Beelink GT1 Mini 2 TV Box Gets an Amlogic S905X3 Processor

Amlogic S905X3 TV Box

Beelink GT1 Mini TV Box powered by Amlogic S905X2 was launched with Android 8.1 in October 2018, and the company informed us they have an upcoming upgrade, the Beelink GT1 Mini 2, with the same form factor by an upgraded Amlogic S905X3 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor. GT1 Mini 2 is not the first TV box announced with S905X3, as we previously covered Elebao X3 that was supposed to launch at the end of May. So there clearly has been delays, but this time the launch should be closer as Beelink also shared benchmarks and system information from Android 9.0. Beelink GT1 Mini 2 Beelink GT1 Mini 2 preliminary specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X3 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.9 GHz with Arm Mali-G31MP2 GPU System Memory – 4GB DDR4 RAM Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, Micro SD slot Video & Audio Output HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @ 60 Hz with […]

New Release (1.3.5) for H3Droid Android OS Optimized for Allwinner H3 & H2+ Processors

H3droid 1.3.5

H3Droid project provides Android images for Allwinner H3 & H2+ boards and TV boxes in order to improve on the firmware released by manufacturers. Last time we wrote about was in 2017, but the project released H3droid 1.3.5 recently with several improvements.. The good news is that more boards are supported with a bit fix that for example enables H3Droid to work on Orange Pi Zero (256MB RAM) and Libre Computer Tritium H2+ SBC’s, but the bad news is that it’s still based on Android 4.4 Kitkat, so some apps are not working anymore including Kodi, and the default YouTube app had to be removed since it does work not anymore. Workarounds do exist though, as you can install SPMC fork of Kodi, and play YouTube videos in a web browser, or install it manually after updating Google Play Services. Here’s the full changelog provided by the developers: Added: fex/uboot […]

Beelink GT1-K TV Box Features Amlogic S922X SoC, Android 9.0 OS

Beelink GT1-K

Amlogic S922 processor was first shown in roadmaps in early 2018, and since then we know there are at least two variants with Amlogic S922X and S922D processors both coming with Cortex A73 & A53 cores,  and an Arm Mali-G52MP GPU, but the latter adds a Neural Network co-processor.  So far the only hardware announced with Amlogic S922X was ODROID-N2 SBC, but since most Amlogic processors are primarily designed for TV box, it was just a question of time before we see some Amlogic S922X TV boxes hit the market, and the first model to surface is Beelink GT1-K “King” TV box running Android 9.0 OS. Beelink GT1-K specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores @ 1.9 GHz, Arm Mali-G52MP GPU @ 846MHz; 12nm manufacturing process System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 RAM Storage […]

Alfawise T1 Gemini Lake Mini PC Offered for $150 (Promo)

Alfawise T1 mini PC

Gemini Lake mini PCs have been around for a while, but not quite at the price most expected, that is roughly the same as Apollo Lake, possibly due to shortages of Intel’s entry level processors. So for example, I had yet to see any Gemini Lake computers for under $150, with with Black Friday taking place now, GearBest decided to offer Alfawise T1 mini PC powered by an  Intel Celeron N4100 quad core processor for just $149.99 with coupon GBJEAN. Alfawise T1 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N4100 quad core Gemini Lake processor up to 2.4 GHz with Intel UHD Graphics 600; 6W TDP System Memory – 4GB DDR4 Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, 2.5″ SATA bay, M.2 SSD slot, micro SD card Video Output – 2x HDMI 2.0 ports up to 4K @ 60 Hz Audio – Via HDMI, built-in microphone, 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, dual […]

Beelink GT1 MINI S905X2 TV Box Ships with a Voice Air Mouse

Amlogic S905X2 TV Box Air Mouse

We’ve previously seen new TV boxes based on Amlogic S905X2 and S905Y2 processors, which mostly brings a more recent, but not necessarily more powerful, Mali-G31 GPU with OpenGL 3.2 support, and a USB 3.0 port not available in Amlogic S905/905X based TV boxes. S905X2 and S905Y2 are pretty much similar, and the main difference is that S905Y2 does not support Ethernet, so it’s only designed for WiFi/Bluetooth TV boxes and dongles. So far only generic OEM models were announced, but Beelink has now introduced their own S905X2 TV box with Beelink GT1 MINI featuring 2 to 4GB RAM, 16 to 64GB flash, and a voice enabled remote control / air mouse that works with Google Assistant. Beelink GT1 Mini specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X2 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor with quad-core Arm Mali-G31MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB or 4GB DDR4 RAM Storage – 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB eMMC flash, Micro […]

Beelink X55 Review – Part 2, Take 2: New Drivers and BIOS

Beelink-X55-UEFI

When I reviewed the Beelink X55 earlier, I encountered poor graphics performance when testing the device with its ‘Out-Of-The-Box’ configuration. As a quick reminder the Beelink X55 is a NUC-style mini PC powered with an Intel Pentium Silver J5005 processor and comes with a 128GB mSATA SSD with pre-installed Windows 10 Home together with 8GB DDR4 RAM (soldered and is non-expandable) and space plus a connector for an SSD. In an attempt to address the poor graphics performance I reinstalled Windows using Microsoft’s ISO however I then found I had missing drivers: Having contacted Beelink through the support email enclosed with the device they replied with a link to a full driver pack. So having downloaded and unzipped the file I updated the first driver: followed by the second: resulting in additional entries to the Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework (DPTF). Having fixed the driver issue I then reran […]

Beelink X55 Review – An Intel Gemini Lake mini PC Tested with Windows 10 and Linux

Beelink X55 board

The Beelink X55 is very similar in style to Intel’s NUC7PJYH NUC reviewed earlier except that it is not a kit but a fully functional Windows mini PC. It is physically small consisting of an approximately 4.5″ by 4” case about 1¾” tall with a front panel that includes the power button and a couple of USB ports and a headphone jack with the rest of the ports including two HDMI (2.0) ones at the rear: The specifications include: The key highlights are that the Beelink X55 comes a 128GB mSATA SSD with pre-installed Windows 10 Home together with 8GB DDR4 RAM (soldered and is non-expandable) and space plus a connector for an SSD. Starting with a quick look at the hardware information shows it is mostly aligned to the specification but see the note below about the memory: As usual I ran my standard set of benchmarking tools to […]

Top 10 Best Selling TV Boxes (on GearBest)

Top 10 Best Selling TV Boxes

I’ve already written articles such as the “Best Android TV boxes in 2018” to help people select a TV box that matches their requirements, but today it will be a little different. GearBest provides a speadsheet with discount and coupons to bloggers and YouTube reviewers (sadly not shareable link here), and this time I noticed they also list the top 10 best sellers in the TV box category. Those may not necessarily the best TV boxes, but at least many other people bought them, and you may get unofficial support via communities such as Freaktab or LibreELEC. Withoutany further delay, here’s the list in no particular order and with prices for reference only as listed in the spreadsheet: Mecool M8S PRO L 4K TV Box (Buy Link) –  Amlogic S912, 3GB RAM, 32GB flash, Android 7.1 – $75.99 W95 TV Box (2GB) (Buy Link) –  Amlogic S905W, 2GB RAM, 16GB flash, […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case