 3.0 Host interface (DRD), 2x USB 2.0 Host/Function/OTG interface
• In car network and automotive peripherals
  • 3-pin Media local bus (MLB) interface
  • 2x Controller Area Network (CAN-FD support) interfaces
  • Ethernet AVB 1.0-compatible MAC built in
  • RGMII interface
• Security – 2x Crypto engine (AES, DES, Hash, RSA); SystemRAM
• Other peripherals
  • 48x SYS-DMAC, 16x Realtime-DMAC, 32x Audio-DMAC, 26x Audio(peripheral)-DMAC
  • 26x 32bit timer
  • 7x PWM timer
  • 7x I2C, 11x Serial communication interface (SCIF)
  • 2x Quad serial peripheral interface (QSPI) for boot, HyperFlash support
  • 4x SPI/IIS Clock-synchronized serial interface (MSIOF)
  • Ethernet controller (IEEE802.3u, RMII, without PHY)
  • 4x Digital radio interface (DRIF)
  • Interrupt controller (INTC)
  • Clock generator (CPG) with built-in PLL
  • On chip debugger interface
• Low power mode – Dynamic Power Shutdown, AVS(Adaptive Voltage Scaling), DVFS(Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling), and DDR-SDRAM power supply backup mode
• Supply voltages – 3.3/1.8V (/IO), 1.1V (LPDDR4), 0.8V (core), 2.5V (EthernetAVB)
• Package
  • 1384 pin Flip chip BGA (21mm × 21mm, 0.5mm pitch)
  • 1255-pin SiP module (42.5mm × 42.5mm, 0.8mm pitch)
• Manufacturing Process – 16nm FinFET+

Processor (Left) and SiP Module (Right)

This impressive system-on-chip supports Linux, Android, QNX Neutrino RTOS, Green Hills Integrity RTOS, and others operating systems. Development tools include an ICE for ARM CPU available from different vendors, and a development board with  “car information system-oriented peripheral circuits” that can  be used as a software development tool for application software. However, unless you decide to start a car company you probably won’t be able to buy this type of chip or evaluation board… Nevertheless, it could end up in your semi-autonomous car in a few years as while sample are available now,  mass production is scheduled to begin in March 2018, with ramping up to 100,000 units per month taking place in March 2019.

Autonomous car are a sure thing, with Google self-driving cars already on some roads (at slow speeds) and Formula E is even planning for driverless races, so the real question is about the time it may take to solve technical challenges, work out the regulations, and make the public confident enough to sit in autonomous cars. Renesas’ roadmap above shows R-Car H3 will be used for obstacle detection in 2018, semi-automated driving (ADAS = Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) in 2019, while fully autonomous cars may launch around year 2020 and beyond with the next generation (R-Car H4 ?) platform.

Renesas R-Car H3 Demo with 4K display and two secondary displays

You can find more details on Renesas R-Car H3 page.

Via Nikkei Technology

I’ve just come across a knit cap selling for $14.99 on DealExtreme, which looks like any knit cap except it can be charged and support Bluetooth, so it can be used as a BT headset.

Some of the main features of the cap:

• Connectivity – Bluetooth 3.0 + EDR  with up to 10 meter range
• Audio – Built-in microphone and headphones
• USB – micro USB port for charging
• Misc – 3 buttons: Volume +/-, play/pause (also used as On/Off)
• Battery – 300 mAh Li-Ion battery ; 4 hours charging time; 15 hours working time
• Dimensions – 21 cm x 21.5 cm x 2.5 cm (Knitted material)
• Weight – 71 g

It can be used for hands-free calling or listening music with any phone that support Bluetooth, and charing is done via it’s micro USB port. One DHGate shop has uploaded a video showing how it works (might be a slightly different model).
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Beside DHGate and DX, the same model, or at least similar model, can be purchased for $10.99 on GeekBuying, and several Bluetooth knit caps are also listed on Aliexpress for $8 and up.

There are many FPGA boards on the market at various price points, but many assume you already have the technical knowledge to program the bard with Verilog or VHDL, and may not be suited to beginners. Nandland Go Board is a $50 board that targets beginners with tutorials to get started with blinking LEDs, controlling buttons, received data through the UART interface, showing display patterns via the VGA interface and more.

Go Board specifications:

• FPGA – Lattice ICE40 HX1K with 1280 logic cells, 64Kbit RAM, and one PLL.
• Storage – 1Mb flash
• Clock – 25 MHz on-board clock
• Video Output – VGA Connector
• Display – Dual 7-Segment LED Display
• USB – 1x micro USB connector for power, communication, and programming
• Expansion – PMOD connector
• Misc – 4x user LEDs, 4x push buttons
• Power – 5V via micro USB port
• Dimensions – N/A

The board will be programmed using Lattice Semi iCEcube2 design software, and dozens of tutorials will be provided specifically for the Go board, including some of the examples showcased in the crowdfunding video.

[embedded content]

Russell Merrick, the board designer, has launched the project on Kickstarter where he has raised close to $4,000, and reached the low $1,000 funding target of the project with 75 backers. A pledge of $50 should get you a Go board on February 2016. Shipping is free to the US, but you’ll need to add $10 to the rest of the world. Even if you’d like to give the board a pass for now, you may still want to have a look at nandland.com website if you are interested in learning more about FPGAs.

In most cases, it’s a pretty bad idea to touch a drone while it’s flying, as you could potentially hurt yourself and others with the blades, so a startup based in Belgium has decided to design a safe drone with the blades hidden under a shell surrounded by protective grids, and with features such as obstacles avoidance. The design also makes the drone sturdier, and less prone to breakage should it fall or hit obstacles. The drone, dubbed Fleye, is based on NXP i.MX6 dual core processor, runs a Linux OS built with the Yocto Project, and the company also plans to provide APIs, and mobile SDKs to allow the developer community to experiment with the drone, and/or create mobile apps.

Main hardware features of Fleye drone:

• SoC – Freescale NXP i.MX6 dual or quad core ARM Cortex A9 processor @ 800 MHz with Vivante GPU
• System Memory – 512 MB (1GB as option)
• Storage – micro SD slot
• Connectivity – WiFi up to 100 meters range
• Camera – 5MP camera up to 1080p @ 30 fps (omnivision 5640 sensor)
• Sensors – 3-axis accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, sonar, optical flow tracking via bottom camera, altimeter, and GPS
• Flight – 15 km/h max speed; 8km/h wind tolerance; -/+ 10 cm hovering precision
• Battery – 1,500 mAh LiPo battery with XT60 connector; good for 10 minutes of flight time
• Dimensions – 23 cm diameter
• Weight – 450 grams

The Fleye will ship with a dual core processor, but a special Developer Edition will come with NXP i.MX6 Quad and 1GB RAM instead. The drone is flown with a mobile app running on iOS and Android, and does not require piloting skills, and you just need to select a camera mode such as selfie or virtual tripod before watching the video stream on your mobile device. It’s also possible to control it manually with a virtual gamepad, or an actual Bluetooth gamepad for more control. Since the blade are not exposed, the drone can be pushed around if it is on the way. You can find out more in the video below.

