Android has proven to be a most versatile operating system. We find it in a multitude of devices, even those that have a function as specific as a calculator. You may think that having Android in a calculatorWhen we have great calculators on our phones, it’s silly and… yes, but it’s still curious.
Li Zexi, editor of CNX Software, saw GHLBD’s announcement, a calculator with Android 9 and the Allwinner A50 processor. Those three concepts appealed to Zexi, who jumped into buying this $10 Android calculator for a priceless analysis.
“I think this product is useless”
That is one of the -sharp- conclusions of the analysis of this calculator. At crast.net Android we are not, by far, so resounding with our analysis because there are always edges, but here it seems that there are not many more conclusions.
Let’s go in parts. On the outside it’s a normal calculator, but with a huge color touch screen. Zexi indicates that it is turned on and off by simultaneously pressing the on and off buttons. This may give you a clue as to what this calculator really is, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
When you turn it on, both the Android logo appears – it mounts Android 9, which is a few years old behind it, but for a calculator it is an oversized system – as well as the “A50”. It refers to the SoC, the Allwinner A50 which is a bit of an odd name for a 1.8 GHz quad-core processor with a Mali-400 MP2 GPU.
I’m sure you’re thinking that’s a lot of power for a calculator and you’re right, but the second curious thing is that does not have a scientific calculator function. That is, it has power to spare even for games, but forget about doing more than the most basic operations. It is that, let’s see, even in the browser we have a scientific calculator without extensions or getting into websites.
What it does have is a calendar, a history of calculations, connection to Wi-Fi networks and a notepad. To enter notes you have to use the touch screen and something that can be done is root the device to load a more complete version of the system and even run games.
That is something that some users have done that have even loaded Minecraft, but what is really interesting is what we see in the photos of Zexi and in the comments of the analysis. And it is that, when disassembling the case you can see a 2,700 mAh battery which is insufficient to keep the calculator, keyboard board and PCB alive for weeks.
On the blue plate is the processor and the integrated circuits, but it can also be see a microUSB port that cannot be accessedas well as a microSD reader that does not seem accessible either.
On the PCB we can see a literally inaccessible card reader and microUSB.
Is it a botch? Well yes, but no. And it is that, as we can see in the comments, it is possible that the manufacturer, or a supplier, had an excess of tablets with the PCB on which that A50 is mounted and, given the lack of demand, decided to give the hardware a second life. .
Taking advantage of the tablet screen and the PCB, they added the keyboard, the caseay they assembled this curious calculator. There is another user who points to a way that students in China would have to bypass the restriction on the use of mobile phones, but both approaches are still hypotheses.
I have to confess that I’ve been looking for a buy link for a while so that I can get a unit and see if I can run DOOM, which is the only thing that interests me in a calculator these days.
Photos | Li Zexi
