Cotton Candy Pre-Order now open

[Glaucus]

Can now register interest in Cotton Candy, No money yet. Placed in a que and will be emailed when they have some in march.
£139excl tax and shipping.
Allready registered my interest.
http://fxitech.us4.list-manage.com/...683ae0ae0c61a23243&id=59fc6b6c89&e=b9527c2155

What is it?
http://www.fxitech.com/products/

The Cotton Candy is a USB stick sized compute device allows users a single, secure point of access to all personal cloud services and apps through their favorite operating system, while delivering a consistent experience on any screen.* The device will serve as a companion to smartphones, tablets, and notebook PC and Macs, as well add smart capabilities to existing displays, TVs, set top boxes and other media that supports USB mass storage. Download Product Brief.

 

[Glaucus]

If it could be made to support Android apps like Netflix, iPlayer, Sky Go etc. then I'd be sold.

As said it can run Linux or android 4, I've gone for android 4. I want to plug it into the tv and use it for YouTube, web surfing and Netflix, basically a tiny out of site HTPC.
Means I can get rid of my huge HTPC.

As for developer, consumer thing. This is a pre release version aimed at developers to make apps etc. so I said I was a developer, in case they prioritise products in that way.

support USB mass storage which seems to be the main focus of the product. .

Not really, most screens don't support that. Powering through USB and connecting through Hemingway is what they always show it as.

 

[Glaucus]

You could make your own with a Raspberry Pi could you not for well £150 cheaper?

Not really, This is far more powerful than raspberry pi, also R-PI is unlikely to ever support android or flash. Meaning no apps, no Netflix etc, Severely handicapping what you can do on it. As a media consumption device.

So from reading their brief, I can plug this into my tvs usb and essentially I've got a 32" android os on my screen? Is it that simple? If so I'll sign up now.

My htpc is so noisy, this would be amazing.

yes

Can anyone find confirmation that this is the revised version with micro USB?

 

[Glaucus]

I assume you can also stick it in a PC and be able to boot/run Ubuntu or Android on the PC. (Like a normal USB drive with a OS installed with some files)

Edit: Ohh they've upgraded it... forget the above

Can't find anything about running on other devices on USB, other than computers.

As for SFF, yeah it really needs to be in about three sub forums.

 

[Glaucus]

It's hardly focused on that, seeing as all their shows are HDMi, it's both. It's a go anywhere of, design to be used on any screen. Be it a phone, laptop, desktop, monitor or tv.

And as I said I can't find anything other than USB for computers, like the laptop in the video.

It's also possible to plug the Cotton Candy into a conventional computer and boot from it like you would from a regular USB mass storage device.

Now would it work on a tv or phone that supports USB mass storage?
Or does it need Linux/windows/OSX?

 

[Glaucus]

And other quotes include the word conventional computers, with mass storage devices.

And , all I'm saying is can anyone confirm it, don't just assume it has a capability, unless someone can confirm it. £175 is a lot for people to spend if it doesn't do what they want.

 

[Glaucus]

And this.

as well add smart capabilities to existing displays, TVs, set top boxes and other media that supports USB mass storage

So yes it does, that's all I was asking was confirmation, before people base a deacon on misleading details.
I'm well aware of the difference, it's just a lot of the info out there says conventional computers and same with videos always laptops/pc using USB. Hence the confusion and asking for clarification.

 

[Glaucus]

that looks pathetic compaired to the 25 pound pie.

Why?
Have you seen the difference in internals, as well as pi can't run android, can't run Netflix on any OS you install on PI and such like. It's a far more capable device.

People think the PI is all singing all dancing, but it isn't. It's not developed as a Media/HTPC device.

Well I've given one possibility of having a 'file' on the USB mass storage which is actually a stream of the device's video output like you can do with VLC, we'll see I guess.

That wasn't the issue, I just wanted confirmation, in case people brought it thinking it could run on anything and it didn't. Not an issue now as it clearly states on tv and other mass storage supported devices.

 

[Glaucus]

It's the price I don't think it's worth £175.

For others it is. Remember these are same itpnternals as £300+ phones.
And has a much bigger range of uses unlike the limited use on PI, as PI is designed to be cheap and for kids to program on.
Where cotton candy is a fully fledged media device meant for the public.

 

[Glaucus]

Rasberry PI?

A £25 tiny computer, very similar but far less powerful and far more restricted in capabilities. It's designed to be a cheap device for schools and other places, for kids to program on.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/
It'll support some people's needs, but many of us want more, like Netflix support.

 

[Glaucus]

People have already got Ubuntu running on it with XMBC playing 1080 files. YouTube it to see.

I know. That doesn't make it an HTPC. It can't run flash(not a big issue) but no support for Netflix is a big issue, for those of us who use it. Been following it closely and was going to get one as a stop gap, Till FXI confirmed q1 release. Cotton candy can also run any of the apps that android does. Which is a lot of stuff.

If all you want is to play ripped DVDs and nothing else R-PI is fine.

 

[Glaucus]

Spend a bit more and get a full-blown HTPC

got one, cotton candy is replacing the monstrosity.

