Yang Zhang, Director of http://96boards.org presents the ROCK960 featuring Rockchip RK3399 Dual-core ARM Cortex-A72, Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53, Mali-T860MP4, USB 3.0, HDMI 2.0, USB Type-C with DisplayPort 1.2, 4-lane PCIe 2.1 for high speed communication to FPGA or external GPU is possible. Rock960 will be used by open AI efforts, with ARM Computing Library available for openCL acceleration. ROCK960 supports Android 7.1, Debian Stretch and Yocto officially, other distributions can be supported by the open source community. Rockchip provides multimedia Linux support for ROCK960. The likely price for the board is going to be $99 for 2GB RAM with 16GB emmc and $139 for 4GB RAM with 32GB emmc.
Specs:
* SoC – Rochchip RK3399 hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with two ARM Cortex A72 cores up to 1.8/2.0 GHz, four Cortex A53 cores @1.4GHz and ARM Mali-T860 MP4 GPU with OpenGL ES 1.1 to 3.2 support,
OpenVG1.1, OpenCL 1.2 and DX 11 support
* System Memory – 2 or 4GB RAM
* Storage – 16 or 32GB eMMC flash + micro SD card
* Video Output – 1x HDMI 2.0 up to 4K@60 Hz with CEC and HDCP
* Connectivity – WiFi 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO up to 867 Mbps, and Bluetooth
4.1 LE (AP6356S module) with two on-board antennas, two u.FL antenna
connectors
* USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB 3.0 type C port
with DP 1.2 support
Expansion
* 1x 40 pin low speed expansion connector – UART, SPI, I2C, GPIO, I2S
* 1x 60 pin high speed expansion connector – MIPI DSI, USB, MIPI CSI, HSIC, SDIO
* 1x M.2 key M PCIe connector with support for up to 4-lane PCIe 2.1
(max bandwidth: 2.0 GB)
* Misc – Power & u-boot buttons. 6 LEDS (4x user, 1x Wifi, 1x Bluetooth)
* Power Supply – 8 to 18V DC input (12V typical) as per 96Boards CE
specs; Battery header
Dimensions – 85 x 54 mm (96Boards CE form factor)
The team behind the ROCK960 is Vamrs Limited, a startup based on Shenzhen, China, with eight employees with average more than 10 years electronics and embedded experience. Vamrs is a 96boards contract Manufacturing Partner. (https://www.linaro.org/company/vamrs/)
Distributors and interested parties can contact Vamrs at support@vamrs.com
My impressions on the coolest ARM Powered Laptop yet, the Samsung Chromebook Plus ($419 top selling 2-in-1 on Amazon.com) that features a Rockchip OP1 dual ARM Cortex-A72 with quad ARM Cortex-A53, ARM Mali-T860MP4 GPU. The performance is great on this device, with the firmware updates from Google also speeding things up regularly, this device is amazingly cool and aweome. But in this video I mention a few things I am hoping Google can improve in the software, mostly to do with improving the Android apps for productivity, I’d like a 4K video editor that works and that is hardware accelerated, I think that Google needs to help PowerDirector and Kinemaster get hardware acceleration and 4K video editing support on this device. Even better perhaps would be if Google could contact the Lumafusion developers and support them to port their 4K60 video editor to Android and optimized for the OP1 processor. Other missing apps in the Google Play store are Microsoft Office, Popcorn time, I don’t want to be setting my Chromebook in Developer mode just to sideload apps that may not even be optimized for the Chromebook yet. Photo editors such as GIMP on Android, Adobe Photoshop need to get supported. Few more other productivity apps for developers, creatives, professionals and students I think need to get ported to this Chromebook Android device. Then Google also needs to improve the features of the stylus touch pen on this device, I’d like the stylus shortcuts and gestures allow to do productive work and study such as annotation collaboration, screen region selector saves to JPG to use as thumbnails in YouTube. In terms of the hardware, I am only hoping to be able to prove that USB Type-C SD card adapter to a USB3 Hard drive file transfers are fully fast enough (as fast as on any Intel Windows machine, hopefully), and also I hope to be able to prove that Wi-Fi performance is just as fast and reliable as with any other laptop. Except the missing backlight on the keyboard and the slightly smaller keyboard than full size, otherwise I think this laptop hardware is pretty much near perfect. It is now my main laptop, I just wish that I could do 4K60 video editing in a good Android video editing app, that the Android and the Chrome OS part get better integrated, for example when I save files in Android apps I want to be able to easily get access and upload these files from the Chrome OS Chrome Browser. I’ll be posting more videos about my Samsung Chromebook Plus in the weeks and months ahead as I expect that it will get better with Google’s full support. Samsung really needs to soon start selling it in Europe!