[embedded content]

The board uses OpenCV for its obstacle avoidance algorithm, and some more complex apps can be accelerated with OpenGL or/and OpenCL thanks to Vivante GPU. The full APIs and SDKs have not been publicly released yet, but here what you may expect:

• JSON-over-UDP API to control the drone over WiFi from any network capable computing device.
• Android & iOS SDK
• Nodejs and/or Python SDK

Since the main board runs Linux, you’ll be able to write your own applications, and access it via SSH. A different API will also be provided in order to instruct the auto-pilot to take off, land, go to specific GPS coordinated, etc… from your own application(s).

Fleye drone is on Kickstarter, and so far has raised around 100,000 Euros out of its 175,000 Euros target. The super early bird rewards are all gone, but some early bird rewards are still available, and a 699 Euros (~$738) pledge, shipping included, will hopefully get your the drone in September 2016.  You may also find more details on gofleye.com and their blog.

Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos is an Android mini PC powered by Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor, but contrary to the two other S905 device I previously reviewed, namely K1 Plus and MINI MX, it’s not been designed for the ultra low end, as it comes with 2GB RAM, 16 GB eMMC flash, 802.11ac WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, and a SATA port. GeekBuying sent me one sample for review, and I’ll start with some pictures of the package, device, and board, before running it through a full test procedure.

Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos Unboxing

I got the box via DHL in the following package with makes it clear it’s a 4K media player.

The box comes with a simple IR remote control requiring two AAA batteries, an HDMI cable, a SATA cable for laptop drives, a 12V/2A power supply, and a user’s manual in English.

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The device looks somewhat like Beelink MINI MX from the outside, but the connectors’ placements are different.

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One side has two USB 2.0 host ports and a full-size SD card slot, while the other side features the SATA connector. The rear panel comes with a power hack, an optical S/PDIF port, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.0, and another USB 2.0 port.

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On the bottom of the  case, you’ll find the Fn pin hole to update the firmware in case OTA updates don’t work, or you need to re-install Android on your device.

That’s the unboxing video. Sorry about the lack of focus at times…
[embedded content]

Tronsmart Vega S85 Telos Teardown

You’ll need a sharp and rigid plastic tool to pop-up the bottom cover by sliding it on the four edges of the case.

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We’ll find a “Tronsmart Vega S95” sticker o the board, two Samsung K4B4G1646D-BCMA DDR3 RAM chips (1GB), and a golden button which you press to upgrade the firmware (Fn pinhole). There’s also a sticker with something that looks like a 6 bytes MAC address, and the prefix 20:18:0E looks up Shenzhen Sunchip Technology.

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After removing four screws, we can have a better look at the WiFi antenna, and the whole board with the RAM, storage, and Amlogic S905 SoC covered with a metallic shield and an heatsink. The shield is not soldered, so I could remove it quite easily with a small plastic tool.

Click to Enlarge

So we’ve got Amlogic S905 processor (not S905-H) , two more Samsung DDR3 chips to bring the total memory to 2GB, as well as a Samsung KLMAG2WEMB-B031 16GB eMMC 5.0 flash with theoretical read and write speeds of 170 MB/s and 11 MB/s. Ampak AP6335 wireless chip brings 802.11 b/g/n., 802.11ac, and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity to the device, and Realtek RTL8211F Gigabit Ethernet. Genesis GL850G USB 2.0 hub is used to add some extra USB ports.

What about SATA? I’ve been told GL830 USB to SATA bridge is often used in low cost device, and has very poor performance. At least, Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos does not use that part, and instead they went with JMicron JM20329 USB 2.0 to SATA bridge. We’ll have to see how it performs in the review.

I’d like to thanks GeekBuying for sending the sample for review. You could consider purchasing Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos from them for $89.99 when using GRZYOXAC coupon. The device is not listed on many sites, but you can also find it via some sellers on eBay.

Beside Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos, I’ve received another Amlogic S905 device with MXQ G9C, which was the first Amlogic S905 TV box to have surfaces in the news back in June, and a sample has been sent to me by Shenzhen Tomato. Since the company provides ODM/OEM services instead of catering to end users, the specs are flexible, but the device I received is with the default configuration namely 1GB RAM and 8GB flash, and with similar specs to Beelink MINI MX or KI Plus for example. Today, I’ll start by checking out the hardware, before reviewing the full package a little later.

MXQ / G9C TV Box Unboxing

I received the parcel via DHL, with the device in a retail white brand package reading “MXQ”, “S905”, and “IPTV box”, with some features on the back such as Airplay, DLNA, Miracast, or Widewine, Playready, and Verimatrix. But I’m pretty sure the three DRM solutions have not been implemented in the box I’ve received…

The device comes with an HDMI cable, an infrared remote control, a 5V/2A power supply, and a user’s manual in English.

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The top of the case is quite reflective as you can see from the pictures…

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On the front we’ve got two LEDs and a small window for th IR receiver, while one side features two USB 2.0 host ports, and a micro SD slot. HDMI 2.0 and AV video output, optical S/PDIF, Gigabit Ethernet, and the power jack are all found in the rear panel.

G9C Android TV Box Teardown

Most devices come with a 2 parts shell fastened with screws, which are sometimes found under rubber pads.
So I removed all four pads, and there was nothing, so you can leave them alone, if ever you need to open the device… So instead I stuck a sharp plastic under the top cover, and found out it was was glued to the rest of the case, not unlike Voyo V2 mini PC, but with a stronger cover, and much weaker glue, so I did not have to break anything…

The white rectangle is an LED that will lit the MXQ sign on top of the device once it is turned on. To further open the device, I had to loosen four screws, and again use the little green tool above to pop-up the internal cover.

We are slowly getting there. Amlogic S905 is cooled via a thermal pad attached to a thick metal plate. Let’s take out three more screw to complete take out the board, and have a closer look.

Click to Enlarge

So Amlogic S905 processor is coupled with two NANYA NT5CB256M16DB-EK DDR3 chips (512MB + 512 MB), and a Samsung KLM8G1WEPD-B031 8GB eMMC 5.0 flash. The wireless module is Ampak AP6212 supporting 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz) and Bluetooth 4.0, and Gigabit Ethernet is implemented with Realtek RTL8211F transceiver and GST5009 magnetics module. The board silkscreen reads G9_V1.0, but a sticker described the board as being G9C-G V1.0 instead.  The 4-pin header on the bottom right under the micro SD slot are for the serial console, and there’s a separate 9-pin headers for some separate functions. The firmware recovery button is located right being the AV port.

Click to Enlarge

There’s not much to see on the bottom of the board, except the GND, Tx and Rx markings for the serial console.

Shenzhen Tomato kindly provided the sample for review, and if you are a distributor, or have a specific project that could make use of this hardware, you could contact the company via their G9C product page. I could not find G9C for sale on e-retailers, but one shop on DHGate offers a similar M95 box for $69.00 including shipping (but you have to purchase 10 or more).

