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5 Alternatives to Google Play Store You Can Install on Your Android TV

There are plenty of smart TV platforms out there, but Android TV is one of the best. It may not be as tightly controlled as Apple’s tvOS or as simple to use as the Roku platform, but it makes up for this with sheer customizability. For proof, look no further than the existence of third-party app stores. There are plenty of apps available in the Google Play Store, but you may not find everything you need. Fortunately, all you need to do is install one or more of the following app stores and you’ll have many more options. … Read more

3 of the Best File Managers for Android TV

Cord-cutting is in full swing, and Android TVs are becoming ubiquitous. Though Android TV has a wide range of apps that make media consumption a treat, there is a serious lack of good file managers. Sure, most Android TVs come with a built-in file manager, but they are pretty basic and lack a lot of useful features. So, to deal with that, here are some of the best Android TV file managers you can try. 1. Solid Explorer Solid Explorer is one of the best-looking and feature-filled file managers for almost any Android device including Android TV. In fact, Solid Explorer is my daily driver… Read more

MX10 Android TV box review

REVIEW – I reviewed my very first Android TV box a week ago and now I’m back with a review of another ATV in my quest to find one with the best picture and features. The one I’m going to talk about today is the MX10 Android TV Box from Gearbest. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The MX10 is an Android TV Box based on the 3328 Rockchip and connects to your TV with an HDMI cable (included) to stream from services like Netflix, Hulu, and others.

What’s in the box?

  • MX10 Android TV box
  • HDMI cable
  • AC adapter (they didn’t send me the US plug style, but they do offer it)
  • Remote control (2 AAA batteries were not included)
  • User guide

Hardware specs

CPU: RK3328 Quad-Core 64bit Cortex-A53
GPU: Penta-Core Mali-450 Up to 750MHz+
OS Android 9
Memory 4GB DDR4
EMMC 32GB
WiFi 2.4Ghz 802.11 b/g/n

Design and features

The MX10 is a small black plastic box that does not have a snazzy design or any flashy graphics on the outside of the shell. There’s just the logo on the top and a blue status LED on the front side.

On one side, you’ll find an SD card slot, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and a USB 3.0 port.

On the back, there’s another USB 2.0 port along with a SPDIF, AV out, HDMI, Ethernet jack, and a power jack.

The addition of 4 USB ports is a nice touch because you’ll need to use them to connect peripherals like keyboards and gaming controllers. Why? Because the MX10 does not have Bluetooth which is a bummer.

The MX10 does come with a remote control, but the performance of this remote is bad. I had to press various buttons multiple times to move the cursor on the screen. Speaking of which, the remote has a button to switch to mouse mode to let you use the arrow keys to move a virtual mouse.

When the remote decided to completely stop working (no, the batteries weren’t dead), I ended up connecting a small Logitech K400 wireless keyboard with a built-in touchpad. This keyboard uses a USB receiver and it worked pretty well as a replacement for the MX10 controller except when I needed to press enter. For some weird reason, pressing enter showed up as a “q” on the screen. Ugh…

Setting up the MX10 Android TV Box was not difficult. All that’s needed is to connect the box to your TV using the included HDMI cable and connect the included AC adapter for power. Once booted, you’ll have to enter your Google login info and then you’re good to go.

The Android 9 interface is basic with large and small icons for a variety of apps. The bottom row changes automatically to reflect your most used apps.

Out of the box, the MX10 has Netflix installed which is my primary streaming app. I was also able to install Amazon Prime Video and your other favorite apps by using the Google Play app.

My first test with the MX10 Android TV box was to try Netflix and I was immediately greeted with a message telling me that there was a newer version of the app and did I wish to update. Yes, I did wish…

However, I was immediately smacked with a message saying that the device was not compatible with the new version. Ugh #2.

So I backed out and disregarded the question to update and Netflix launched, allowed me to sign in and I picked a show to watch.

The quality was bad. The video was blurry and even after a few seconds of buffering, it continued to play like the frame rate was 20FPS. I rebooted the box, tried other videos and was met with the same results. But I went ahead and watched an entire movie to see if the quality would ever improve. It did not. Ugh #3 (are you seeing a pattern here?)

Next up was a test with YouTube and the results were similarly disappointing. As was Amazon Prime Video. I even loaded up some movies on a micro flash drive and plugged it into one of the USB ports and the playback quality was just as dismal.

At this point, I was ready to just say that the MX10 was a complete dud. But the thought struck me to do a full reset of the box and try again, which I did. Surprisingly, a full reset caused the remote control to start working again and the video quality to improve considerably. However, even though the playback quality did improve, it did not improve enough for me to change my opinion of this Android TV box.