Rockchip made the OP1 the world’s most optimized Chromebook processor. OP1, also known as RK3399-C, Hexacore dual ARM Cortex-A72, quad ARM Cortex-A53 with Mali-T860MP4 GPU. Rockchip is the only chip maker which has been optimizing processors for Chromebooks over the past 3 years, with all the lessons they learned with the RK3288 quad-core ARM Cortex-A17 which shipped in several Chromebooks in 2015, they were able to improve on that, optimize every detail and in collaboration with Google and Samsung.
I hope somehow I can get my Chromebook Plus before MWC. Seems unlikely, Amazon.com and B&H don’t have any in stock (I need it shipped here to Europe, I should probably have ordered it on Samsung.com or Bestbuy.com and forwarded to Europe using Borderlinx or another similar package US-to-Europe forwarding service, but it seems too late). Samsung seems slow at getting these out to the world. Here’s what needs to happen with the OP1 RK3399-C Chromebook platform:
– Make these available worldwide. $299, $349, $449, $549 with different skews from FHD 4GB RAM 32GB Flash at $299 to 2400×1600 8GB RAM 128GB Flash at $549. Samsung, Asus, Acer, Lenovo, HP, all need to get in on the OP1 flip platform.
– Make sure there are 10-20 perfectly optimized apps for productivity covering all the basics people need on a Laptop. At least a few apps that cover “what people need on Windows/Mac” need to work on the Chromebook with OP1, make sure there is 3 perfectly optimized Office apps (Microsoft Office included), 3 perfectly optimized video and image editing apps (should be good enough for semi professionals to do fast rendering smooth 4K video editing and “anything that’s done with Photoshop/GIMP”), 3 perfectly optimized Chat/Video-conferencing apps including Skype, Whatsapp, Hangouts, few more “Facebook Messenger”, “Snapchat”, whatever young people use.. Just make sure there is a good range of very well optimized apps, that will show the way for other developers to also optimize thousands among the 2 million Android apps best suited for productivity. Have 10 “Nintendo-quality” awesome games work perfectly also, for optional gamepad bluetooth gameplay on large display or with any cheap $10 Type-C to HDMI on a HDTV. Google can offer “free” app re-optimization support to the developers who have promizing Android apps that just need to be slightly upgraded to work great on large display and well optimized also for keyboard/mouse usability.
– Nougat multi-window resizable. All the features of Remix OS, Phoenix OS, nicely resizable multi-window Android framework needs to be there.
– App/extension for perfect stylus annotation collaboration, annotate any webpage, any article, any document, and have collaborators over Google Drive. We also need a perfect community(ies) for “the annotated web”, when you select any text and you type in your comment/annotation on the keyboard. Needs to be ultra smooth and easy to use to make this revolutionary for productivity. It has to be a must-have for any student, for any professional and for any creative. If you select any text on any article on any webpage that has a comment section, then that selected section is automatically “quoted” when you type your comment, hit enter to post your comment about that selected quote. Or easily Google+1/tweet/blog, write your comment and link when you highlight a text. Thus different configurable modes/features for that pop-up menu when the stylus is taken out of its slot. Some will always want to annotate docs to collaborate in Drive, others will always want to auto-share quote and link article to Google+ or to Blog with typed comment, and easy switch between Stylus modes, should work with any content. Just only being able to annotate/scribble on a screenshot is too basic.
– Maximum dual display (external display) productivity, using Type-C to HDMI dongles/docks, it needs to be super easy to “open link in new highlighted or background tab in other window on other display” or to tab browse on one display while Android multi-window apps run on the other display.
– Android for productivity on these Chromebooks obviously has to be a taster of what can become available with “Android Continuum” once Android super phones dock with external displays and Lapdocks using DisplayLink, MHL, Slimport or a Chromecast-Continuum background app with Nougat/Miracast. Somehow, I wish the OP1 Chromebooks Type-C port would also allow for Lapdock functionality, to use your external superphone on Kirin 960 or Snapdragon 835 to “speed up” your OP1 Chromebook performance, somehow. Perhaps run some tabs/apps on the OP1 while others can be accelerated by your external phone which might have a more powerful ARM Processor. All the while the OP1 Chromebook also charges your phone by that same Type-C port. Somehow combine the Hexacore ARM Cortex-A72/A53 of your OP1 Chromebook with the Octa-core ARM Cortex-A73/A53 of your phone, also combine the GPUs, to have all these 14 ARM cores work nicely over that Type-C cable or even wirelessly (especially if your phone is the LTE hotspot for your Chromebook) for your optimal productivity.
