This is the type of stuff I am looking for. Sub-$150 Android smartphone, with 3.2″ or larger capacitive touch screens, decent looking Android install. This one comes with 3.2″ capacitive and Android Froyo support. Please do some search for this on the web and please post full specs in comments so that I can update this page with the full specs. This one may be based on the Mediatek MTK6516 460Mhz ARM9 with 208MHz DSP.
Category: OS
Meizu M9, $380 Android phone with Retina Display
Posted by – April 7, 2011
The price is $380 unlocked (2499 Chinese remimbi) (no further contracts needed, that’s about half the price of the iphone4 without a contract), for an Android phone with a same type of retina resolution display as on the iphone4. I think it uses the Samsung Hummingbird ARM Cortex-A8 1Ghz processor with 512MB RAM (also sounds similar to the specs of the iphone4). There are actually many Meizu stores all over Shenzhen, I guess Meizu is a major gadgets brand selling here. Do you think Meizu is a bit too obvious at copying Apple’s design?
Here are the specs:
Meizu M9
CPU: 1 Ghz Cortex A8-based Samsung S5PC110
Graphics Processor: Power VR 540 GPU
Audio chip: Texas Instruments TLV320AIC36
Memory: Memory: 512 Mb ROM / 512 Mb RAM
Networks: GSM, GPRS, EDGE, 3G network support: WCDMA, HSDPA and HSUPA with speeds of 7,2/5,76 Mbps (Both schould work in Europe). Only supports the 2100 Mhz band of WCDMA. Check google for info in your country supports the 2100 Mhz band.
Dimensions: 59,8 x 113 x 11 mm
Weight: 123 grams
Expansion slot: Micro SD / TF – No built-in storage, microSDHC support. (Will come with either an 8GB or 16GB TF card)
Display: 3.56″ (49.92 x 74.88 mm), 960×640 pixel resolution, 16 million colors
Operating System: Android 2.2 Modified by Meizu(Includes English language), Android 2.3 will be released in the next firmware update.
Camera: 5 megapixels camera, Pictures in 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, Records videos in 720p HD (1280×720) at 30 FPS, No flash in the first version
Battery: 1370 mAh
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 / WiFi 802.11b/g/n (Different WLAN module compared to M8, WiFi tethering is supported) / A-GPS / TV-out (via mini USB, no HDMI. Not sure if included in the first version)
Ports: Mini USB 2.0, 3.5 mm audio jack
Android virtualization on TI OMAP4 processors (dual core Cortex-A9)
Posted by – April 4, 2011
Category: Texas Instruments, Android
A video released by B Labs today, features Android running as a virtualized guest operating system on Codezero® Embedded Hypervisor. Codezero® Embedded Hypervisor is a multicore virtualization solution for ARM Cortex-A9 processors and Linux based operating systems from B Labs.
Codezero is a multicore capable hypervisor that runs the Linux operating system in paravirtualized fashion. Codezero runs Linux applications, as well as Linux kernel guests in user mode, with memory protection, and requiring no hardware virtualization support. Due to the hardware protection mechanisms and capability based security, Linux guests run in full isolation from each other. Core partitioning, memory partitioning, network virtualization, and RTOS support are some of the other features offered by Codezero.
Google tries to control Android fragmentation
There has been some talk about Google’s decision to delay the Honeycomb source code release. If Google releases Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Google TV and Chrome OS source codes within a month, then all this will be forgotten. Sure sure, M$/NOK will make Bingdroid, HP will make Webdroid, and RIM is making Playdroid.
It is OK if Google enforces rules on Google Marketplace and the Google Apps to demand a one-click search engine or social network change, meaning the Bingdroids cannot lock users into only using Bing but that it must be a one click easy process to change the search engine to Google as default if that is what the user wants. Same thing with the Facedroids, one click should be available to move contacts out of Facebook.