What I like

  • Price
  • Multiple USB ports

What needs to be improved

  • Video quality
  • Remote control performance

Final thoughts

If you’ve gotten this far, you can already guess that my final thoughts on the MX10 Android TV Box are not going to be favorable. It’s only the second device that I’ve reviewed in this category, but I can tell you that it’s not one that I would recommend. If you’re looking for a budget ATV, this isn’t the one to choose.

Price: $52.94
Where to buy: Gearbest
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Gearbest.

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MX10 Android TV box review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 25, 2019 at 12:00 pm.

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Ematic Jetstream AGT48 4K Android TV Box review

REVIEW – Cord cutters have a wide assortment of gadgets that can help them sever ties with cable and satellite companies for their entertainment. There are OTA antennas that you can use to bring in local TV network stations, and then there are gadgets like the Apple TV, Roku, and Android TV boxes that provide an easy to use interface and familiar apps to watch shows and movies on your TV. Today I’m going to show you my first Android TV box review. It’s the Jetstream AGT48 Android TV box. Let’s go!

What is it?

Jetstream AGT48 is an Android v8.1 powered device that will let you play games and stream content from your favorite streaming services like Netflix, YouTube, Hulu and others on your big screen TV.

Hardware Specs

CPU: ARM Quad 64-bit Cortex-A53 up to 1.5GHz
OS: Android 8.1
60FPS Video decoding at 4K, HDMI 2.0b AV
2GB DDR Memory
8GB eMMC storage
2 USB ports, microSD slot
WIFI: 2.5GHz, 5GHz 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Ethernet: 10/M/100M adaptive
Bluetooth 4.2
Built-in Chromecast

What’s in the box?

  • Jetstream AGT48 Android TV
  • Remote control
  • 2 AAA batteries
  • HDMI cable
  • Quick start guide

Design and features

The Jetstream AGT48 Android TV box is an unassuming square black plastic device with the Ematic logo on top.

On one side of the device, you’ll find a micro SD card slot and two USB ports that you can for memory expansion or peripherals like a wireless keyboard dongle.

On the back of the Jetstream is an AV output, Ethernet port, HDMI out, Optical S/P Dif, and DC power in.

Included with Android TV box is a remote that features dedicated buttons that will launch YouTube, Netflix, and the Google Play store apps. There’s also a Google assistant button in the top right corner if you want to use your voice to control the box.

Setup

Setup is simply a matter of connecting the Jetstream to your TV using the included HDMI cable and powering it up with the included AC adapter.

You’ll be asked to sign into your Google account and from there you will have access to all your favorite streaming apps and can install other apps as well.

Let’s watch something!

I performed all of my testing of the Jetstream 4K Android TV box with it connected to my Vizio M65-F0 TV and to my network via WiFi.

By default, the most popular streaming apps are already available including Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, Sling, ESPN, and more.

The main Android TV interface is easy to use and shows recommendations for your favorite streaming apps.

The remote works great for navigating through menus and choosing things to watch but if you’re just too tired to scroll around, you can press the Google Assistant button on the remote and use your voice to find something fun to watch or even ask the same types of questions that you normally do with the assistant.

I was able to say things like “launch Netflix”, “play”, “pause”, etc.

The Google Play store is also available so that you can install all your other favorite apps and games. I did notice a very notable app missing from the Play store though… the Amazon Prime app. I’m more of a Netflix person, so the lack of the Prime app didn’t bother me that much. But for those of you who use it a lot, that’s something to keep in mind if you are interested in buying this device.

I watched a lot of movies and shows with the Netflix app and other apps and the Jetstream Android TV box would great as long as I had not loaded games and other apps before using a streaming app. When I did, the playback was very choppy and blurry until I just cycled power on the device by pressing the power button on the remote. After that, everything was smooth and sharp again.

My TV is a 4K TV and I was able to try some 4K YouTube videos which looked really nice. I don’t watch many 4K movies or shows though and thought that everything look crisp, sharp, and vibrant as is. No complaints there.

Speaking of games, I paired a Bluetooth game controller with the TV box and was able to play a few games on the big screen TV which was a lot of fun! Note that I’m not a gamer and from what I am reading, this TV box is not a gaming powerhouse like the Nvidia Shield. But for casual games, it seems to work fine.

The Jetstream AGT412 Android TV box has 2 USB ports and a micro SD card slot, so you can put media on a flash drive or micro SD card and watch from there. When you plug in a memory device into one of the ports, the default file storage app will popup and allow you to navigate through the folders.

I had a little trouble getting a Seagate 2TB hard disk to show up in the file explorer app while also having a micro SD card plugged into the TV box at the same time. I eventually got it to show up after plugging and unplugging it a couple of times.

The AGT412 also has a built-in Chromecast so you can case contact from your phone or tablet to the Android TV box.

