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Vizio Co-Star teardown supplies the tech specs we never had
Vizio's Co-Star Google TV hub has been public knowledge for more than half of 2012, but it might as well have been a black box as far as its internals were concerned. It's mostly been a mystery beyond the acknowledgment of a Marvell ARM chip inside. The teardown gurus at iFixit certainly weren't content to let that riddle go unanswered. Their exploration of the box shows that Vizio is very much clinging to the initial Marvell vision of using a dual-core, 1.2GHz Armada 1500 to handle 1080p video at that $100 price -- albeit with just 4GB of flash to store everything the Android OS demands. What may interest hobbyists is simply the accessibility of the set-top box: just about every board and component comes out easily, which could lead to some cheaper DIY surgery. The full parts list is waiting at the source if knowing how your Google TV box operates is as important as catching up on Netflix.
OnLive Game System review
We're still a little ways away from completely disposable laptops that do everything in the cloud, but if all you want is a completely virtual game console connected to your TV, you can buy one right now. Eight years after the Phantom slowly got laughed off the face of the planet, the OnLive MicroConsole fulfills the same basic promise: it's a box less than an inch tall that streams games from powerful remote servers. We already told you what to expect from the OnLive's Game System, but now that we've given it our all, we can help you find the answer to the only remaining question: is it worth your funds? %Gallery-107700%
Marvell prototypes a few good Android tablets, we go hands-on
It's a precarious time to show off new tech at this point -- can't make it to stores in time for holidays, guaranteed to get more exposure if debuted at January's Consumer Electronics Show. Not that Marvell cares, since its expertise is semiconductors -- the stuff with which OEM's dreams are made. The company was on hand at Pepcom showing off some reference designs for HD tablets with Android 2.2: 10-inch, 1280 x 780 resolution, and an Armada 600 chip. Reportedly it can also output to two external monitors, but all we got to see was one hooked up mirroring our game of Angry Birds. Thin and light, if a bit flimsy in its prototype form. We've been told the reference design has been used for a handful of products that'll show up on the CES show floor. Also on hand were a couple of more education-targeted slates with Armada 100 chips and price points planned in the $100 range (Moby, OLPC, is that you?). Check out our hands-on pics below! %Gallery-107823%
Malata launches a candy-colored educational smartbook, we give it a whirl
The tablet craze may have pushed smartbooks out of the spotlight, but don't tell Malata that -- the ODM's launching an ARM-powered mini laptop in China this very week. Spotted at Mobilize 2010, the Malata T9000 is a cute-as-a-button blue and black clamshell with a 10-inch, 1024 x 600 screen and a Marvell Armada 166 inside, running a Chinese version of Linux (on an 8GB SSD) designed for the educational market. It's almost certainly cheap and underpowered, but we weren't really able to tell, as the UI didn't actually launch any usable applications when we randomly clicked on the icons strewn about. That said, it's got a fairly usable, springy little keyboard and a good number of ports, so it might be fun to tinker with, but we won't shed a tear if the machine never makes it stateside. %Gallery-103875%
Marvell's quad-core Armada processor won't see tablets or phones, destined for a mystery game platform
Looks like that quad-core Armada processor won't be having apps for breakfast after all -- confronting Marvell's Jack Kang at Mobilize 2010, he told us the chips proved too power-hungry for devices without a dedicated cord. That doesn't mean we won't see them soon, however, as the man let slip that it's actually the quad-core chip that will appear in a new game system, though we can probably rule out the Nintendo 3DS for the same reason as the phones. Marvell's still hoping to get in the mobile market in a big way, though, and that's what the tri-core Armada 628 is all about, which uses low power profiles to save battery life. According to Kang, however, the system's actually a little more exciting than that -- its two up-to-1.5GHz cores kick in when the system's under a multimedia strain, but actually shut off completely for day-to-day use, relying instead on the third 624MHz processor which slowly sips your battery juice. All we know is, we'd better find out which devices will sport these chips, and soon -- our curiosity is beginning to gnaw.
Marvell unveils 1.5GHz triple-core application processor, all current smartphones look on in envy
Marvell's decided to whip out the "game changer" tag for its latest slice of silicon, but when you read the spec sheet that accompanies it, you might be willing to forgive it. Just this once. The new Armada 628 application processor delivers three cores, two of which crank along at 1.5GHz, and enough graphical prowess to churn 200 million triangles a second. You might remember we were once impressed by the Hummingbird's 90 million -- yeah, not so much anymore. The 628 is capable of 1080p 3D video and graphics (meaning it can sustain two simultaneous 1080p streams, one for each eye) and pledges to have an "ultra" low power profile: more than 10 hours of 1080p video or 140 hours of music playback are on offer. If that's not enough, it's also the first mobile SOC to include USB 3.0 support, adding yet another speed crown to its bulging resume. Now if it can also be SuperSpeedy in coming to market, that'd be just swell.
Marvell shows off 10-inch Android tablet at Netbook Summit
Unfortunately, we don't know much about this new Marvell powered tablet, but we couldn't resist sharing our impressions of the very svelte 10-inch device. We only got a few minutes to play around with the slate at the Netbook Summit, but we can tell you that it has a brushed metal back and there's an opening on the front for a camera. As for the internals, it's based on Marvell's Moby reference design, which uses its Snapdragon-class Armada 610 processor, and will run Android 2.1 Eclair. The rest will be up to whatever Marvell customer is bringing this bad boy to market -- the Marvell executive that let us catch a glance at the device wouldn't turn it on as he feared we may see the mystery customer's logo. We told you we didn't know much, but from what we saw today it sure looks promising. Now, if only we felt Android was ready Google would give us a tablet-ready version of Android... %Gallery-93686%
Marvell pitches $99 Moby Tablet as textbook alternative
When chipmaker Marvell told us its technology would power $99 smartphones, we took the company at its word. We weren't expecting a sub-$100, 10-inch tablet PC, however -- and we definitely weren't expecting Marvell itself to build it. Marketed at students looking to lighten their textbook load, the Marvell Moby will be an "always-on, high performance multimedia tablet" capable of full Flash support and 1080p HD playback -- thanks to those nifty Armada 600 series processors -- and supporting WiFi, Bluetooth, FM radio, GPS and both Android and Windows Mobile platforms for maximum flexibility. No release date has yet been announced; like the OLPC, Marvell will introduce the Moby in pilot programs at participating at-risk schools. While it's far too early to say if the Moby will be the universal educational e-reader Marvell hopes (that depends on software), it's certainly an intriguing device for the price, and we'll admit we're a touch jealous of those kids who'll first get to try one.