Seriously Google, partner with Microsoft, pre-load Microsoft Office with some amount of included free months of trial for Office 365, pre-load Skype, help Microsoft make a perfect LinkedIn app, and also partner with Adobe pre-load some perfectly optimized Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere for Android, need to be VERY usable, very optimized for Android productivity and also include the Adobe Creative Cloud trial on there. Do this Google. And people will be impressed. No need to “force people to use Google Drive and Google Photos only”, you can bundle free trials for your services too (consumers will prefer Google apps anyway if those are better), just make sure the advanced apps people “need on Windows/Mac”, that those, even for semi professionals/enthusiasts, that those already work good BUNDLED on Chromebook with OP1. Close the gap and shut down any argument people might have against the Chromebook. Wanna do even more? Convince Apple to pre-load fully optimized iTunes and Garageband on the Chromebook with OP1 also (I’m sure Apple already has secret betas for these apps for Android, ready to release “just in case”). Don’t you know how to convince Apple this is a good idea? Let me know, I’ll tell you how. Shame them if they don’t.
Before the end of 2017, Google needs to “open up” the marketing angle on Chromebooks (basically fully supported (same auto security/feature updates) Chromium OS rebrand service for Chrome OS for any competitor), so Microsoft, Apple, Baidu/Tencent, Yandex and Adobe/Salesforce/others will be shipping customized Chromebooks with their apps/shortcuts defaults pre-installed. Don’t force anyone only ship with Google apps/shortcuts/search, let the consumers change those defaults if Google is better. Login should not only be using Google account, let users login with any other Microsoft/Apple/Baidu/Tencent/Yahoo/whatever user account. Let your competitors ship your free and open source software and with your usual Chrome OS support when it comes to security/speed/feature updates), help subsidize/promote the platform. Let competitors submit improvements/patches to the platform. Before the end of 2017, sub-$100 ARM Chromebooks need to reach every child in the world, just as OLPC intended more than a decade ago.
Don’t make OP1 Chrome OS exclusive, let it nicely run anything else. Let people boot into any Linux or into any other OS from MicroSD card or from a simple Type-C Flash memory dongle. So if Microsoft wants people to dual-boot or to replace Chrome OS with Windows 10 (with x86 win32 app emulation support) they should be able to do it. If Apple wants consumers to dual-boot or replace Chrome OS by a new Mac iOSX UI, let them do that. If consumers want to dual-boot or replace Chrome OS by Ubuntu or any other Linux, let them easily do that. Even have staff of Google employees support that and “recommend” stable OSes that work nicely. Always stable “factory reset” to manufacturer’s shipped official or custom Chrome OS no matter what would be ok, if there is a memory for that.
You can buy the $449 Samsung Chromebook Plus Powered by 64bit ARM OP1 Hexacore RK3399-C dual ARM Cortex-A72 and quad ARM Cortex-A53 with Mali-T860 GPU shipping out on Sunday at Amazon.com
As Intel’s usual tactic when feeling under threat by disruptive ARM Powered technology, Intel is trying to confuse consumers by shipping out their buggy Intel core-m3 Samsung Chromebook Pro version to reviewers here, here, here, here and here.
TheVerge reports that Android apps support on Intel is horrible compared to the ARM Powered OP1 Chromebook:
consider that this ARM processor may do a better job of running most Android apps than the Intel processor on the Chromebook Pro. Those apps need to be translated from ARM code to x86 to run on Intel machines. However, the Android beta on the Chromebook Pro is in such a sorry state that I can’t really judge. Google promises that it’ll all be fixed by April, when the Pro launches. Right now, the Plus handles Android apps much better than the Pro.
The situation on the Plus is miles better than the situation on the Intel-based Chromebook Pro right now, which is so riddled with bugs and issues that I declined reviewing it in favor of this Plus. I describe in more detail the situation in another article, here.