Allwinner A64 is likely to become quite popular as it will be used in PINE A64 board, Olimex open source hardware laptop featuring A64-OLinuXino board, and some low cost tablets. We’ve already got some documentation such as Allwinner A64 datasheet and user’s manual, but AFAIK, there was no source code released for the board.

The good news is that you can now download Android 5.1 SDK and Linux source code on Baidu with four files available:

• lichee_A64_A5.1_V1.0.tar.gz – Linux source code
  
• android_A64_A5.1_V1.0.tar.gz– Android 5.1 SDK
• android_prebuilts_A64_A5.1_V1.0.tar.gz – Some pre-built binaries for Android
• A64硬件资料.zip – Documentation including the datasheet, product brief, and user’s manual which we’ve already got, but also some hardware with reference schematics, PCB layout files, and BoM for an Allwinner A64 tablet.

That’s about 7.4GB to download, and apart from the documentation, the download is not quite complete yet, so I could not look into the details of the release yet.

GeekBox is an upcoming Android TV box based on Rockchip RK3368 octa-core processor that doubles as a system-on-module and development board. The company has now uploaded the Android 5.1 SDK, including Linux 3.10.79 kernel, on github. It’s not for the Android SDK for RK3368, but at least it’s not just an outdated tarball, and will hopefully be regularly updated directly on github.

Beside the source code, the company also released three firmware image including Rockchip’s Light Biz OS desktop operating system based on Lollipop:

It’s quite possible those images will also work on other Rockchip RK3368 platform with some modifications, e.g. an updated device tree file for a given hardware. I’ve downloaded Biz OS adn the dual boot image, and the firmware files are of “update.img” type, so they are not bootable from SD card.

Probox2 Z is yet another of these Amlogic S905 TV boxes with 8GB flash and 1GB RAM, but last year when I reviewed Probox2 EX, I was very pleased with the device, except for gaming due to throttling issues, so it might be worth having look at their new model. I also tested Remote+ air controller last year, which includes air mouse, voice search, and gamepad functions into a single remote, and it’s optionally included with Probox2 Z.

Probox2 Z specifications:

• SoC –  Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with  penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz
• System Memory – 1GB DDR3
• Storage – 8GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot
• Video Output – HDMI 2.0 with HDMI CEC support
• Audio – HDMI, optical S/PDIF
• Connectivity – 10/100/1000M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
• USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports
• Misc – Power button, IR receiver
• Power Supply –  DC 5V/2A
• Dimensions – 110 x 110 x 17.5 mm
• Weight – 185 grams

The hardware specifications look very similar to the ones for Beelink MINI MX with the sames interfaces and dimensions. PROBOX2 Z is running Android 5.1 with the same PROBOX2 launcher as found in Probox2 EX.

Probox2 Z is available for pre-order for $66.50 on W2Comp, and the bundle with Remote+ goes for $90.25.

FTDI found out that the original Arduino UNO R3 boards had issues handling higher loads with 9V and 12V power input being limited to about 800mA and 300mA respectively before the voltage of the 5V regulator drops, so they decided to make their own supporting up to 1A.

NerO board specifications:

• MCU – Atmel ATMega328 MCU @ 16MHz with Optiboot bootloader
• I/Os
  • 14 Digital I/O Pins including 6 PWM outputs
  • 6 Analog Inputs
• USB – micro USB port for programming using FTDI FT231XS USB UART interface (4)
• Misc – Status and PWR LEDs, on/off switch
• Power Supply – 7V to 20V ( 9V or 12V recommended ) via power barrel or VIN pin. 5V switching regulator.
• Dimensions – UNO R3 form factor
• FCC/CE certified

The board is manufactured in Europe by MikroElektronika, a company which I started the hear about more and more, especially since they’ve launched their mikroBUS standard connectors. The board is of course fully software compatible with Arduino UNO R3 board, and the main difference is about how it handles power. FDTI uses a shield with multiple resistors to test the load, and that the results they got on the original Arduino Uno R3 (not some Chinese clone).

Arduino UNO R3 Load Testing

The horizontal axis represent the LDO regulator external temperature, and it gets really hot (100 C and more) as the load increases.

Nero Board Load Testing

While with the switching regulator used in NerO, the voltage remains around 5V up to 1A, and the temperature never exceeds 60 C.

Other tests also show much higher efficiency of NerO regulator (80 to 90%) compared to 30 to 50% for the LDO regulator on the original Arduino board.

FDTI designed the board for another project (CleO 3.5″ display for Arduino boards to become available in three months), but thought some people may be interested by the NerO, so the company launch a Kickstarter campaign, where you can acquire the board for 10 GBP (~$15 US) plus 2 GBP ($3) shipping, unless you live in Singapore where you can pick the board yourself. Delivery is scheduled for February or March 2016.

Console OS is supposed to be a version of Android Lollipop running on various Intel platforms, and optimized for desktop use with new features like DVR support for digital TV tuners, a desktop friendly file manager, and so on. The project launched on Kickstarter and was successful enough to raise $78,497 from 5,695 backers. But according to Chih-Wei Huang, Android-x86 project leader, and Console OS users, the Console OS developer simply forked Console OS, with some minor modifications like changing the project name, and under-delivering on the promised features.

The first part is fine, as that’s the beauty of open source code, you can fork somebody else work, and add your own improvement, and long as you keep the license and credits, that’s what open source is all about.

Now the project raised funds specifically for development, and as promised the source code is available on github. Here what has been allegedly changed against Android-x86:

Console OS did keep the Android-x86 copyright and previous developers names, so they did not just steal the code from Android-x86, and claimed it their own, at least in the source code:

This was also posted on ConsoleOS facebook page, which adds that not all code is on github right with more coming soon including:

• Support for systems other than BayTrail-T (Core, etc)
• A few bug fixes (rotation issues, etc)
• Enabling Intel drivers (we’ll explain what’s up on that shortly)
• Windows installer (so we recommend only installing on systems dedicated to Console OS)
• Anything we can’t post on GitHub (stuff we can only ship in finished/compiled builds) – things like additional live wallpapers, ARM translation support, additional codecs, etc.

Console OS also provided an update on December 8, answering to Android-x86 project rip-off accusations, claiming that only about 70% of our code is on GitHub for now with more to come as shown above.

That might be true, but after one year and a half, backers are really unhappy with the images provided so far, and a far cry of what was promised as shown in the table, even comparing its superiority to Android-x86, and other Android in Intel/AMD solutions, which in hindsights is rather ironic.While I don’t think the project was a planned scam from the start, because Mobile Media Ventures (MMV) is at least being active in replying to backers on Kickstarter, and did not simply take the money and run, the developers may have under-estimated the work to be accomplished, and development did not go according to plans, with the backers having likely thrown their money into a project that won’t deliver all promised features, if any at all. So it’s likely more incompetence than an outright scam.

But Android-x86 project leader has quite a different opinion:

If he does make some improvements based on the android-x86 code, I’m glad to see so.

