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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments on MINIX NEO U1 Android Media Hub and NEO A2 Lite Air Mouse Unboxing and Teardown

MINIX NEO U1 Android Media Hub and NEO A2 Lite Air Mouse Unboxing and Teardown

MINIX NEO U1 Android TV box, which the company prefers to call “media hub for Android”, has been announced last week, and has started shipping. The company sent me one sample of the Amlogic S905 device, as well as MINIX NEO A2 Lite air mouse which can be included with the box as part as some bundle. I’ll check out the media hub and air mouse today, as well as get a close look at the internals, before testing the device, and published a full review of MINIX NEO U1 lateron. MINIX NEO U1 Unboxing MINIX sent me the packages via Fedex and I received it within 2 or 3 days. The devices comes with a simple infrared remote control, a micro USB to USB cable, a USB OTG adapter, an HDMI cable, a WiFi antenna, a 5V/3A power supply, a setup guide in English, German, Chinese and Russian, and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on MXQ S905 / G9C 4K Android Media Player Unboxing and Teardown

MXQ S905 / G9C 4K Android Media Player Unboxing and Teardown

Beside Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos, I’ve received another Amlogic S905 device with MXQ G9C, which was the first Amlogic S905 TV box to have surfaces in the news back in June, and a sample has been sent to me by Shenzhen Tomato. Since the company provides ODM/OEM services instead of catering to end users, the specs are flexible, but the device I received is with the default configuration namely 1GB RAM and 8GB flash, and with similar specs to Beelink MINI MX or KI Plus for example. Today, I’ll start by checking out the hardware, before reviewing the full package a little later. MXQ S905 / G9C TV Box Unboxing I received the parcel via DHL, with the device in a retail white brand package reading “MXQ”, “S905”, and “IPTV box”, with some features on the back such as Airplay, DLNA, Miracast, or Widewine, Playready, and Verimatrix. But I’m pretty […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments on Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos TV Box Unboxing and Teardown

Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos TV Box Unboxing and Teardown

Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos is an Android mini PC powered by Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor, but contrary to the two other S905 device I previously reviewed, namely K1 Plus and MINI MX, it’s not been designed for the ultra low end, as it comes with 2GB RAM, 16 GB eMMC flash, 802.11ac WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, and a SATA port. GeekBuying sent me one sample for review, and I’ll start with some pictures of the package, device, and board, before running it through a full test procedure. Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos Unboxing I got the box via DHL in the following package with makes it clear it’s a 4K media player. The box comes with a simple IR remote control requiring two AAA batteries, an HDMI cable, a SATA cable for laptop drives, a 12V/2A power supply, and a user’s manual in English. The device looks somewhat like […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments on Xiaomi Mi 3 TV Box Board’s Pictures Reveal Amlogic S905-H Processor

Xiaomi Mi 3 TV Box Board’s Pictures Reveal Amlogic S905-H Processor

Xiaomi unveiled Mi 3 TV box based on Amlogic S905 processor a while ago, but since we’ve got so many Amlogic S905 boxes on the market, and the interface is only in Chinese, I did not find it that interesting. But somebody did a teardown of the device, and sent me some good pictures revealing that the device uses Amlogic S905-H with DTS and Dolby licenses paid for and enabled. So that means just like for Amlogic S812, where there’s a S812-H with Dolby and DTS, there are two versions for Amlogic S905. I understand the silicon might be the same, but the SDK will differ (TBC). Other main components include a 4GB Toshiba THGBMBG5D1KBAIT eMMC 5.0 flash, two NANYA NT5CB256M16DP-EK 512MB DDR3 chips (1GB in total), a Broadcom wireless chipset (BCM4345) for 802.11ac Wifi and Bluetooth 4.1, and Ricoh RN5T567A PMIC. There are few connectors as on other Xiaomi […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 50 Comments on Tronsmart Vega S95 4K Android TV Box Features an External SATA Port

Tronsmart Vega S95 4K Android TV Box Features an External SATA Port

Tronsmart is adding three new devices to the long list of Amlogic S905 TV boxes on the market with: Vega S95 Pro – 1GB RAM, 8GB flash, AP6212 wireless module (2.4GHz WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0) Vega S95 Meta – 2GB RAM, 8GB flash, AP6330 wireless module (Dual band WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0) Vega S95 Telos – 2GB RAM, 16GB flash, AP6335 wireless module (802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0), and SATA All three models also include Gigabit Ethernet. The Pro and Meta models have a lot of competition, but Telos is quite unique so far, as it’s the first to include a SATA port. Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos specifications: SoC –  Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC 5.0 flash by Samsung + SATA connector + SD card slot Video HDMI […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments on MINI MX 4K Android Media Player Unboxing and Teardown

MINI MX 4K Android Media Player Unboxing and Teardown

I received my first Amlogic S905 TV box last week with K1 Plus, and although I have not reviewed it yet due to some issues with Google Play, I’ve run some benchmarks on the Amlogic S905 platform, which some people mentioning that results could have been impacted by the small heatsink leading to CPU throttling. The good news is that I know have a new Amlogic SD905 TV Box to play with as GearBest sent me Beelink MINI MX TV box. Today, I’ll take a few photos of the device and the board, before hopefully publishing the full review early next week. Beelink MINI MX Unboxing I received the package via DHL, and thanks to its low price I did not have to pay custom duties or VAT. The package does not show any specific brand, only Mini MX 4K Movies products, as well as the specifications on the back. […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 38 Comments on Videostrong K1 Plus Amlogic S905 Android TV Box Unboxing and Teardown

Videostrong K1 Plus Amlogic S905 Android TV Box Unboxing and Teardown

Many Amlogic S905 TV boxes have been announced, and thanks to Videostrong, I’ve received my first Amlogic S905 device for review with their K1 Plus media player (aka KI Plus). Today, I’ll start by listing the specifications, before taking a few pictures of the device and its board. with the full review following up in a few days. Videostrong K1 Plus Specifications K1 Plus is one of the entry level models with 1GB RAM and 8GB storage by default: SoC –  Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with  penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash (4 to 32GB optional) + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz with HDCP 2.2 support, and 3.5mm AV jack Audio – HDMI, AV (stereo), optical S/PDIF Video Codecs – 10-bit H.265 up to 4K60, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on DRM Info Android App Reports Widevine and Playready DRM Information

DRM Info Android App Reports Widevine and Playready DRM Information

I test a fair amount of features in my Android TV boxes review, but I usually don’t test Netflix and other premium online video services since I don’t have any such accounts. These kind of applications appear to be limited by the DRM features enabled in Android. For example, Full HD and 4K video streaming in Netflix requires Google Widevine Level 1, and most devices only come with Level 3 which only supports standard definition, due to cost reasons. So I decided to look whether I could find an app that would list DRM features, and DRM info appears to be it. The app will report both Google Widewine and Microsoft Playready DRM information. The screenshots above show Google Nexus 5 and 6 firmwares include Widevine Security Level 1, but no Microsoft Playready support. So it looks like a neat and easy way to test DRM features of Android device, […]