Cotton Candy (single-board computer)

Last updated
Cotton Candy
Common manufacturers ARM Holdings
Design firmFXI Technologies
IntroducedCotton Candy
November 17, 2011 (2011-11-17) [1] [2]
Cost~US$199 ERP
Type Single-board computer
Processor Samsung Exynos 4210
Frequency1.2 GHz
Memory1 GB DRAM
Coprocessor Mali-400 MP GPU
VFPv3 (VFP/FPU)
NEON SIMD
Hardware Audio / Video Decoder
Thumb-2 inst. set
Jazelle DBX
Jazelle RCT
TrustZone CESA
Ports HDMI 1.3a
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
USB 2.0 host/device
Micro USB
MicroSD SDXC slot
Weight21 g (0.74 oz)
Dimensions80 mm (3.1 in) (h)
25 mm (0.98 in) (w)
10 mm (0.39 in) (d)

The Cotton Candy is a very small, fanless single-board computer on a stick, putting the full functions of a personal computer on a device the size of a USB memory stick, manufactured by the Norwegian-based hardware and software for-profit startup company FXI Technologies (also referred to as just "FXI Tech").

Contents

Overview

Cotton Candy is a low-power ARM architecture CPU based computer which uses dual-core processors such as the dual-core 1.2 GHz Exynos 4210 (45 nm ARM Cortex-A9 with 1MB L2 cache) system on a chip (SoC) by Samsung, featuring a quad-core 200  MHz ARM Mali-400 MP GPU OpenGL ES 2.0 capable 2D/3D graphics processing unit, an audio and video decoder hardware engine, and TrustZone Cryptographic Engine and Security Accelerator (CESA) co-processor. The platform is said to be able to stream and decode H.264 1080p content, and be able to use desktop-class interfaces such as KDE or GNOME under Linux. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

FXI Technologies claims it will run both Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and the latest Ubuntu Desktop Linux operating systems, leveraging Linaro builds and Linux kernel optimizations. [5] [6] [16]

As of 13 September 2012, FXI started to ship to those that pre-ordered devices. At the time of writing (November 2013), the Cotton Candy is generally available. FXI have also made a Beta android ICS image and Beta Linux image available for download. [17]

On 16 of July 2014, FXI declared bankruptcy. [18] [ citation needed ]

Reception

In January 2012 the Cotton Candy made it to the top-10 finalist at the "Last Gadget Standing" new technology competition at CES 2012. [19] [20] Also at CES 2012, LaptopMag.com made Cotton Candy a top-10 finalist for its "Readers’ Choice for Best of CES 2012" award. [21] EFYTimes News Network as well named FXI Technologies Cotton Candy a "Top 10 Gadgets Launched @ CES 2012". [22]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "FXI's Cotton Candy could turn every screen you own into a cloud client". Engadget.com. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  2. ↑ "FXI Technology Cotton Candy Cstick - PC & Network Downloads - PCWDLD.com". Fxitech.com. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  3. ↑ [%= data.comment.created_on %] (18 November 2011). "FXI's Cotton Candy: it's a dual-core Android PC on a USB stick (hands-on pictures)". The Verge. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  4. ↑ Wong, George (2011-11-18). "FXI Cotton Candy is Android on a USB stick". Ubergizmo.com. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  5. 1 2 "FXI's Cotton Candy gets a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich and Ubuntu, we go hands-on". Engadget.com. 2012-01-10. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  6. 1 2 "FXI Demos Two New Flavors of Cotton Candy Any Screen Connected USB Device - Ubuntu and Android 4.0 - MarketWatch". Archived from the original on 2012-01-14. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
  7. ↑ "FXI Cotton Candy Demo: More Power than You Can Shake a (Thumb) Stick at". Anandtech.com. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  8. ↑ "Cotton Candy: Funny Name, Dual-core Android on a USB Stick". Anandtech.com. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  9. ↑ "USB stick packs ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, runs Android or Ubuntu - News - Linux for Devices". Archive.is. Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2016-07-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. ↑ "FXI Introduces Cotton Candy – Dual-core Android Device Inside a USB Stick". Phandroid.com. 2011-11-18. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  11. ↑ Lee, Kevin (2011-11-18). "Meet Cotton Candy, the Dual-Core Android USB Device". PCWorld. Archived from the original on 2012-08-20. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  12. ↑ Julian Horsey (2011-11-18). "FXI Cotton Candy USB Stick Transforms Any Screen In To An Android System". Geeky-gadgets.com. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  13. ↑ "FXI's Cotton Candy- USB Device with Difference". Newgadget.org. 2011-11-21. Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  14. ↑ "Samsung readies dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 SoC with GPS - News - Linux for Devices". Archive.is. Archived from the original on 2012-09-04. Retrieved 2016-07-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. ↑ Udalov, Alexander. "FXI Demos Ubuntu and Android 4.0 on its Cotton Candy USB Device - Mobile Magazine". Mobilemag.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  16. ↑ Schulman, Jacob (2012-01-10). "FXI Technologies' Cotton Candy: Android 4.0 and Ubuntu on the world's smallest PC (hands-on)". The Verge. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  17. ↑ "CandyStorage". Archived from the original on 2012-09-22. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  18. ↑ "Announcements - The Brřnnřysund Register Centre". W2.brreg.no. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  19. ↑ Miller, Michael J. (2012-01-04). "The Last Gadget Standing at CES 2012". Forwardthinking.pcmag.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  20. ↑ Raskin, Robin (2011-12-09). "10 Finalists". Last Gadget Standing. Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  21. ↑ "Tech Events - CES, CTIA, Computex, Mobile World Congress, and More". Blog.laptopmag.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  22. ↑ "Top 10 Gadgets Launched @ CES 2012". Archived from the original on 2012-01-15. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
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