However, cheating the world that he is developing something amazing on Kickstart in 2014 but finally just copied an open source project that he degraded at first (see the competitive chart on his site) is very immoral.

When Kickstart campaign began in 2014, he promised you “A” (a much better stuff) and accept your money, but now he just deliver you “B” (a totally different stuff). If you are a backer, can you accept? If this is not a scam, what is a scam?

IMO, Christopher Price and his Console OS is *a cancer* that lives by the nutrient of android-x86.If we can’t cut it immediately, he will continue  absorbing the effort of android-x86 and finally choke this project.

[Update: See Console OS answer in comments:

We wish we had been contacted prior to this article. There were and are clear reasons why we had to delay things after out Kickstarter ended. Most notably, after our Kickstarter ended, Intel decided to abandon Android-IA for the PC. While we tried, and spent far more than raised via Kickstarter, to take on maintaining Android-IA… we realized Intel had simply cut back support too much. After many meetings with Intel, we decided the best path forward for Console OS was to rebase on Android-x86, and resume our original goals by fusing and integrating Android-IA drivers from Intel mobile devices. We’re proud and committed to that path.

P.S. And by the way – our GitHub, as it notes on the main Console OS GitHub repo, is not yet fully live. Much of this criticism of our stack, and how it forks Android-x86 (with full attribution), is premature.

]

MQmaker launched their WiTi router on Indiegogo in early August, and they raised close to $30,000, enough to go into production. However, some people are understandably wary of crowdfunding campaigns, and likely postponed their decision to see how the project would progress. The good news is that the AC1200 board is now available for $79 + shipping ($9.05 in my case) on Aliexpress.

WiTi router specifications have not changed much:

• Processor – Mediatek MT7621A dual core MIPS 1004Kc processor @ 880Mhz
• System Memory – 256MB RAM
• Storage – 16MB SPI NOR flash for firmware, 1x micro SD slot, and 2x SATA 3.0 ports supporting 3.5″ hard drives.
• Connectivity
  • 2.4 GHz WiFi 802.11b/g/n up to 300Mbps
  • 5 GHz WiFi 802.11a/n/ac up to 867Mbps
  • 2x Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports
  • 4x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports
  • 2x RF Antenna Connectors
• USB – 1x USB3.0 port
• Expansion – 30-pin header including USB, I2S, JTAG, UART, and GPIO signals
• Debugging – 4-pins serial debug port
• Misc – RTC battery slot, 1x WPS/GPIO key,  1x reset key, LEDs for power, SATA, WiFi (2x), and LAN (4x)
• Power Supply – 12V/2A
• Dimensions – 16 x 10 cm

The options for 512MB RAM, and four RF antenna connectors are not available right now. A version with 512MB is however sold on Taobao for 520 CNY (~$81). [Update: The 512MB version also shows for $89 on Aliexpress, for some reasons on mobile website only].

The board will ship with two SATA data & power cables, a serial-to-USB cable, one 2.4GHz antenna, one 5.8 GHz antenna, a 12V/2A power adapter, and an acrylic enclosure. The latter not shown in any pictures but it should probably look like the dual HDD NAS shown in the video below.

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Documentation and software support is the most important for development boards, and resources can be found in MQmaker’s documentation page with instructions to build the kernel and make your own image, as well as a tutorial to create the NAS shown in the video above, and links to schematics (PDF) and datasheets and MQmaker’s github account including OpenWrt for WiTi board source code. WiTi board has also been mainlined to OpenWrt, although some more work remains for it to be working as well as the provided firmware.  You can ask questions and get support via the forums.

We’ve already seen that MINX NEO U1 has some impressive hardware to offer with a good thermal solution, and high-end chips for storage and WiFi, as well as some neats additions like RTC support. But obviously the most important is to find out how the box performs, so I’ve put it through it spaces with video playback and features testing, as well as some benchmarks.

First Boot, OTA Firmware, Settings and First Impressions

The device has three full-sized USB 2.0 ports, which become four once we had the provided USB OTG adapter to the remaining micro USB port. So I’ve connected a USB 3.0 hard drive, the RF dongle for NEo A2 Lite air mouse, a USB hub with a USB webcam, a USB keyboard, and the RF dongle for Tronsmart Mars G01 gamepad, as well as USB powered speakers to the micro USB port. After inserting HDMI, optical audio and Ethernet cables, as well as the speakers cable into the 3.5mm speaker jack, I connected the 5V/3A power supply, and… nothing happened. So you just need to press the power button on the remote or unit itself to boot the device. A boot typically takes just over 30 seconds, or quite faster than the 50 seconds or so on lower end Amlogic S905 devices such as K1 Plus or Beelink MINI MX.

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That’s the typical MINIX launcher, but an improvement over MINIX NEO X8-H Plus home screen when it launched last year. The top 4 icons shows WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth and VPN status. The first 8 icons in the center are “folders” for apps categorized in Videos, Kodi, Music, Games, Internet, Online streaming. Screencasting, and Social, with the last one redirecting to Amlogic settings app, as seen on all other Android Lollipop firmware for Amlogic TV boxes. The bottom row is for shortcuts, and the right column features time/data, a File Explorer apps folder, the full list of app (confusingly sorted in Chronological order), and App Market apps folder, and All Tasks Killer to automatically kill all background tasks. The status provided a convenient link to the Download folder, as well as the usual other buttons Home, Back, Volume, etc… You can hide the bar with the double down arrow icon on the right, and make it show again by pulling it up from the bottom.

Before going to the settings, I’ll mention my experience with FOTA (Firmware Over The Air) update. MINIX asked me to delay the review until their release FW003 firmware and XBMC for MINIX, which was out Friday evening. So I went to MINIX System Update app, and the new firmware was properly detected.

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I liked that the update comes with a full log, and that it was a small incremental 30.71 MB download. The process went very smooth, with the device rebooted after unpacking the firmware, and flashing it with the usual Android firmware update animation. I would have however preferred that XBMC for MINIX was included inside that firmware, instead of asking users to side-load MINIX_XBMC_20151209.apk  themselves.

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The main options in the settings app are exactly the same as in MINI MX, as shown above, however the company also made some improvement (in bold) to the most important options:

• Network – WiFi, Ethernet, and VPN configuration
• Display
  • Screen resolution: Auto, 480p-60Hz, 576p-50Hz, 720p 50/60Hz, 1080i 50/60Hz, 1080p 24/50/60Hz, 4K2K 24/25/30/50/60Hz or SMPTE
  • Screen position
  • Screen rotation (middle port, force land, original)
• Sound – System sound (On/Off), Digital sounds (Auto detection, PCM, HDMI or SPDIF), and USB audio
• Preferences – HDMI CEC (But not working: “This remote device does not support CEC”), and Play back settings with “HDMI self-adaption” with three options: 
  • OFF – no processing
  • Level 1 – 23.976fps videos are processed under 1080p60Hz mode;
  • Level 2 – Switching TV’s output according to source video fps
• Remote & accessories – Add Bluetooth devices (redirect to Android lollipop Bluetooth configuration)

As with other Amlogic devices, configuring the network options (WiFi, Ethernet and Bluetooth) went well. I could set video output to 4k2k @ 60Hz, but sometimes the video output would fall back to 1080i50 or 2160p25. The former happened once or twice after a reboot, or power cycle, and is easily noticeable, as the mouse pointer will be much bigger. I think the latter (2160p25) happened after playing some videos (TBC).