OP1 is optimized for the Chromebook market, with optimal performance, power consumption and price point. Optimized for smooth performance on high resolution display, dual USB Type-C, reliable Wi-Fi, 4K playback, it uses GPU Compute to optimize the performance of every aspect of the Chrome OS web browsing UI. Fonts, scrolling, displaying images, animations, video, all is optimized, improved and accelerated also by the Mali-T860 GPU. Unlike Intel x86 Chromebooks, I believe that the OP1 platform runs all Android apps natively without emulation, that is especially important for running advanced Android apps optimized for productivity, such as Microsoft Word, Excell, Powerpoint, OfficeSuite, PDF Editor, Free Office, Docs to Go, Google Drive, Polaris Office, Quip, WPS Office and thousands of other productivity apps already available on Android, and thousands of advanced games on Android, all these apps are optimized for ARM, with Native Code in them that just runs better on ARM. I would guess that running any of these thousands of advanced Android apps might consume half the power to run on ARM compared with x86.
Sunchip shows their latest RK3399 Hexacore 64bit dual ARM Cortex-A72 with quad ARM Cortex-A53 with Sata port, USB Type-C and USB3 and more. Sunchip also shows their dual lens 360 panoramic video camera. Sunchip CX-A12 is their 64bit AmLogic S912 octa-core ARM Cortex-A53 based TV Box. Sunchip releases true 4K sports camera based on Hisilicon Hi3559 V100 which is a 32bit big.LITTLE SoC using one ARM Cortex-A17 and one ARM Cortex-A7 core on 28nm HPC+ process using HiSilicon fifth-generation Hi-Lark video encoder which can encode 4K@30fps and 1080p@30fps simultaneously, 2K@60fps, 1080p@120fps or 720p@240fps. Hi3559 V100 supports dual sensor inputs for a dual-lens 4K@30fps 360 VR camera which Sunchip says they are working toward.
http://whatisop.com details the OP1 ARM Processor optimized for Chromebooks, it’s the Rockchip RK3399-C Hexacore 6-core, dual ARM Cortex-A72 and quad ARM Cortex-A53 in big.LITTLE formation with Mali-T860MP GPU.
I believe that OP1 is the big push by Google and Rockchip, together with manufacturing partners such as Samsung shipping with Samsung Chromebook Plus from February 12th for $449 at Amazon.com to finally push Chromebooks to a Billion users worldwide, now with OP1, I believe that they have optimized the processor for mass market Chromebook success, with an optimal performance, power consumption and price point. They have worked for over a year on the OP1, to optimize it for the Chromebook market. As you can read on http://whatisop.com the OP1 chip is optimized for smooth low power consumption web browsing on super nice high resolution displays, with dual USB Type-C connectivity, fast reliable Wi-Fi connectivity, up to 4K playback, it uses GPU Compute to optimize the performance of every aspect of the Chrome OS web browsing UI. Fonts, scrolling, displaying images, animations, video, all is optimized, improved and accelerated also by the Mali-T860 GPU. Unlike Intel x86 Chromebooks, the OP1 platform runs all Android apps natively without emulation, that means that all the advanced Android apps optimized for productivity, such as Microsoft Word, Excell, Powerpoint, many other productivity Android apps such as OfficeSuite and PDF Editor, Free Office, Docs to Go, also Google Drive, Polaris Office, Quip, WPS Office and PDF and thousands of other productivity apps already available on Android, and thousands of advanced games on Android, all these apps are optimized for ARM, with Native Code in them that just runs better on ARM. I would guess that running any of these thousands of advanced Android apps might consume half the power to run on ARM compared with x86.
Samsung releases the nicest ARM Powered Chromebook in the world ($449 at Amazon.com), the Samsung Chromebook Plus is powered by the OP1 ARM Processor optimized for Chromebooks (Rockchip RK3399) dual ARM Cortex-A72 and quad ARM Cortex-A53 Hexacore 64bit with ARM Mali-T860 GPU. This Chromebook is ultra-thin at 14mm, ultra-light at 1.08kg yet runs 10 hours on the battery even with its amazingly nice and bright 3:2 aspect ratio 12.3″ 2400×1600 Quad-HD ultra-bright 400nit LCD Display durable with Gorilla Glass 3.
Minix is a Hong Kong-based set top box manufacturer that has on display their entire range here. The bestselling model uses an RK3188 CPU (quad-core Cortex-A9) with an Ethernet port, 1GB RAM and 16GB of NAND flash. The X7 and X7 mini, their most mature platform, is used by companies to use their own software which is then sold to end consumers utilising digital signage. The S905 uses a 64-bit CPU, and supports 30fps 4K video. There is also a model with a 3G/4G SIM card and a PCI-E port for adding faster wireless cards or SSDs.
Boyue (previously known as Boeye) makes E Ink readers, here showing their latest Rockchip based E Ink Android e-readers, also showing off a non-functioning mockup of their 10.3″ Mobius flexible E Ink ultra light reader that might come next year if E Ink starts the mass production of the 10.3″ Mobius display by that time. Then Boyue shows their 6″ and 8″ Carta or Pearl based E Ink readers retailing $110 in China.