It is great if Google’s purpose starting with Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwidth is to try to regulate the home replacements and manufacturer’s custom UI layers. Please make it default to allow the Android bloatware user interfaces to be turned off! I don’t mind if manufacturers think they absolutely have to make Touchwiz, Sense, Blur, Rachael or other, but they should all make it an easy to find one click process to restore default UI, they should all provide a one-click Android Vanilla switch.
The main requirement that I think Google has with Android, is that they have to make sure that everyone making Android devices with full native Android Vanilla UI and OS, must be allowed the Google Marketplace, especially the cheap Tablet and Smartphone makers, no absolute need for compass, dual-cameras or any other very specific hardware features, apps in Google Marketplace with very specific hardware requirements (a small minority) can easily be filtered based on the hardware detected.
Google must have teams working closely with all the ARM chip providers, Texas Instruments, Rockchip, Telechips, Samsung, Qualcomm, Marvell, Freescale, ST-Ericsson, VIA, Nvidia and more, and Google has a responsibility to make sure each of those platforms support the full Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Google TV and Chrome OS, as soon as they totally open source them in a month or so. That is what I expect Google is doing with their ARM chip provider partners. And that work on deep SoC optimizations level must also be coordinated with each of the serious companies using each of those SoC to bring Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Google TV and Chrome OS products to market in the next couple or three months.
If for some reason you hear that Google is not willing to give access to Honeycomb source code to any serious Tablet maker (with a reputation of releasing tablets that can be trusted, no minimum company size) or to any of these chip makers, that could be scandalous and would have to be brought to the attention of the blogosphere, so in case you hear about any of those cases please post in the comments or send me an email to charbax@gmail.com so that I can try to understand who gets access to the Honeycomb source code, when and exactly how.
Some people (especially Apple fanboys) have been complaining that Honeycomb tablets supposedly only have 100 apps HD tablet optimized yet. Those people should also mention that about 90% of the 250’000 Android apps are built with Android 1.6 Donut SDK or newer, and since then, most Android apps are built to scale to medium density screens, which means they work fine on tablets. That actually means, the number of apps that work fine on Android tablets is more something like 220’000 apps, more and more of which are being re-optimized for more than 800×480, yet still most of those scale to 1024×600 or 1280×800 just fine.
Also, I believe the goal of Google is to implement future versions of Android, perhaps including Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich already with a new system that auto-upgrades even the core parts of the OS, meaning that once devices are ready to ship with Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich, they may never really need to be firmware updated by the manufacturer, that core Android system upgrades could be done automatically and securely through the Google Marketplace. That would be a very deep anti-fragmentation move, and that would mean that all future Android devices would all be automatically future-proof.
Related articles
- Honeycomb source code and CDD delayed (armdevices.net)
- Honeycomb will work on cheaper tablets! (armdevices.net)
- What Google should do. Now. (armdevices.net)
- Arnova 10, $199 10.1″ Android Tablet (armdevices.net)
- Google puts Android on lock-down: Non-fragmentation contracts, standardized ARM chips, more (slashgear.com)
- Google tightening control of Android, insisting licensees abide by ‘non-fragmentation clauses’? (engadget.com)
Linaro to establish leadership in embedded software accross all ARM chips
Linaro was established last year, and they are making rapid progress in bringing up Linux on ARM, the goal being to solve fragmentation, to catch up with Intel’s x86 through consolidation and development of common ARM Linux code. Linaro’s ultimate goal is to establish leadership in core technology open source innovation on ARM member SoCs. Linaro wants to accelerate time to market. Not just catch up with Intel, Linaro’s goal is absolute leadership.
Here’s a 27 minute video update from Linaro CEO George Grey about the plans that they have got for this year, as they expect 2011 to be a huge year for Linaro, their software is rapidly making it possible to have fully optimized ARM powered Linux laptops and desktops released to the market this year. Basically, Linaro is a company build out of the ARM industry collaborating to bring to market ARM Powered Chrome OS laptops, ARM Powered Ubuntu Laptops, even for all of the Android and Meego stuff.