You can go to Android Lollipop settings by clicking on More Settings.  I could immediately a new feature that stands out: MCU setting.
You can configure the MCU behavior in this section. For example, you can select to automatically start the device when power is on, instead of having to press the power button. I’ve not sure what “RTC alarm” means in that context, maybe “low battery”?, but if the MCU is also handling RTC some neat feature like timed power on/off could also be implemented in the future. Finally, I could upgrade the MCU firmware to Version V1 without issues.

The 16GB eMMC flash is partitioned with a single unified 11.87GB partition, which is plenty of space for apps, and some data, and at the end of the review I still had 7.57GB  free space. All options that you can find in Android Lollipop are also there including Language & Input, Backup & reset, Printing, Accessibility, and so o.

The “About Mediabox” section reports NEO-U1 model number running Android 5.1.1 on top of Linux kernel 3.14.29, with the firmware firmware version being U1 FW003 20151210. The firmware is not rooted by default.

A MINIX infrared remote control is included by default. I added two AAA batteries, and I could use it without problem, even up to 10 meters. But I strongly recommend you also purchased MINIX NEO A2 Lite air mouse as well, especially if you don’t already a wireless keyboard or air mouse with keyboard, as it makes the user experience much better with a three-in-one keyboard, air mouse, and remote control. The mouse pointer works just as well as in MeLE F10 Deluxe, but the dedicated air mouse activation key removed unwanted clicks I sometimes get with the MeLE device when I want to enable air mouse mode. The keyboard is also nice with large keys, and the range is also very good, as I could test it up to 10 meters. I only found some “minor” issues. I found myself pressing the top button of the D-pad quite often instead of the OK button, so the design might have been slightly more ergonomic if the D-Pad was slightly higher. That one probably depends on your hand size though. While the keyboard is really nice, I wished the often used Space and Back key where left alone as in a full keyboard, as when Fn is enabled, pressing space will display the equal sign “=” instead, and the Back key will feel like it’s not used as all since it’s in “Delete mode”. But as I said these are minor, and possibly just something to get used to. Another input option is to use the Android remote control app for MINIX NEO U1 with your smrtphone.

The Google Play Store worked for all apps I had to use for the review, and most apps I previously installed on my phone would also install, except when telephony is required, or an app can now be only installed in specific countries. I also installed Amazon Underground, in order to play Riptide GP2 for free.

Power handling is very well implemented, and you can go into standby or power off the device with the remote control, or the power button.  MINIX NEO H8-Plus would not support turning on the device with the remote control, which was a pain, the company fixed that with NEO U1 and you can comfortably control the system from your sofa using either the included IR remote or NEO A2 Lite air mouse.

Power consumption is also good, and the hard drive is properly turned off in standby or power off modes:

• Power off – 0.1 Watt
• Standby – 1.2 Watt
• Idle – 3.2 to 3.4 Watts
• Power off + USB HDD – 0.1 Watt
• Standby + USB HDD – 1.4 Watt
• Idle + USB HDD – 4.3~4.4 Watts

So you’ll actually spend a little less money compared to cheaper Amlogic alternatives when the box is in power off or standby mode. I did come across two issues:

• Once I got stuck in standby mode, which required a power cycle
• When I disconnected the USB hub, all other USB ports went down… so the hard drive, and A2 Lite air mouse would not work… That was a little scary, but I used the IR remote control to turn off and on the device again, and it worked.

Amlogic S905 processor is already low power, and just like Beelink MINI MX, NEO U1 stays cool during operating. I measured 41°C and 45°C respectively on the top and bottom of the case after Antutu 6.0, and the temperature went up slightly after playing Riptide GP2 for 20 minutes to 45°C and 50°C. Those are values measured with an IR thermometer, and I scanned both top and bottom covers of the case to find the highest temperature.

Overall, the firmware is very and extremely responsive, as I never had slowdown during use, so the user experience is very good with this device, and much different from the cheaper Amlogic S905 devices. As seen above there are still some small bugs, which hopefully they’ll be worked on in due time.

Video Playback with Kodi/XBMC 15.3 for MINIX

So far, Kodi was not really usable on Amlogic devices, so I had to review K1 plus with Video Player, and MINI MX with MX Player. But some patchsets have made it to Kodi, and MINIX must have leveraged them by releasing their own XBMC for Kodi 15.3. You’ll actually have two versions in the firmware: Kodi 16.0 alpha that comes with the firmware, but you should really download and install MINIX version instead.

So I played all videos with “Kodi 15.3 MINIX” from a network share over Ethernet, unless otherwise noted. The first time I started Kodi, I could not hear much, unless I boosted my TV volume to 100%. I exited the app, and when adjusting the volume from the launcher, I noticed it was only about 30% (but showed 100% in Kodi), so I adjusted it to the max, reduced my TV volume to 25%, and restarted Kodi to have proper audio volume.

Let’s start with the easy video with with Linaro media samples, Elecard H.265 samples, and low resolution VP9 video:

• H.264 codec / MP4 container (Big Buck Bunny) – 480p/720p/1080p – OK
• MPEG2 codec / MPG container –  480p/720p/1080p – OK
• MPEG4 codec, AVI container 480p/720p/1080p – OK
• VC1 codec (WMV) – 1080p – 480p/720p/1080p – OK
• Real Media (RMVB), 720p / 5Mbps – OK
• WebM / VP8 480p/720p/1080p – OK
• H.265 codec / MPEG TS container  – OK
• WebM / VP9 (no audio in video) – OK

Clean sheet here. Please also note that HDMI self-adaption, better known as automatic frame rate switching, worked very well too.
I’ve also gone through some videos with higher bit rates, still over SAMBA and Ethernet:

• ED_HD.avi – OK
• big_buck_bunny_1080p_surround.avi (1080p H.264 – 12 Mbps) – OK
• h264_1080p_hp_4.1_40mbps_birds.mkv (40 Mbps) – OK
• hddvd_demo_17.5Mbps_1080p_VC1.mkv (17.5Mbps) – Could be smoother
• Jellyfish-120-Mbps.mkv (120 Mbps video without audio) – Not 100% smooth, but no buffering while playing from network… Same results on USB drive.

Not too bad. The Jellyfish video felt exactly the same as on MINI MX with MX Player, so Amlogic S905 might struggle with 100 Mbps+ videos.

After that I tested audio capabilities of the device with PCM, HDMI and S/PDIF pass-through in Kodi, as well as PCM (downmix) with MX Player and MoviePlayer apps. For pass-through you need to configure Kodi/XBMC 15.3 as shown below. With S/PDIF you should also enable Dolby Digital (AC3) transcoding.

