I decided to go to AnDevCon II this year because of a heavier emphasis on embedded Android. I am not disappointed although I am not getting to spend enough time here because I am headed out to MILCOM in Baltimore on the red eye tonight. There is an entire track on embedded Linux so that alone is well worth the trip.
Part of the show's challenge for me was the wide area I cover so the whole show is applicable but for many a more targeted approach is necessary. There were lots of smartphone apps and tools for developing apps for Android phones and tablets. Likewise, HTML 5 is hot so web-based apps are part of the mix at the show. Still, tf you are doing embedded Linux designs, apps, etc. and you haven't been to AnDevCon then put it on the list for next year.
My apologies to Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, authors of A Mote in God's Eye, one of my favorite science fiction books, for the title of this blog. It just hit me when I saw WIMM Labs WIMM Platform module. This little mote is a full blown Android system that should interest embedded designers.
The 36mm by 32mm by 12.5mm WIMM module has a 160 by 160 pixel color, capacitive touchscreen. A bit smaller than a smartphone screen but large enough for useful information. It also makes sense as a mobile or wearable device like a smart wrist watch. We've seen smart watches before but this is the first Android one that I have seen.
The 22g module has a 14-pin water-resistant connector on the back. Communication support includes WiFi and Bluetooth. It has an accelerometer and magnetometer. Processing power is from a 667MHz single core processor with up to 32 Gbytes of memory. It is designed to run "micro apps" since conventional apps for smartphones and tablets are unlikely to work well on the small screen.
It's off to Google's keynote and then catch a plane to Baltimore. See you at MILCOM. Hopefully we'll have some videos on Engineering TV for these shows up soon.