This video was posted last month on the LinaroOrg YouTube channel.
Linaro has grown to over 80 engineers in the first 6 months. They are still adding engineering talent every month. At launch it was stated that the company would grow to a little under 100 engineers. You can find more information at http://linaro.org. What do you think Linaro should do to make it easier for companies to build ARM based Linux products? You can post your info and ideas in the comments.
Related articles
- Linaro Graphics Group at ARM Techcon 2010 (ARMdevices.net)
- Linaro CEO George Grey at ARM Techcon 2010 (ARMdevices.net)
- Canonical explains the status of Ubuntu on ARM Powered Laptops (ARMdevices.net)
Honeycomb source code and CDD delayed
Businessweek reports that Google has decided to delay Honeycomb source code release.
The search giant says the software, which is tailored specifically for tablet computers that compete against Apple’s iPad, is not yet ready to be altered by outside programmers and customized for other devices, such as phones.
“To make our schedule to ship the tablet, we made some design tradeoffs,” says Andy Rubin, vice-president for engineering at Google and head of its Android group. “We didn’t want to think about what it would take for the same software to run on phones. It would have required a lot of additional resources and extended our schedule beyond what we thought was reasonable. So we took a shortcut.”
Rubin says that if Google were to open-source the Honeycomb code now, as it has with other versions of Android at similar periods in their development, it couldn’t prevent developers from putting the software on phones “and creating a really bad user experience. We have no idea if it will even work on phones.”
Here is my opinion on this:
As long as Google releases the full Honeycomb source code within a month or so from now, and hurry up to confirm (even sooner) that the updated Compliance Definition Document for Honeycomb will open up to allow many more smaller manufacturers (such as Archos, Rockchip, Telechips, ARM11 and many other small tablet makers) access to the full Google Marketplace (that can provide filtering), then all will be good.
My expectation is that Google is working to make sure their Honeycomb source code release supports all types of hardware, not only including cheaper ARM Cortex-A8, ARM9, ARM11 tablets, but also optimize things for Laptop use (see Asus Transformer, how awesome would Honeycomb be on devices like Toshiba AC100!), and also they might try to coordinate the Honeycomb source code release with the first open source release of Google TV thus making all those devices Set-top-box ready when HDMI output is used on any HDTV.
One can expect Google to synchronize full open source release of Honeycomb, Google TV and Chrome OS by the Google I/O conference coming up on 10-11th May or before.
What is your opinion on Google’s Honeycomb source code and updated CDD release delay? You can write in the comments.
Google’s Android speech-to-speech voice translator gets impressive
Posted by – March 22, 2011
I didn’t know it could already understand and speak more and more languages. Check out Eldar Murtazin doing a bunch of speech-to-speech voice translations on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone from Russian to English, Russian to French and Russian to Finnish. Are you impressed? I am. Google is constantly improving the speech-to-speech voice translation, eventually understanding all accents and speech styles and pitches, it may be that Google can learn from each users voice (when the user is recognized or logged in) and become better at understanding every persons speech, which may also get applied to YouTube videos and thus generate always better subtitles that also can be translated in every other language automatically.
Eldar Murtazin also claims Samsung may be preparing a separate Tegra2 Super Clear LCD based Samsung Galaxy S2 with product number i9003, thus could not only be cheaper than the Exynos 4210 Super Amoled Plus i9000 version, but could also possibly help Samsung supply enough of these new SGS2 to the market while Samsung’s big new Super Amoled Plus factory may not yet be totally ready for mass production of their screens (last year, Samsung announced that the new Super Amoled Plus factory would not be ready before June this year), and also while Samsung’s production of their new ARM Cortex-A9 Exynos 4210 may not yet be at full production capacity thus Samsung can use Tegra2 which is probably being manufactured at faster speed.