You’ll notice that DTS-HD capable receiver is not enabled, and it’s not a mistake, as MINIX made clear this is not supported right now.

So that’s pretty good overall, except DTS-HD pass-through is not working yet over HDMI, and since DTS and Dolby license are not included, only apps that handle DTS/Dolby by software will output anything when PCM is selected. I had a question marked to “Atmos OK” because I could hear audio fine, and TrueHD 7.1ch B was shown on my AV receiver, but I’m not 100% sure if Atmos should have shown instead.

4K video can now be played pretty well in Kodi, almost as well as with MX Player:

• HD.Club-4K-Chimei-inn-60mbps.mp4 – OK
  
• sintel-2010-4k.mkv – OK
• Beauty_3840x2160_120fps_420_8bit_HEVC_MP4.mp4 (H.265) –  OK
• Bosphorus_3840x2160_120fps_420_8bit_HEVC_MP4.mp4 (H.265) – OK
• Jockey_3840x2160_120fps_420_8bit_HEVC_TS.ts (H.265) – It would not play the first time, but I clicked again and it was OK…
• MHD_2013_2160p_ShowReel_R_9000f_24fps_RMN_QP23_10b.mkv (10-bit HEVC) – OK
• phfx_4KHD_VP9TestFootage.webm (VP9) – 3 to 4 fps
• BT.2020.20140602.ts (Rec.2020 compliant video) – OK
• big_buck_bunny_4k_H264_30fps.mp4 – OK
• big_buck_bunny_4k_H264_60fps.mp4 – The video is not very smooth and large audio delay (4K H.264 @ 60 fps not supported by S905 VPU)
• Fifa_WorldCup2014_Uruguay-Colombia_4K-x265.mp4 (4K, H.265, 60 fps) – OK
• Samsung_UHD_Dubai_10-bit_HEVC_51.4Mbps.ts (10-bit HEVC / MPEG-4 AAC) – Failed. It will show the first images, and gets stuck at ~85% buffering. The same behavior occurs from a USB drive.
• Astra-11479_V_22000-Canal+ UHD Demo 42.6 Mbps bitrate.ts (10-bit H.265 from DVB-S2 stream) – The first time it played zoomed in with only one quarter of the video showing on the full screen. But I tried later and it played fine, and without the bug where the video freezes for a short time, as in MX Player and Video Player in the other two S905 boxes I tested.

The only really problem is with Samsung_UHD_Dubai_10-bit_HEVC_51.4Mbps.ts, and times when videos can play, and other don’t but overall it’s very good. It’s also the first Amlogic S905 that can play those files from the network without buffering issues.

You can see how I configured the system in the video below, as well as show 4K videos and audio pass-through in action.
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Sintel-Bluray.iso and amat.iso (Ambra – Prism of Life) Blu-ray ISO could play smoothly, as well as two 1080i video samples. Hi10p videos can be decoded somewhat, but with so many artifacts that they are not really watchable:

• [Commie] Steins;Gate – NCED [BD 720p AAC] [10bit] [C706859E].mkv – Audio and subtitles OK, some video artifacts
• [1080p][16_REF_L5.1][mp3_2.0]Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu BD OP.mkv – Audio and susbtites OK, more artifacts

The TV used for review, namely LG 42UB820T does not support 3D, but I could still check whether the system could decoded some stereoscopic 3D videos:

• bbb_sunflower_1080p_60fps_stereo_abl.mp4 (1080p Over/Under) – Video OK, but some audio/video sync issues
• bbb_sunflower_2160p_60fps_stereo_abl.mp4 (2160p Over/Under) – Blackscreen with audio only
• Turbo_Film-DreamWorks_trailer_VO_3D.mp4 (1080p SBS) – OK

Most videos and movies in my library (VOB, IFO, MKV, AVI, MP4 and MKV) played without issues, but some FLV did not have audio for some reasons.  I also played a a 2-hour video to test stability, and it played very well. For reference, Kodi’s log window reported 3 dropped frames and 1 skipped frame, which is very good, although we can’t also trust the data from Kodi here.

MINIX NEO U1 achieved 901 points in Antutu Video Tester 3.0, or about the same as K1 Plus (906) and MINI MX (891), so no surprises here.

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I also ran DRM info, and contrary to the other two boxes, Widewine is said to be enabled in NEO U1, but for some reasons, the app does not reports the security level.
So I tried iflix, the equivalent of Netflix for south-east asia, as I have a free one month trial, and it could stream videos, albeit the quality was not really good.

Video samples used for this review can be found here.

Network Performance (Wi-Fi and Ethernet)

In order to evaluate WiFi performance, I transfer a 278MB file between a network share (SAMBA) and the internal flash for three times using ES File Explorer, and average the results. I tested both 802.11ac (connected at 780 Mbps) and 802.11n (connected at 117 Mbps), and both results are very good.

Throughput in MB/s (Click to Enlarge)

802.11ac performance is nearly at the very top of the chart with 6.0MB/s transfer rate, and 802.11n is also pretty good at 3.01 MB/s (around 24 Mbps) and above average.

I repeat the same test for Gigabit Ethernet, but with a 885 MB file instead of the average performance (12.4 MB/s) is OK, but for some reasons it was much faster in one direction (22.12 MB/s) and slower in the other direction (8.59 MB/s).

Throughput in MB/s

I also ran iperf -t 60 -c server_ip -d to test raw dual duplex performance, and the latest Ethernet IP in Amlogic S905 appear to much better than in previous generation Amlogic S8xx processors.

Throughput in Mbps (Click to Enlarge)

iperf output:

Miscellaneous Tests

Bluetooth

MINIX NEO U1 shows as p200 Bluetooth device, and I could pair it with my smartphone to trnsfer some pictures. It worked, but one of the picture got corrupted during the transfer. I also successfully connected a Bluetooth headset, and paired No.1 D3 smart watch with the device. The firmware is not rooted, so I could not try Sixaxis app for PS3 gamepads.

Storage

The “10 MB free space bug” is still remaining in NEO U1, as in all other 5 devices I’ve tested with Amlogic and Android Lollipop. So while the NTFS & exFAT partitions on my USB hard drive could be mounted, but the total and free space would only show as 10MB, and I could not copy files larger than 10MB. A FAT32 micro SD card could be mounted

File System	Read	Write
NTFS	OK	No (10 MB free space)
EXT-4	Not mounted	Not mounted
exFAT	OK	No (10 MB free space)
BTRFS	Not mounted	Not mounted
FAT32	OK	OK

So again, I skipped USB storage benchmarks, and only tested the internal storage with A1 SD bench app. The results are quite phenomenal with 118.37MB/s read speed and 73.85 MB/s write speed, the best so far for any device reviewed on CNX Software, and at least twice as fast as any other TV boxes tested so far, and about 5 to 10 times faster than the cheaper Amlogic S905 devices.

