Cotton Candy by a Norwegian company FXI Technologies is a prototype USB stick that is equipped with Samsung’s Exynos 4210 dual-Core ARM Cortex A9 (1.2GHz) CPU, an quad-core ARM Mali 400MP GPU, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and HDMI 2.1 output with audio.
This mighty little dongle shows how good it can run Ubuntu and Android 4.0 on external monitors, or just using the laptops’ displays to demo its prowess. Newer version of FXI Cotton Candy has got an additional micro USB port and switchable Bluetooth to augment two full sized USB ports that existed in previous prototype iterations. Its connectivity is certainly improved: Cotton Candy can plug into a monitor, keyboard and mouse and power source. So, you get a full-fledged computer on your hands weighing about 21 grams.
Ubuntu boots fast enough and looks quite good, but running Android 4.0 with a keyboard and mouse in place of a touch-screen interface feels a bit clunky. However, for web browsing and other traditional tasks Cotton Candy works just fine, and 1080p video also played without issue.
Cotton Candy runs Ice Cream Sandwich, but as shown it’s more like a work-in-progress than finalized Android 4.0. FXI developers promise improvements that can make Ice Cream Sandwich run smoother. Improved connectivity has led to an interesting demo of the Cotton Candy feeding two screens simultaneously. Developers work on getting different content on these screens that can be manipulated independently, and then it will be quite spectacular way to use this Cotton Candy. Additionally, two Cotton Candy sticks can feed a single display with two different windowed working environments.
Such virtualized ICS environments for your laptop is just one useful option to operate Cotton Candy. FXI’s idea is that as hardware continues to evolve, devices like smart phones are getting old and underpowerd too fast. While that might be fine for a smartphone that gets upgraded every year or two, it doesn’t work well with TVs, car computers, or other “smart” devices that may be used for 5-10 years. Here’s where a Cotton Candy stick can help, provided you can get them as new upgrades more often than TVs and car computers.
For operating in cloud-oriented environment, Cotton Candy becomes handy too, as its user could carry one device around that has access to all the apps and data that user wants from the cloud, and his interface stays the same no matter what “host” computer’s display is used.
At the moment, there’s no indication of what to expect from the price when this prototype may hit a product manufacturing stage. Estimates indicate the price will be below $199.
In this case it takes trip to Norway, to get a simple Exynos 4210 or 4212 reference design PCB worth of $25...$40 set in plastic. If you ask me, I'd rather go look for something like that from my local Radio Shack. The same make your own wearable computer idea should be taken into account when considering next stick in this collection, an unbranded HDMI Dongle by AlwaysInnovating.
(I like their logo: resembles my signature.)
This time the company has presence quite a bit closer to my local RS. Namely, they must be situated somewhere in San Francisco. Specs go like this:
- TI Dual Cortex-A9 OMAP 4 (1.0 to 1.8GHz)
- 256MB to 1GB RAM memory
- Storage: MicroSD card
- HD 1080p H.264 profile 4 video decoding
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth class 2.1
- NXP NFC solution
- Voice control
- Accelerometer-based RF remote control
Who would like to get this dual-core OMAP 1.8 GHz monster running Ubuntu on measly 256 MB of RAM I have no idea. Such quirks of always innovative design solutions must be given for free, if you ask me.
When compared to FXI stick, smaller number of connectors in this dongle can be explained by following slant:
The HDMI Dongle design can also be used for a tablet or MID project: an expansion slot features LVDS connectivity. With Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, accelerometer and NFC on the dongle, you just need a battery and a screen to get your own iPad design!
iPad3 must be trembling in its boots.
Charbax of ARMdevices.net has got some sort of demo:
Smile through all Grégoire Gentil's charming accent, so you can see the prospects of this toy more clearly. I'd get this HDMI Dongle for $79 from my local RS in no time, there's no doubt. Prospects of getting an OMAP5 chip on it are even more breathtaking.
My only wish is this Dongle better have a wider choice of connectivity options. One thing is supplying a (mini) HDMI port, or display port, another thing is adding a collection of additional port converters that might be also presented to potential OEMs. For example, I have a (very dumb) digital photo frame, what can do with it if I add this Dongle (plus a port converter if needed)? Or, suppose, I have an iPad and I miss some Ubuntu on it...
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