Source: mobile-review.com
Android domination expressed in dance
Posted by – March 22, 2011
Category: Smartphones, Android
Funky house music techtonic dance in Android green robot costume presented by the Sony-Ericsson marketing team in Taipei Taiwan, what will be the next step in Android domination marketing?
Source: Engadget.com
Trim Slice Tegra2 ARM Cortex-A9 Dual-core Desktop!
Posted by – March 3, 2011
Compulab is showing this Tegra2 desktop for the first time at a trade show, it’s a full ARM Powered desktop computer based on the Nvidia Tegra2 processor. Has 2 HDMI outputs, one for full HDMI video, one for a secondary display, Gigabit Ethernet, 4 USB hosts, stereo audio output, audio in, SPDIF output, 12V power connector, connector for wireless antenna for WiFi and Bluetooth, SD slot, RF232 Serial Port, Micro-USB slave. They also have a slightly bigger version that can slot in a 2.5″ Sata hard drive. 1GB RAM, it also has an internal Micro-SD slot to store the OS. So if you want to upgrade or change the OS, just change the MicroSD card and reboot. It also ships with 32GB Flash storage. They are launching this with Ubuntu 10.10 and they will add support for Honeycomb by launch. Availability is June, the price is targeted at below $200 in bulk (can be re-branded as ODM) and to be about $250 at retail. You can find more information and follow the latest official news about it at http://trimslice.com
Related articles
- TrimSlice, A Tiny Tegra PC With All The Trimmings (crunchgear.com)
- Compulab makes a tiny Tegra 2 computer for the lilliputian community (engadget.com)
- Compulab Trim Slice puts Tegra 2 in ultra-compact desktop PC (slashgear.com)
- Tegra 2 PC that needs only 3 watts of power (nextbigfuture.com)
- Trim-Slice PC Is So Cute and Little! (pcworld.com)
MSI WindPad 100A Tegra2 10.1″ Android Tablet
Posted by – March 3, 2011
MSI Is finally about to get ready with their MSI Wind Pad tablet, here they are showing a pretty finalized looking version of their upcoming Tegra2 tablet, to have Honeycomb, it will be sold at retail for about $399. They also showcase some interesting designs using a picto projector, dual-tablets and a frame.
Related articles
- MSI Dual Pad concept eyes-on (video) (engadget.com)
- Tablet shocker! MSI WindPad 100A packs Tegra 2 and will ship with Honeycomb (engadget.com)
Pierre Cardin Tegra2 9.7″ Android Tablet
Pierre Cardin brings a new 9.7″ capacitive Nvidia Tegra2 based tablet to the market. Bulk price may be something like $340. They also have a cool priced $145 7″ capacitive Samsung Hummingbird ARM Cortex-A8 based tablet. They say Android Honeycomb 3.0 will be available on these from the beginning of April.
ARM Powered Tablets by Shuttle (soon laptops/desktops?)
Posted by – March 2, 2011
Shuttle is one of the major compact motherboard makers, they are now moving a lot of their ressources into making ARM Powered solutions, some may be branded by Shuttle, other might be ODM, based on ARM Processors by Texas Instruments, Nvidia and VIA Wondermedia.
HTC Flyer, I test the stylus
Posted by – March 2, 2011
This is HTC’s first Android tablet, it uses the second generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 8255 at 1.5Ghz, and comes with some special capacitive stylus system. I try it out in this video and try to understand how HTC is planning to integrate that kind of feature.
Skytex develops i.MX53 tablets
Skytex is working on getting more performance in their low cost tablets, using Freescale’s new 1.2Ghz i.MX53 with better video and graphics, the Telechips 8803 ARM Cortex-A8 and the new VIA Wondermedia ARM9 with a better DSP.
Kinstone $95 7″ ARM Cortex-A9 AmLogic (single core) Tablet
Posted by – March 2, 2011
Available now. ARM Cortex-A9 Single-core AmLogic based 7″ tablet 800mhz performance for below $95 in bulk.