Read and Write Speeds in MB/s (Click to Enlarge)

This must at least partially explain why I never noticed any slow downs on the device…

USB Webcam

I connect a standard UVC webcam to the box, and login with Skype and successfully run the Echo/Service test, and make a video calls. However, after two tries at different times, I never managed to login to Google Hangouts, and I would only see the spinning wheel as it tried to login.

Gaming

Beelink MINI MX struggle a bit with games in my last review, but MINIX NEO U1 perform way better. First, I played Candy Crush Saga with NEO U1 air mouse without any issue.

Then I switch to 3D racing games and used Tronsmart Mars G01 wireless gamepad. Beach Buggy Racing was very smooth with default settings, so I maxed out the graphics settings to “High Resolution” and it was still very much playable and enjoyable, albeit possibly with a slightly lower frame rate.

Riptide GP2 was also super smooth with default settings, and with graphics settings set to the max, it was still playable, but not really optimal, so I went back to default settings for the longer test. Other device tends to slow down after playing the game for a while, but NEO U1 was stable after 15 minutes, and it was fun so I played about 5 minutes more (6 races), and I had the same performance all the way. I suspect the large heatsink in the device really helps avoiding GPU throttling.

MINIX NEO U1 Benchmarks

CPU-Z detects NEO U1 is another p200 platform (p200_2G), and that it features a quad core Cortex A53 processor @ up to 2.02 GHz with a Mali-450MP GPU without recognizing Amlogic S905 processor yet.

Click to Enlarge

Since I’ve run Antutu 6.0 benchmark on the device, and it gets 38,032 points, but remember scores between Antutu 5.x adn Antutu 6.x are not directly comparable. If we look into the details of the score, we’ll notice that Marooned 3D graphics benchmark (3D 孤立)  did not complete, so if somehow this is fixed in the feature, the scores will automatically go up, and the reason is because this test is based on OpenGL ES 3.1, which is not supported by the GPU. For reference, Vega S95 Telos, another Amlogic S905 platform, got 36,741 points, with the gap most entirely due to UX I/O test, and the ultra eMMC flash in NEO U1.
So to compare to other devices, better run some other benchmarks like Vellamo 3.2.

Click for Original Size

I’ve drawn a comparison chart with K1 Plus (low cost Amlogic S905 platform), and MINIX NEO X8-H Plus (previous generation Amlogic S812 device).

So apart from the metal score, results are pretty equivalent on all three devices. Please note that MINIX NEO X8-H Plus runs Android 4.4, and does not benefit from the faster ART runtime found in Android Lollipop and greater.

Click to Enlarge

NEO U1 media hub scores 4,327 points in 3Dmarks’ ICE Storm Extreme benchmark, against 4,304 in K1 plus, and 6,056 points in NEO X8-H Plus. It’s not surprising that the penta-core GPU in Amlogic S905 SoC is slower than the octa-core GPU featured in Amlogic S812 processor.

Conclusion

It’s quite difficult to find a device where both the hardware and software are very good. Most of the time, I’m given decent hardware with half-baked firmware, but I’ve also tested boxes with outstanding hardware and rather poor firmware (e.g. Mygica ATV1900AC), or on the contrary very good firmware, but hardware that could be better (e.g. WeTek Core). So I’m happy to report MINIX guys have managed to combined excellent hardware with very stable and responsive firmware that works (the vast majority of the time).

One the hardware side, you’ve got good (802.11n) and excellent (802.11ac) WiFi transfer rate, and Gigabit Ethernet works very well, even for streaming high bitrate videos, while the eMMC flash is the fastest I’ve tested in any devices, and whatever performance I get is sustainable thanks to the large heatsink in side the device keep everything cool and running smoothly over time.

One the software side, the system feel very responsive at all times, certainly helped with the good hardware, but most of advertised features just work out of the box, with XBMC for MINIX running well enough for be your primary media player / center, a first on the Amlogic S905 devices I tested. That’s not to say there aren’t any flaws, or bugs but there are not major, and I’m sure many will be fixed with upcoming firmware updates.

PROS

• Recent stable and always responsive Android 5.1 OS firmware
• Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 2160p 60Hz; 24/25/30/50/60 Hz refresh rates supported
• Good Kodi support (XBMC 15.3 MINIX Edition) with smooth 4K H.265 (10-bit) and H.264 video playback
• Dolby 5.1, Dolby+7.1, DTS and TrueHD audio pass-through are working (HDMI and S/PDIF).
• Proper implementation of power handling with more feature possible as the MCU firmware is upgradeable and the included RTC.
• 3x USB ports + 1x micro USB port with USB OTG
• Very good to outstanding network performance with Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi (802.11n / 802.11ac)
• Fastest internal storage I’ve seen in any device tested so far
• Decent platform for 3D games
• Skype working fine with USB webcam
• Working OTA firmware upgrade
• Active support forums

CONS

• HDMI – DTS HD pass-through not working yet; CEC not working; Video output resolution set in settings is not always used at next power on, and may fall back to 1080i50. I’ve also noticed the resolution switch to 2160p25 (instead of 2160p60), after playing some videos.
• A few video playing OK in MX Player has issues in Kodi XBMC for MINIX.
• Lack of DTS and Dolby support for PCM (downmix) output. Does not affect Kodi users, or people with an AV receiver.
• DRM installed, but lacks Widewine Level 1 required for full HD and 4K video streaming in some apps (e.g. Netflix)
• USB hard drive partitions (NTFS / exFAT) reported as having 10MB free only, basically rendering the partitions read-only. (likely bugs related to having multiple partitions on a single hard drive)
• Some small UI issues – Mouse pointer looks quite small at 4K resolution, list of apps shown in chronological order instead of alphabetical, Kodi folder empty in home screen after firmware update.
• System may be stuck in standby mode (only happens once)
• Potential USB port shutdown issue (only happened once when I disconnect a USB hub and all USB port turned off).
• I could not login to Google Hangouts
• Volume may be very low in Kodi (Workaround is to adjust volume in launcher first).

I also tested MINIX NEO A2 Lite air mouse in the review, and I really recommend it, this is an excellent input device, and IMHO better than MeLE F10 Deluxe due to larger keyboard keys, and a dedicated button to activate air mouse function.

I’ve seen some people ask whether they should upgrade their MINIX NEO X8-H Plus to NEO U1. In terms of performance, you won’t see much differences, and X8-H Plus should have higher 3D performance, but if you care about H.265 video playback at 4K @ 60 Hz, 10-bit HEVC support, 802.11ac WiFi, and get something that you can turn on/off with the remote control, then go ahead you won’t be disappointed.

MINIX NEO U1 sells for $129.99 on Amazon US, Amazon UK, DX.com, GearBest, GeekBuying and others, but I really recommend you spend $20 extra and get the bundle with MINIX NEO A2 Lite air mouse on these sites. The air mouse is also sold separately for $29.99 shipped.

QNAP has recently launched two network attached storage (NAS) devices with TAS-168 and TAS-268 that are based on Realtek RTD1195 dual core processor, and happen to run Android along side the company’s Linux based QTS operating system, and respectively have one and two bays for 2.5″ or 3.5″ hard drives.

