This diminutive little guy is more than meets the eye. It weighs 21 grams, which is the same as the bag of the Cotton Candy it is codenamed after. The unassuming USB stick is actually an Android 2.3 Gingerbread powered device that packs a wallop. Here are its specs:
- Dual-core 1.2-GHz Samsung Exynos ARM CPU
- 802.11n Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
- HDMI-out
- microSD card slot
The magic happens when you plug Cotton Candy into a Windows or OSX device. A secure window running a true Android 2.3 environment will open, which FXI Technologies refers to as "Any Screen Connected Computing":
New York, NY and Trondheim, Norway – November 17, 2011 - FXI Technologies, a hardware and software startup based in Trondheim Norway, demonstrated today the world’s first any screen, connected computing USB device. Codenamed “Cotton Candy”, this sweet little device serves as a technology bridge between any display, the Cloud, and any input peripheral.
The vision for Cotton Candy is to allow 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, notebook PC and Macs, as well add smart capabilities to existing displays, TVs, set top boxes and game consoles.
“Today’s device functionality is often limited by the size of the screen it inhabits,” said Borgar Ljosland, founder and CEO of FXI Technologies. “We’ve turned things upside down, eliminating the screen and delivering the power of a PC and the web to any screen.”
Since the Ice Cream Sandwich source code is now available, I hope to see the firmware for Cotton Candy updated to the latest version of Android. Why, you ask? Because it's painful enough to see the Gingerbread interface on my NookColor, which is a 7" tablet, so seeing it blown up on a large screen computer monitor makes me want to cry.
Images Courtesy Of LaptopMag.com
One of the most useful possibilities of the device for Android developers could possibly be testing their apps in a real Android environment that is parallel to their coding window. After all, we've seen before how slow desktop emulators can be. Do you find the possibilities of Cotton Candy intriguing? FXI Technologies would like to hear from you!
FXI Labs is FXI Technologies partner program. If you are interested in testing out Cotton Candy for a specific project or want to learn more about FXI Labs, send an e-mail to fxilabs@fxitech.com.
Just promise you'll let your friends here at Android Police know what sweet goodness you are cooking up!
Source: LaptopMag.com, FXI Technologies