Droid Stick A2 is an HDMI TV Stick based on AMLogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 processor, and together with HI-802 (aka GK802) mini-PC based on Freescale i.MX6Q, is the most likely platform to get proper Linux support, as AMLogic AML8726-MX source code is somewhat open, and video playback in Linux is supported in the older AML8726-M1 processor (Cf. XBMC Linux in Pivos STB).
Kimdecent sent me a sample for evaluation, but as the Android firmware is not really ready for prime-time at this time, I’ll just show some pictures of the device, as well as the user interface, and will review the device once a firmware update is available.
Since this is still a sample, I received the device in a white box with the Droid Stick A2, a mini USB to USB cable, a small 5.2V/1A power supply and a plug adapter.
There are plenty of ventilation hole for cooling the device, and this is the first mini-PC I’ve seen that has been designed to be easily attached to a keyring.
Droid Stick A2 has a male HDMI connector, an “Update” button, an IR jack, a 5+V mini USB OTG port, a USB 2.0 Host port and a microSD card socket.
There’s not much we can see from the PCB, as a heatsink almost completely covers the top of the board.
The microSD socket, flash and RAM are soldered at the bottom of the board.
Beside the heatsink, they also added 2 heat conductive rubber pads, so it looks like a lot of efforts were put into cooling the device.
Time to put this all back together, insert the mini-PC into the HDMI socket of my TV and connect the power supply. I’ve also tried to power the device with the TV USB port, and the boot will start, but like most other devices (excluding Telechips TCC8925 based devices such as CX-01) the boot won’t complete, so the external power supply is really needed.
This HDMI TV stick features a proper media player interface adapted to TV usage with access to music, videos, the picture gallery, a file manager, the stock browser, Android settings and Android apps. The interface is better suited for a remote control than a mouse, and you can’t add shortcuts, so you have to click on the Android doll each time you want to launch an app. The “About MediaBox” menu indicates the model number is MBX Dongle board (g02refDongle), and the current firmware runs Android 4.1.2 with Kernel 3.0.8.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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