You may have seen my recent video of Qt demonstrated at Mobile World Congress. Here’s a demonstration of Qt 4.6 running on two Freescale processors.
Category: Exclusive videos
Freescale Futuremark 3D benchmark
Posted by – May 26, 2010
A Freescale graphics expert shows a benchmark from Futuremark running on Freescale i.MX51, leveraging the processor’s OpenGL ES 2.0 GPU.
Freescale 3D video
Posted by – May 26, 2010
Category: Exclusive videos, Freescale
This video shows how to leverage a Video processor and a Graphics processor (GPU) to show 3D videos. This is done on the Freescale i.MX51 System-on-chip, that integrates an ARM Cortex A8 processor + a video processor + 2 GPUs.
Quake 3 on Freescale i.MX51
Posted by – May 25, 2010
Freescale is demonstrating Quake 3 on Android 2.1 running on their ARM Cortex A8 Freescale i.MX51 processor platform. It seems to run pretty smoothly with a decent frame rate outputted on this 800×480 medium density screen. This degree of success in 3D hardware acceleration for advanced 3D games on ARM devices with Android, as well as the achievements by the Unreal Engine group (watch my video Interview with Unreal Engine founder of Epic Games talking about Unreal Engine on Android), can give us a pretty good idea of how extremely advanced and fun 3D gaming can quickly become on these new Android devices.
Realize this, Quake 3 and even Unreal Tournament is running smoothly on our pocketable ARM Powered devices!
OpenVG hardware acceleration by Freescale
Posted by – May 25, 2010
Category: Exclusive videos, Freescale
You may be familiar with OpenGL hardware acceleration in all the recent ARM Processors, but check this recent API from the Khronos group: OpenVG. It is meant at rendering Vector Graphics, where basically the images are stored not in bitmaps (a sum of pixels) but in maths formulaes. Each time you need to re-draw the image, you just have to re-calculate the vectors to show high quality pictures and animations. This is what pdf and postscripts use, and this is especially useful for zooming. All cool user interfaces should use OpenVG at some point, which is easier and more flexible than OpenGL thus for certain graphics and animations to be used in all kinds of user interfaces as well as content.
So far, most processors could support OpenVG on top of the OpenGL hardware accelerator. But Freescale added a second GPU in its i.MX processors. So for instance their i.MX51 has a GPU for OpenGL and a second GPU for OpenVG.
Review: Novatel Wireless Mifi 2352 vs Huawei e5830
Posted by – May 16, 2010
The Mifi is a great solution for bringing a WiFi hotspot with you everywhere in the city and even in the country (depending on HSDPA/UMTS/GPRS coverage in your country). It’s perfect to add 3G connectivity to your Archos, iPad, iPod Touch, Laptops and any other WiFi-only devices that you may have. In this video, I compare the performance and features of the two Mifi adapters that are available on the market, the Novatel Wireless Mifi 2352 and the Huawei e5830.
In this video, I demonstrate a VOIP call taken using Google Voice and Gizmo5 on my $249 Archos 5 Internet Tablet using SIPdroid or any other SIP VOIP applications on the Android OS. This is the vision where you just need a pre-paid 1GB or 10GB of bandwidth per month on a SIM card, just enter it in your unlocked Mifi device, make sure the right profile informations are entered using the control panel and that’s it. You’ve just about got a full mobile phone replacement, but where you don’t need to pay for voice minutes and SMS subscriptions any more.
Although eventually all devices will have built-in unlocked SIM card slots and modems, the Mifi solution is a really great temporary alternative, that connects on 3G all WiFi-only devices. When your city gets White Spaces, LTE or WiMax, you don’t need to buy new devices, just buy a new Mifi.
If you travel a lot in Europe, this is a must have. Then find SIM cards for cheap pre-paid plans, for 5€ to 10€ and get Mifi internet access all over that city and country.
The Novatel Wireless Mifi 2352 that I got was unlocked beforehand, I don’t know if there are online programs to unlock one if you happen to have a locked one. It can be bought unlocked for 214€ at moblix.hu and expansys.com.