Pipo smart pen captures writing from paper using a camera sensor and translate it into digital text over bluetooth an Android device. Pipo makes a foldable scooter with both standing and sitting positions with a 30km range. Pipo has a dual lense camera for 360 degree recording. Pipo makes 15″ Android based Meditek tablet for media consumption, the device sells for 199 USD. Pipo sells a VR headset for $29 which requires a smartphone. Pipo makes a several Rockchip based all-in-one VR headsets for $129-200. Pipo has several ultra portable laptops as well 2-in-1 tablets with Intel processors and Windows. Pipo tablets can also be used for point of sale and business applications.
The Coolux Q6 is an Android 4.4 Rockchip RK3126 based projector with a 0.3″ DLP lense which is able to project a resolution of 854×480 for 3 hours of battery. The Coolux Q6 sells for $165 for 100 pieces moq. Coolux also a motion controlled projector. Coolux sells 720p projectors for $230-260.
Neostra’s Virtual reality headset supports full hd 1080p resolution and runs on a Rockship rk3288 with options for higher resolutions and other processors. The 1080p virtual reality headset sells for 105 USD 125 for 2k resolution.
Neostra also makes ultra portable laptops based Intel z8300 processors.
Neostra also makes tablets and other devices for companies such as Acer and Hewlett Packard.
Yuko makes a Virtual Reality headset with a Rockchip RK3399 processor and a resolution of 2k on a screen size of 5.5″. Yuko VR headsets run on modified Android systems. Yuko VR also can be used with bluetooth controllers. Yuko also produces a lower end VR headset with a Fullhd resolutiona Rockchip Rk3288. Yuko also makes a VR heaset with a 720p resolution and a Rockchip RK3126 processor. The 2k VR headset 150 USD, the 720p model is 48 USD, and the fullhd model is 93 USD, all in quantities of 1,000 pieces or more. Yuko also makes stand alone headsets with no components built in which attach to smartphones in various designs.
Distributors can contact YUKO here:
Sunny Wang, Sales Director sunny@sc-digital.cn
Shenzhen Banana Technology Co., Ltd., is based in Shenzhen and started off as a trading company. They now have their own manufacturing plant and make tablets. Manufacturing approximately 50k pieces per month, their most popular tablet is shown here. It uses an Intel chipset and costs US$65. The other, larger tablet uses a RockChip RK3688 CPU and has what seems like a 10.1” display. The 7” Intel model sells for US$40. Tablets have been made for 5 years and smartphones for 2 years – they show a model with a MediaTek MT6582 quad-core CPU that sells for US$53.
ZED Haidiyun presents their Rockchip RK3128 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 based Point-of-sale tablets, with 1GB RAM, 8GB Flash, running Android and their customized Restaurant ordering system UI as an app. The specialized POS tablet costs about $105, with compatible waiter vibrating wristbands at $10 each for instant notifications of orders placed and of calling of waiter with displaying of table number. Haidiyun is right now selling their solution at about 10 thousand pieces per month, mostly selling in China and expanding now to worldwide.
Distributors can contact ZED Haidiyun here:
David Lee, Director lifei_mr@zediel.com
Mobile:+86 139 2460 2698
Here is the design house tour of Chiptrip located in Nanshan, Shenzhen, China. Chiptrip is Rokchip cooperated design house for TV Box, tablets, POS and more. With 60 engineers at hardware, software, mechanical, testing etc
Chiptrip also shows the PCBA layout of the Rockchip RK3399 TV Box will be mass production around Q4 2016.
YUKO Tech is a VR all-in-1 headset, tablets, smart phone design house based on Rockchip, Intel, MediaTek SoCs, with 40 engineers and 100K production capacity each month.
YUKO shows the prototype of VR all-in-one headsets on RK3399 will be mass production in Q4 2016.
Here is the design house tour of Techvision located in Nanshan, Shenzhen, China. Techvision is a Rockchip cooperate design house for Laptops, 2-in-1,tablets, VR all-in-1 headset and more.
Techvision shows the 11.6’’ 2-in-1 prototype powered by on Rockchip 3399, dual-core ARM Cortex-A72 with quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 big.LITTLE at 28nm with ARM Mali-T864 GPU, it comes with USB Type-C, 2*USB3.0 port, HDMI, micro-SD card reader, it may come with SIM card module, support 4G LTE, mass production maybe in Q1 2017.
