Ugoos AM1 TV Box and Some Amlogic S905 Benchmarks

A few TV boxes based on Amlogic S905 processor are currently up for pre-order such as MXQ Pro and Beelink MINI MX mini PCs with 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, and which are due to ship later this month.  Ugoos is also working on their own AM1 TV box and AM2 TV stick based on Amlogic S905 processor, with some better specs, and today released a few more details about Ugoos AM1. Ugoos AM1 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 (Samsung);  4GB version likely later on Storage – 16GB eMMC flash + SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 Audio – HDMI, optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 10/100/1000M Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211F), 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6335 module) USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – IR receiver Power Supply –  […]

Giveaway Week – Tronfy MXIV Telos Android Lollipop TV Box with Amlogic S812 Processor

After Eny M8S yesterday, I’m now giving away another Amlogic S812 quad core TV Box with Tronfy MXIV Telos. Noticeable differences are that it runs Android 5.1 instead of Android 4.4, and features more storage (16GB), 802.11ac WiFi, and Gigabit Ethernet. So on paper Tronfy MX4 Telos appears to be a great improvement over products like M8S with better hardware, and a more recent Android firmware. While Tronfy MVIX Telos review did confirm the hardware was pretty good with good networking performance and a fast internal storage, the firmware was not quite ready for prime time, with disastrous Kodi support, and a settings app that would keep on crashing. There’s not much you can do about the latter without a newer firmware, but you might try out some other versions of Kodi to improve video playback. You can find more photos on the unboxing and teardown post. To enter the […]

Giveaway Week – Eny M8S Android TV Box

Today, I’m going to give away Eny M8S, an Android media player based on Amlogic S812 processor with 2GB RAM and 8GB NAND flash that runs Android 4.4, and supports H.265 video playback up to 3840×2160 at 30 fps. How does the device perform? Well, I don’t really know because I postponed the review due to many problems including HDMI going on and off, lack of Google Play Store, some power issues, and eventually the box refused to boot. When I finally got a new firmware, I did upgrade it, but so many months had passed, that I postponed the review indefinitely… Having said that, I tested its 4K capabilities later on, and again before this giveaway to reset the box to factory settings, and it booted fine… The box is not abandoned, as the company released a new firmware at the beginning of this month, so the lucky winner […]

Manifold mini PC Powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 Processor is Designed for Drones

DJI is known for their high-end drones such as Phantom 3 quadcopter, but the company has now launched Manifold mini PC powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core Cortex A15 processor and running Ubuntu 14.04 in order to allow developers run their own applications performing complex computing tasks and advanced image processing “on the fly”. DJI Manifold specifications: SoC – Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core Cortex-A15 processor @ up to 2.2 GHz with 192-core Kepler GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3L Storage – 16GB eMMC 4.51 flash, micro SD slot Video Output – mini HDMI port Audio I/O – mini HDMI, combo audio jack for microphone and headphone Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet port USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports, 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB port (supports Force Recovery mode and Host mode) ,  and a non-standard USB 2.0 interface with the drone. Camera – Camera In and […]

Giveaway Week – ARNU Box Mach Q Pure Linux Media Player

The second device for this giveaway week is ARNU Box Mach Q TV box that runs Kodi 15.2 on an Amlogic S805 quad core processor with 1GB RAM and 8GB flash, the little brother of ARNU Box Mach 10 powered by the more powerful Amlogic S812 processor. Due to lack of time I did not review ARNU Box Mach Q, but I did review ARNU Box Mach 10, which is loaded with a similar firmware based on Linux based EmBER OS. Video playback was very good with Kodi 15.2 with automatic frame rate switching support, working audio pass-through via S/PDIF, but HDMI audio pass-through did not work with my AV receiver. Since it’s the same firmware base, I fully expect the same good video experience on ARNU Box Mach Q minus support for 4K videos. You can find more pictures on ARNU Box Mach Q unboxing and teardown post. To […]

Giveaway Week – Zidoo X6 Pro Android TV Box

Time for another giveaway week that will take place on November 2 – 8, with one device or board given away per day. The first device is Zidoo X6 Pro TV box powered by Rockchip RK3368 octa core SoC with 2GB RAM and 16GB Flash. Zidoo X6 Pro review showed a capable device, and pretty good, although not perfect yet, Kodi 15.1 implementation, however the device tends to overheat pretty quickly leading to very poor performance at times. So the company will have to work on improving thermal management in their firmware, beside fixing a few other bugs. I received two Zidoo X6 Pro samples due to miscommunication: one from Zidoo directly which I used for the review, one from GeekBuying which I’m giving away today, and is basically new, although I’ve quickly tried it to make sure it boots. You can find more pictures on Zidoo X6 Pro unboxing […]

Rockchip Light Biz OS Improves Android’s Desktop Experience

Android is great for consuming content, but if you’ve ever tried to use it to create content, it can be an hassle, as copy / paste is hard to use, shortcuts aren’t available, and overall the operating system and apps are not designed to work well with a mouse and keyboard. Remix OS is one of the solutions, and Rockchip has been working on improving Android as a desktop replacement for while, starting with multi-window support, and recently they showcased “Light Work OS“. But yesterday Charbax, of ARMDevices.net, uploaded two new videos showing Rockchip Light Biz OS in action, probably renamed from Light Work OS shown a few months ago. The first video is the “official” Light Biz OS video released by Rockchip, which shows the main features including: Based on Android 5.1 with CTS certification Light Biz OS features can be enabled/disabled in Android settings using the Multi-window option […]

Solu Touch-Enabled Portable mini PC Runs a Cloud-linked OS on Nvidia Tegra K1 (Crowdfunding)

Solu Machines, has startup based in Finland, as decided to re-invent the computing experience. To achieve this they’ve created a battery powered mini PC based on Nvidia Tegra K1 processor and 4GB RAM, included a touch screen on the top cover that can be used as a tablet on the go, and as a touchpad when connected to a monitor, while creating a new OS called SoluOS with a new type of user interface and that stores lots of the data in the cloud, yet allows the device to run offline, and there’s more… Solu mini PC specifications: SoC –  Nvidia Tegra K1 4-Plus-1 ARM Cortex-A15 CPU @ 2.3GHz with 192-core Kepler GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR3 Storage – 32GB “cache capacity” Display – 1440 x 1440, 450ppi, with an edge-to-edge touch Video Output  – Support for up to 4K monitors apparently via USB type-C connector Connectivity – Dual-band […]