I will post further test video of the Novatel Wireless Mifi 2352 once I get to figure out how to use some of the more advanced features. And at Mobile World Congress, Novatel Wireless advertised the functionality of installing applications on their Mifi device (see my video interview about it), to increase the functionalities. Such as hosting a little server in there on the MicroSD card, doing some file-sharing, file caching, GPS tracking and other stuff. The Mifi is the kind of device that I think all busses, trains in Denmark are getting installed to provide free WiFi to all people taking public transportation. If you own a taxi business, drive a bus, own a sausage stand, providing your customers with mobile WiFi is an awesome opportunity.
I bought the Huawei e5830 at the Three store in London for £49 with a compulsory £10 1GB/month first month pre-paid credit. I then unlocked it for 15€ using http://www.dc-unlocker.com/ (it can also be bought internationally from ebay.co.uk for around £80 unlocked) and I installed the latest firmware with full Control Panel, built-in Profile and other Router management features at: http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98318&page=2. Consider also I filmed the Huawei E5 version 2 (with faster 3G HSPA+ speeds support and a new display) at Mobile World Congress, see my video here: http://138.2.152.197/2010/02/15/huawei-e5-2-mifi-at-mobile-world-congress-2010/
Qt development framework demonstrated
Posted by – May 15, 2010
Qt is a cross-platform application and UI framework for developing once, and deploying across lots of embedded Linux platforms, Windows CE, Symbian and Maemo without rewriting the source code. At Mobile World Congress, Qt was demonstrating their solution used in many different devices.
Qt Quick (Qt User Interface Creation Kit) is a high-level user interface technology that makes it dramatically easier for UI designers and developers with scripting language skills to quickly and easily create beautiful, pixel perfect UIs and lightweight, touch-enabled apps with Qt – all without requiring any C++ skills. It will be part of the Qt 4.7 release, which has had its first technology preview released in March.
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Alcatel-Lucent’s new systems for carriers and developers
Posted by – May 14, 2010
Category: Exclusive videos, MWC
Alcatel-Lucent is showcasing their new ecosystem that creates what they call “the developer innovation experience”. This includes services, content, and platforms that they say will drive the next generation of telecom.
Find more informations at: Venturebeat.com
Zinwell CinemaTube at CeBIT 2010
Posted by – March 17, 2010
Here’s one of the cheapest Realtek based 1080p media streamer boxes. It could even play Youtube in HD over its Ethernet connection if only Google would licence that out to set-top-box makers. The representative of Zinwell is saying that Google recently changed their policy for licencing of Youtube access to set-top-boxes by charging a huge $1 Million licencing fee just to be allowed to access the Youtube API to stream the videos. Zinwell says Flash 10 support might be added already by next month, which may be a workaround to support Youtube without having to pay the Youtube API licencing fee. I bought this device for 80€ and will post a video review of it here at http://138.2.152.197 soon.
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- Google and Dish Network testing TV search on Android-based set-top boxes (engadget.com)
- Asus O!Play HD2 High Definition Video Player (armdevices.net)
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- Netgear brings the goods to CeBIT: HD streamers, HomePlug AV adapters (engadget.com)
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IDTI $300 21,5″ 1080p Touch Screen
Posted by – March 17, 2010
IDTI, which I filmed their early prototypes at last year’s Computex, is now showing this finalized implementation of their technology in this touch screen product which is a 21,5″ 1080p screen that integrates their specific stylus based touch screen technology. IDTI’s touch screen technology claims to provide same visibility as capacitive screens but for a price closer to resistive screens, though it only works using their stylus.
Asus O!Play HD2 High Definition Video Player
Posted by – March 16, 2010
Asus is releasing their third generation of HD video players in the O!Play HD2, it plays all video formats, comes with a USB 3.0 connector, eSata, HDMI output and even in theory could play back Youtube in HD from its Ethernet connection if Google would authorize set-top-box makers to connect with the Youtube video API.
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Motorola HS1001 Android Cordless Phone
Posted by – March 10, 2010
Motorola HS1001 is being released at CeBIT 2010, it features a very customized version of Android 1.6 running on its 2.8″ QVGA touch screen display. This cordless phone will be sold for 99€ in Europe and $149 in the USA. It supports 2h of cordless phone calling on the battery, comes with a MicroSD card reader.
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Hott MD500, 4.8″ Android Tablet (priced $92 to distributors)
Chinese manufacturer Hott is launching a design for a 4.8″ tablet based on a version of Android which they have customized to work for them on the ARM9 Rockchip based processor which comes with full video playback support. Check out these interesting Android customizations in this product that they proudly define as “iPad-killer”.
