Project Gus

Might even work.

Main menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • About

Tag: shanzhai

Post navigation

$34 smartphone Part II - Teardown

Posted on May 19, 2015

In Part 1 of "Inside a $34 Smartphone" we poked at the software side of the dirt cheap Huami H3 smartphone.

Huami H3 Music Player Shortcut

We now know the phone is a Spreadtrum SC6825 passing off as a MediaTek. Using fake branding that combines Huawei and Xiaomi into Huami - something less than either.

Ka-boom …

Continue reading →

Tagged android, electronics, shanzhai | Comments

Inside a $34 smartphone (Part I)

Posted on May 16, 2015

(Speak Russian? Vlad translated this post!)

This Huami H3 smartphone cost me $34US (210RMB) in January. It's sold with a 5 inch screen, Bluetooth, WiFi, 4G cell connectivity, Android 4.4 and an 8 core processor.

Huami H3

I picked it up in the electronics capital of the world - Shenzhen, China. My …

Continue reading →

Tagged android, electronics, shanzhai | Comments

Anatomy of a cheap USB to Ethernet adapter

Posted on March 20, 2013

Taking apart a very cheap USB to Ethernet adapter and pondering on the parts found inside.

Here are two USB to Ethernet adapters:

More side by sideMore side by side. In the defence of the cheap adapter, it'd been apart 3 times by this point.
Adapters side by side

One of them is sold on ebay for $3.85 AU ($3.99 US), including postage to Australia. The other is sold at Apple Stores for $29 …

Continue reading →

Tagged electronics, linux, shanzhai | Comments

Debian on Flexiview FV-1

Posted on February 26, 2012

This post is about running Debian GNU/Linux on the Mesada/Flexiview FV-1 "AndroidTV" unit. This post has been a bit delayed, I got very sidetracked with other things this month!

By following these steps, you should be able to use the FV-1 a bit like a normal desktop Linux …

Continue reading →

Tagged android, androidtv, arm, debian, fv-1, linux, shanzhai | Comments

Mesada Flexiview FV-1 "AndroidTV" Technical Review

Posted on January 09, 2012

I'm calling this a "technical review" because I'm not going to spend much time talking about using Android on this device. The reason for that will become apparent.

I recently purchased two "Android TV" boxes from aliexpress, for investigation and general hackery.

Android TV front
Android TV back
Android TV remote

You can buy these from various online vendors …

Continue reading →

Tagged android, androidtv, arm, fv-1, linux, open source, shanzhai | Comments

Open Letter to Wondermedia Technologies

Posted on November 28, 2010

This letter is my plea and suggestion to Wondermedia, although the theme applies to similar tech companies as well.

(If any fluent speaker can translate this into Chinese for me, I'd very much appreciate it!)

Dear Wondermedia Technologies,

Congratulations on your WM8505 system-on-a-chip. In 2005, a "$100 laptop" was a …

Continue reading →

Tagged android, eken m001 tablet, linux, open source, shanzhai, wm8505 | Comments

The Sad State of Open Source in Android tablets

Posted on July 25, 2010

This year a slew of companies have launched competing Android tablet devices. A lot of rhetoric has been spun about how Android's open source ecosystem gives manufacturers and consumers an advantage.

Android is open source; it can be liberally extended to incorporate new cutting edge technologies as they emerge. The …

Continue reading →

Tagged android, linux, open source, shanzhai | Comments

Eken M001 Protection, Phone Home & "Demo Purpose Only"

Posted on July 02, 2010

"Derek" posted up a comment yesterday:

I have a EKEN M001, which will not unlock the screen by pressing MENU.

I have tried reseting the EKEN M001 by pressing the Reset button on the back ofthe MID, but te screen stays unlocked.

The top of the screen says: “Demo …

Continue reading →

Tagged eken m001 tablet, shanzhai | Comments

Eken M001 teardown & serial console

Posted on June 22, 2010

See here for my review of the M001.

Eken M001

This teardown shows the V006 revision of the board, a quick serial port install, and includes some console/dmesg output. The main difference between V005 and V006/V007 board revisions seems to be relocating the USB WiFi dongle to a better position …

Continue reading →

Tagged android, arm, eken m001 tablet, shanzhai | Comments

Recent Posts

  • $34 smartphone Part II - Teardown
  • Inside a $34 smartphone (Part I)
  • Anatomy of a cheap USB to Ethernet adapter
  • Debian on Flexiview FV-1
  • Mesada Flexiview FV-1 "AndroidTV" Technical Review
Find me on the Fediverse: @projectgus@aus.social
This site is powered by Pelican and styled with SemLican