QNAP TAS-168 NAS

QNAP TAS-168 and TAS-268 specifications:

• SoC – Realtek RTD1195 dual core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.1 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU
• System Memory – 2 GB DDR3
• Storage
  • 4 GB eMMC and SD card slot
  • TAS-168 – 1x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA @ 3Gbs
  • TAS-268 – 2x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA @ 3Gbs
• Video and Audio Output – HDMI port
• Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet
• USB – 1x USB 3.0, 4x USB 2.0 host ports
• Misc – IR receiver, LEDs for HDD, LAN, status, and USB, buttons (Power, reset, USB copy)
• Power – TAS-168 – 12V/3A (36W) power adapter; TAS-268 – 12V/5A (60W) power adapter
• Power consumption
  • TAS-168 – HDD sleep mode: 1.6W; Active typ. : N/A
  • TAS-268 – HDD sleep mode: 5.4W; Active typ. : N/A
• Dimensions
  • TAS-168 – 187.7 x 60 x 125 mm
  • TAS-268 – 187.7 x 90 x 125 mm
• Weight – TAS-168 – 560 grams; TAS-268 – 700 grams

QNAP TAS-268 NAS

The internal hard drive will be formatted to EXT-4, while the USB interfaces support EXT-3, EXT-4, NTFS, FAT32 and HFS+ file systems. The performance is said to be 60MB/s and 80 MB/s for repetitively uploading and downloading files from a Windows machine. TAS-268 also support RAID-1, RAID-0, and JBOD configurations. You can find more details on QNAP product sheet.

I previously reviewed an RTD1195 TV box, and Gigabit performance with iperf was about 640 and 750 Mbps in dual duplex mode, and USB 3.0 read speed maxed out to 44.52 MB/s, both of which are pretty decent numbers for TV boxes, but possibly a little on the low side for a NAS. Performance of the system under Android was however sluggish, but the system only had 1GB RAM which would get apps quickly killed, and QNAP NAS should run a bit more smoothly thanks to 2GB RAM. However, the 4GB eMMC flash will quickly fill up if you start installing apps. I could not find reviews yet, but this quick installation guide will show you what you can expect to receive and how to setup the NAS.

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Both NAS sells on Amazon US with TAS-168 and TAS-268 going for respectively $199.99 and $249.99 without hard drives. A few more details may also be found in QNAP Android NAS page.

Thanks to Gabe for the tip!

In case you need a cheap and compact ESP8266 board with integrated USB to TTL debug interface, a photo resistor, and/or some buttons, a white brand board based on ESP-12F could be interesting.

“Witty cloud” development board specifications:

• ESP-12F module with Espressif ESP8266EX SoC
• Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• 2x 8-pin headers with GPIOs, VCC, GND, Reset, ADC, and UART
• USB – 2x micro USB port (one for power, one for debugging ?)
• Misc – Photo resistor, RGB LED, three buttons for power, reset and firmware upgrade (I think)
• Dimensions – Small

Witty cloud might not be the same of the board itself, but could be a cloud service launched in China, as some of the screenshot on Aliexpress could imply. All I could find are some websites vaguely mentioning GoKit 3.0 and Witty Cloud 3.0, but it does not make much sense.  If Chinese readers could provide some insights here it would be nice.

The board sells for as low as $3 + shipping on Aliexpress, which amounts to $4.85 in total in my case.

Via Pete Scargill

LoRa is one of those long range low power WAN standards used for the machine to machine (M2M) and Internet of things (IoT) applications. I already featured a Semtech Lora module here with a line-of-sight range of up to 20 to 30km, and the company has just partnered with STMicro to deploy LoRa solutions, but today, I’m going to have a look at Microchip Lora modules and development kits that I discovered in the company’s Micro Solutions Nov/Dec 2015 publication.

The company has launched two modules for the European and North American markets with respectively RN2483 LoRa 433/868 MHz
R&TTE Directive Assessed Radio Modem and RN2903 915 MHz North American modem. Apart from the different frequencies, both modules have similar features:

• On-board LoRaWAN Class A protocol stack
• Tx/Rx Power
  • RN2483 – 40 mA (14dBm, 868MHz) Tx, and 14.2 mA Rx @ 3.6V
  • RN2903 – 124 mA Tx max, and 13.5 mA Rx @ (2.1 to 3.6V)
• ASCII command interface over UART
• Castellated SMT pads for easy and reliable PCB mounting
• Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) over UART
• 14 GPIO for control, status, and ADC
• Highly integrated module with MCU, crystal, EUI-64 Node Identity Serial EEPROM, Radio transceiver with analog front end, and matching circuitry
• Operating Voltage – RN2483: 3.6V; RN2903: 2.1V to 3.6V
• Dimensions – 17.8 x 26.7 x 3 mm
• Operating Temperature Range – -40C to +85C
• FCC and IC Certified, RoHS compliant

Demo source code, datasheets, product briefs, and user’s guides are available on the modules’ product pages linked above.

US and EU versions of Microchip LoRa Technology Motes (Click to Enlarge)

The first development tool is LoRa Technology Mote with either RN2483 @ 868 MHz or RN2903 @ 915 MHz. It is a standalone battery-powered LoRa node, used to to demonstrate the long-range capabilities of the modem, and verify inter-operability with LoRaWAN v1.0 gateways and infrastructure.  The key features listed for Lora Motes:

RN2483 Lora PICtail Daughter Board (Click to Enlarge)

The second options is RN2483/RN2903 LoRa Technology PICtail/PICtail Plus daughter boards that can be connected to PIC18 Explorer or Explorer 16 development boards, with the latter supporting PIC24, dsPIC, or PIC32 MCU families.

LoRa PICTail daughter board specifications:

• US version – Microchip RN2903 Low-Power Long Range, LoRa Technology Transceiver Module with one SMA connector for 915 MHz band
• EU version – Microchip RN2483 LoRa Technology Transceiver Module with two SMA connectors for 433 MHz and 868 MHz bands
• MCU – PIC18 MCU for custom functions
• USB – 1x mini USB connector
• Expansion interfaces
  • Solder pads around the module for GPIOs, power pins and communication signals
  • PICtail connection interface
  • PICtail Plus connection interface
• Programming – ICSP header to program the on-board PIC18 MCU
• Misc – UART traffic LEDs
• Power Supply – On-board LDO; supply current measurement points
• Dimensions – N/A

You can find user’s guides and some extra documentation for all four kits on their respective product pages: RN2483 LoRa Technology Mote, RN2903 LoRa Technology Mote, RN2483 LoRa Technology PICtail (Plus) Daughter Board, and RN2903 LoRa Technology PICtail (Plus) Daughter Board.
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Both RN2483 and RN2903 modules are available now for $10.90 each in 1,000-unit quantities, while LoRa Technology Motes go for $69.99 and LoRa PICTail boards for $65 on microchipDIRECT or other distributors.