Beelink GT1 is among the cheapest Amlogic S912 TV boxes available today, selling for around $56, but despite the inexpensive price tag, its specifications are not too bad with Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac WiFi, 2GB RAM, 16GB flash, and 4K H.265 & VP9 video capabilities. The company sent me a sample for review, and as usual, I’ll start by posting photos, and having a look at the hardware design, before reviewing the firmware in more details in a the second part of the review.
Beelink GT1 Unboxing
My package appears to have had a rough trip, but apart from the edges of the black retail package nothing was damaged.
The main specifications are shown on the bottom of the package together with CE and FCC certifications, and the type of power adapter inside the package.
GT1 ships with a simple IR remote control, a shortish HDMI cable (~1 meter), a small 5V/2A power adapter, and a user’s manual in English just showing how to connect the TV box to your TV. It feels one of the way they’ve kept the price low is by selecting inexpensive accessories.
The box is rather small too, which looks cute, and reduce the cost of shipping.
We’ll find a USB 2.0 port and a micro SD slot on one side, and the rest of the connector on the rear panel with the power jack, one more USB port, HDMI 2.0 output, Gigabit Ethernet, and optical S/PDIF.
Beelink GT1 Teardown
There aren’t any screws on the bottom of the case, so you’ll need to gently work your way around to pop-up the bottom plastic cover.
Once it’s done, you’ll find a heavy metal plate attached to the bottom cover, and some paste connecting it to a shield covering the processor and RAM chips. Since the paste feels dry, my box teardown may have a negative impact on thermal performance… so we’ll have to see.
The shield can easily be taken out. It comes with a pink thermal pad to cover Amlogic S912 SoC. Two Samsung K4B4G1646E-BCMA DDR3 SDRAM chips (1GB RAM) are paired with a 16GB FORESEE NCEMBSF9-16G eMMC flash. Wired connectivity is achieved via Realtek RTL8211F Gigabit Ethernet transceiver and H2403N transformer, while 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 are done with Aigale AW-CM273SM. It’s the first time I see this module, but it appears to be a compatible replacement of Ampak AP6335 according to one Chinese website.
We’ll also find the serial console on the bottom left of the picture, close to the FORESEE flash. The board is actually called GT_V20, not GT1. Loosening three screws will allow us to completely remove the board from the case, and check out the bottom of the board.
There’s also a shield with a thermal pad covering two more memory modules bringing the total memory to 2GB.
Beelink provided the GT1 for review, and if you plan to purchase in quantities you may contact the company to do so. Beelink GT1 can also be purchased on Amazon US for $66.97, GearBest for $55.99 with GBGT1 coupon, and from several sellers on Aliexpress for $59.99 and up.
[Update: The second part of the review is now up @ Beelink GT1 TV Box Review – Part 2: Android Marshmallow Firmware]
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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