Even if android is ported, from what I've read on R-PI forum, which they've taken down ATM. It still won't support a lot. Partly due to rubbishy CPU and partly as they need licenseS that they need to enable the hardware. As its not designed for that purpose and it's a cheap charity. They won't be buying or enabling these. It will still be pretty useless as HTPC, unless you only use it for no drm video files and mo3 playback. If you want anything more, it can't really handle it. It even struggles with browsing.

It's far more flexible due to power and license. You can still do everything R-PI can and more. As it runs Linux anyway.

Yes PI will be more suscsufull due to price point.

Anyway going a bit off topic. People can buy what they want.

 

[Glaucus]

I honestly dont think the price is a problem, this thing can do what im already doing on a £300 htpc. Watching videos, browsing the internet and checking emails. But without the base taking up space on my desk.
.

They've also said come proper release September to Christmas. It'll be well under the $200 mark.

 

[Glaucus]

No, it cant.
It is specifically designed as a media provider (which it will do better than the Pi).
The Pi is more general purpose.

No it's not, I'm using it as a media provider. It also come with Ubuntu an can be used as a normal Linux PI. There is nothing special about R-PI other than cost. Anything you can do on R-PI you can do on this. There's nothing locking you into android.

 

[Glaucus]

What about plugging in a USB peripheral?
What about connecting it to my non-wireless network?
What about GPIO connections?
What if i want a seperate audio connection rather than using the hdmi?

The Cotton-Candy is designed specifically as a media provider, so it doesnt matter that it doesnt have any of these features, but you cant argue that it is an general-purpose as the Pi as well.

It has USB, so yes you can connect it to cabled network, USB peripherals, USB sound cards and the rest. You can also get USB to gpio as well. So it can do everything you listed. It's under half the size, so doesn't have space for all the connectors. But if you watch the video. You simply hook up a USB multi connector and you can plug loads into it.


The devices are pretty much identical, apart from the power and connectors. One has power, the other has connectors built in. You can't really add more power, you can add connectors.

 

[Glaucus]

it says on their website that the USB is a male connection for power or connecting the device to a computer as a mass storage device?



Also, why do they say you need a wireless keyboard/mouse if it can take usb peripherals?

Periphals will depend on the OS. You'll have a lot more support from Linux OS. It's a full functioning USB Port as far as I'm aware as several videos have random stuff plugged in though a splitter.

Actually that might be why it says that as the old prototype version didn't have micro USB port.

 

[Glaucus]

So if you have a usb keyboard plugged in one end, and a hdmi tv plugged in the other end, what's powering the Cotton-Candy?

It has micro USB port as well as the big USB.

Graphics is provided by a Quad Core ARM Mali-400MP GPU, with 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI, microUSB, and USB 2.0 for power or storage

So it's both, big USB is for power and using it like USB pen/running it on laptop.
MicroUSB adds peripherals.

Also there's USB splitters, to allow more than one periphal.

 

[Glaucus]

Yeah there website is a shambles.

 

[Glaucus]

The PI can't do much though, it's under powered and can never handle drm stuff, Netflix or a host of over stuff.

Great so your going to plug your phone into a tv all the time and be unable to use it as a phone while it's plugged in, I cant see many people doing this at all.
or if using as a mobile of with all your stuff on, your willing to lose phone functionality for hours at a time?

It is far more than a gimmic and is really usefull and it's hardly expensive at all. It's expensive compared to PI, but then it's so much more than a PI ever can be, even with software devlopment, it's missing core components they have said they won't add and are unlikely to add in future releases as it costs money and this isn't designed for the public.

You're also basically saying al tiny htpcs are also useless like appleTV and host of x86 micro machines.

 

[Glaucus]

If people get Android running on the Pi why wouldn't it do google rented DRM stuff or Netflix? The cotton candy seems overpriced for what it does IMO.
.

As it doesn't have the hardware support needed as that requires license they didn't want to pay for as it's not a media device or even a public device. This will catch many people out, who thought you just need android. It's not that simple. It was all on their forum, but forums been taken down for release.

I'm assuming(but a guess) it has something to do with these SoC extensions, probably the second one.

ARM®*Cortex™[email protected]
– NEON extensions
– TrustZone extensions

ARM TrustZone® technology is a system-wide approach to security on high performance computing platforms for a huge array of applications including secure payment, digital rights management (DRM), enterprise and web-based services.
TrustZone technology is tightly integrated into*Cortex™-A processors and extends throughout the system via the*AMBA® AXI™ bus and specific TrustZone*System IP blocks. This system approach means that it is possible to secure peripherals such as secure memory, crypto blocks, keyboard and screen to ensure they can be protected from software attack.

Devices that utilize TrustZone technology, and which are developed according to the recommendations of the TrustZone Ready Program, deliver a platform that is capable of supporting a full Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) and security aware applications and secure services.

How is it over priced? Compared to other hardware of same speed it's pretty much bang on. The is also devlope release, christmas when it goes on public release it is meant to be much closer to the $100 mark.