FXI Cotton Candy – Android in USB Stick
FXI, a Norwegian company is issuing an USB stick sized minicomputer called Cotton Candy, which has Android and Ubuntu installed in it. Allow me to make this very clear – it is NOT an ordinary USB memory stick with a live disc image. This stick has CPU and GPU built in. WiFi, Bluetooth, microSD slot, USB connector and HDMI connector. Basically it is a computer that happens to be so small that it looks like an USB stick.
Full specifications are
Quad Core ARM® Mali™-400MP Graphics Processing Unit
– Quad-core ARM Mali-400MP 720p / 1080p OpenGL ES v2.0
– 30M Polygons, 1.2 GPixels / s
ARM® Cortex™-A9@1.2GHz
– NEON extensions
– TrustZone extensions
Connectivity
- Wifi 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Memory
- 1GB DRAM
- Up to 64GB memory local storage (microSD)
Software
– Android
– Ubuntu
– Virtualization client for Windows, Linux, Mac, embedded
Video / Audio / Media Support
– 480p/720p/1080p decode of MPEG4-SP/H.263/H.264 AVC/MPEG-2/VC1
– MP3, AAC, AAC+, Real Audio
– JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG
– Additional video, audio and image formats can be supported through 3rd party codecs
Connectors
– USB 2.0 male form factor for power and connection to devices that supports USB mass storage
– HDMI 2.1 with audio for connection to devices that does not support USB mass storage
Since it is an independant computer, you can use it with HDMI equipped TV sets and monitors in addition to laptops, desktop computers etc. You need keyboard and mouse, of course. But there are several pocket sized bluetooth keyboard/touchpad accessories available anywhere.
This might be handy tool to anyone, who does not already have a high end smartphone. But if you already have a high end smartphone or tablet and a HDMI adapter for it, then this is not that useful addition in your technical arsenal. But there are still lots of uses for it. You can use it as a cheap gaming console, for example.
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Check out what others are saying...[...] Cotton Candy: Small is powerful? FXI, a Norwegian company is issuing an USB stick sized minicomputer called Cotton Candy, which has Android and Ubuntu installed in it. Allow me to make this very clear – it is NOT an ordinary USB memory stick with a live disc image. This stick has CPU and GPU built in. WiFi, Bluetooth, microSD slot, USB connector and HDMI connector. Basically it is a computer that happens to be so small that it looks like an USB stick. Read more… [...]