Recently in excitement about OUYA game console, an Android based gaming console, I bought ODROID-U2. This little piece of hardware is driven by an Exynoss 4412 chip, which can be also found in Samsung Galaxy SIII. It’s specs are similar to Tegra 3 platform. I want to play a little on Android, I already have Galaxy SII phone, on which I can play games from Google Play. I wanted a game console, which I could connect to my TV and control with a game pad. I also decided, that if I want to buy such thing, then it should enable me to install other operating system, so I can develop something on it.
The company, which made ODROID-U2, is placed in Korea, so I had to wait for the package two weeks. It was my first package from such distant country. I was a little worried, because this is a little computer and that at the customs office they could hold it and say ‘No, this shit is dangerous, it has a droid icon on the box’. Finally, after two weeks and some phone calls with FedEx, it arrived.
All the stuff, which I ordered came in a small box. I bought the ODROID-U2, a power supply, a wi-fi adapter and eMMC memory module with Android preinstalled. I also bought a cheap USB game pad and a HDMI to HDMI micro cable.
After quick unboxing, I connected everything and got horrified. The output on my TV was like from an old TV, which had a very weak signal. I was kind of disappointed. At first I thought, that the ODROID board or HDMI micro is damaged. I was looking at it with a magnifying glass for over an hour. I tried to connect it one more time and this time I moved the HDMI cable, I wanted to check if the image gets better when the connector is pressed, maybe it got loose or was not properly soldered. Moving the cable produced the right result – the image was now crystal clear. Then I realized, then the ODROID hardware is fine, but the cable could be damaged. It is very cheap one, cheapest I could get. I didn’t had any other HDMI micro supporting device, so I has to find another device. It was weekend, so I had to wait until Monday.
The screenshots are done with S2, so I could capture what I saw on the monitor. Doing a screenshot on the device would produce a good image, without the noise.
I checked the faulty cable with Sony XPeria Arc S mobile phone and to my relief, the video connection was interrupted when I moved this cable. To be sure that the cable was indeed damaged I checked with a Motorola phone, the results were the same.
So now I have to buy a new HDMI cable. This time I will buy a branded and spend a little more on it.
Nevertheless, when connected at right angle, the image was correct, so first impression is great.