The design of this 4.8″ Android tablet by Hott is the most compact that I have seen so far. I think it is very nice that it only has a minimal screen bezel. Check out it’s size compared to my Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android in the following pictures posted to Picasa (click to see the full size versions on Picasa):
Chromium OS on a $199 Tablet powered by Freescale
Freescale is showing their reference design for sub-$200 tablets. The target is that tablets can soon be sold below $200 to end consumers that are able to run any Linux-based OS, including Android or Chromium OS – based on the open-source code available at http://chromium.org
In this video, Freescale’s product manager of Software Development demonstrates the status of their optimizations of running Chromium OS on their i.MX51 based devices, among other form factors is the recently announced $199 tablet form factor. It even supports hardware acceleration of HTML5 based video playback.
This means, full power Chromium OS could be made available in the next few months in Laptop and Tablet form factors to be sold well below $200 unlocked without contracts. The main question is how fast and how smooth will the Chromium Browser feel on ARM Powered devices? This is to be seen and tested very soon! Follow my video-blog for hands-on reports showing performance of Chromium OS running on all the ARM Powered devices very soon. Check also for Chrome browser running within Android, or for Chromium OS modified to add Android apps support, thus merging the two.
I also wonder, how much more does a $65 ARM Powered laptop cost if it uses an ARM Cortex A8 processor like the ones from Freescale instead of the ARM9 or ARM11 based ones from rockchip, VIA, Samsung and others. If the price increase is within $35, then welcome will be all the sub-$100 full power smooth ARM Powered Chromium OS laptops and tablets! Without actually knowing the real price difference between the ARM9, ARM11 and ARM Cortex based cheap laptops, my guess is that the availability of sub-$200 and sub-$100 Chromium/Android Laptops/Tablets is a possibility.
How soon will we see Google sell unlocked Chromium/Android on ARM powered laptop/tablet/e-reader convertibles with 50-hour battery life on Pixel Qi screens at http://google.com/laptop?
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Million-e 6″ e-reader with touch screen, 3G and WiFi
Posted by – March 7, 2010
Shenzhen Million-E Culture Industrial Co. Ltd. is showing a new e-reader based on e-ink with built-in 3G, WiFi and even with resistive touch screens.
ARM TrustZone Powered Mobile Payments
Posted by – March 6, 2010
ARM is presenting this hardware based secure payments and authentication system which all future mobile devices may be shipping with. The functionalities of those calculators that people use for their netbanking can thus be integrated in the future mobile phones, to let people do secure payments and authentication using a simple 4 number pin code on their mobile phone. The way they do it is that they guide the keyboard entries directly into a separate secure encrypted OS that functions separately from Android to do the secure authentication that then sends back the certificate (or how it’s called) back to the web based application. This kind of system, I would guess, could also be integrated in laptops, or you could use your phone to authenticate yourself on any website very securely using any computer.
You can find more information about this at: http://www.arm.com/markets/mobile/trustzone-and-mobile-payments.php
Creative Zii Egg Android device
Posted by – March 6, 2010
Creative is working on these Creative Zii Egg products based on their ARM based processor. Creative is also working on an ARM Cortex A8 based processor for their next generation of these products.
Digital Aria 3D Android Interfaces
Posted by – March 6, 2010
3D home replacement, 3D features for Android applications, Digital Aria works on hardware optimizations for Android based devices.
$65 Android laptop
Posted by – March 5, 2010
Firstview Electronic HK Limited is showing the PC706V which may be one of the worlds cheapest laptops, it runs Android on a low cost and low power VIA 8505 ARM based 533Mhz processor, with 128MB RAM, 2GB Nand flash, 7″ 800×480 screen, WiFi, SD card reader Nand flash, 7″ 800×480 screen, WiFi, SD card reader 3G dongle support. It’s supposed to run 4 hours on a 2100mah battery, it loads websites slower than a more expensive computer, but it can be made for only $65 in the Chinese factories when ordered by big resellers in large quantities.
Altina 4.8″ Android GPS with ethernet
Posted by – March 5, 2010
http://altina.com.tw is launching a 4.8″ Android GPS MID with built-in 3G and even an ethernet connector.