What I like

  • Easy to setup and good user interface
  • Built-in Chromecast
  • 4K
  • Remote is easy to use to navigate the interface

What needs to be improved

  • Doesn’t support Amazon Prime video
  • Doesn’t support Dolby ATMOS audio
  • Loading too many apps can make video streaming choppy
  • Future OS updates doubtful

Final thoughts

The Ematic Jetstream AGT412 Android TV box is the first Android TV device that I’ve reviewed and so far it’s my favorite if only for the fact that it’s the only one I’ve reviewed so far. It’s easy to use and works great with my main streaming app – Netflix as long as I don’t load too many other apps first. Even if I do, it’s only a simple matter of cycling power to fix the choppy audio/video issue. I’m sure there are better Android TV boxes on the market, but for $69, this one works well and won’t bust your budget.

Price: $69.00
Where to buy: Walmart
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Ematic.

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Ematic Jetstream AGT48 4K Android TV Box review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 18, 2019 at 11:54 am.

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Abox 4 Android TV 4K Streaming Box review

These days, many people are looking to find alternatives to cable services and cable boxes. This is primarily so because of the continuously rising costs of cable TV and the way their “packages” provide less versatility. In response to the cable companies, numerous devices have “popped up” on the market and they claim to provide alternative options at a lower cost. Let’s take a look at one:

What is it?

The Abox 4 Android TV box is an Android OS based streaming device that provides a way to stream TV programming via various services, as well as the ability to stream from other sources on the same network.

What’s in the box


1 x Abox 4 Android TV Box
1 x AC Adapter
1 x HDMI Cable
1 x Remote Control
1 x Instruction Booklet
1 x Micro Fiber Cleaning Cloth

Design and features

Specifications

Operating system: Android 7.1.2
CPU: Quad Core Cortex A53 2.0GHz 64bit
GPU: Penta-Core Mali-450MP GPU at 750 MHz
ROM: 2 GB DDR3
RAM: 16GB EMMC FLASH
Bluetooth: V4.0
3D: Hardware 3D graphics acceleration
HDD file system FAT16 / FAT32 / NTFS
Supported subtitles: SRT / SMI / SUB / SSA / IDX + USB
High-definition video output: 4k * 2k
LAN: Ethernet: 10 / 100M, standard RJ-45
Wireless: Supports 802.11 a / b / g / n at 2.4 GHz
Supported Airplay / DLNA / Miracast & H.265
Supported decoder format: HDMPEG1 / 2/4, H.265,4K-HD, HD AVC / VC-1, RM / RMVB, XVID / DIVX3 / 4/5/6, REALVIDEO8 / 9/10
Supported media format: AVI / RM / RMVB / TS / VOB / MKV / MOV / ISO / WMV / ASF / FLV / DAT / MPG / MPEG
Supported music format: MP3 / WMA / AAC / WAV / OGG / AC3 / DDP / TrueHD / HD / FLAC / APE
Supported Photo Format: HD JPEG / BMP / GIF / PNG / TIFF
Supported subtitles: SRT / SMI / SUB / SSA / IDX + USB
Supported language: English / French / German / Spanish / Italian and more
Power supply: DC 5V 2A

The Abox 4 Android TV 4K Streaming Box is a streaming box that provides access to numerous streaming app including, Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, Amazon, and all apps in the Google Play Store. It also allows you to add almost any Android app via the standard .apk file. (Some Android apps added via their .apk files may not provide 100% compatibility). Once connected to your network, this device also acts as a single point of streaming for all of your shared media on your network including, pictures, movies, music, etc. The Abox is small and compact and has ports on 2 sides, a display on a 3rd side, and the brand name on top. On one side there are the following ports from left to right:
Audio out
Ethernet
AV port
HDMI
Audio out

On the 2nd side, there are 2 USB ports and one micro SD card port to add external storage devices

The remote control provides the standard functions of a media remote control, along with a microphone button that allows you speak commands, like “find the latest action movies” or just action movies”, or something more specific. There is also a button that toggles a “mouse” option on and off. With the mouse “on”, you can use the circular control to move the mouse. Other functions include volume, page up/down, power on/off, home, mute, return, etc.

On the front of the Abox, there is an LCD with a time display and the power on indicator along with the WiFi status symbol. On the top of the Abox is the brand name that lights up blue. The picture on the bottom right below shows the HDMI and power cables connected.




Operation

Once the Abox is plugged in, and the basic initial setup of language, time and network access are completed, the main screen is launched. On the main screen there is a preview of Google Play movies selection, a couple of rows showing some of the most/recently used apps, and the icons for the “settings” screen, the “Network setup” screen and the “app drawer”. The “settings” screen provides access to all settings as seen below. The “network” screen provides access to all of the network access related settings, and the “app drawer” screen shows all of the apps that you have downloaded and installed.
I have also included the screens that show the “on Demand” movie/series option, the File Explorer screen that allows you to access all of your shared network drives, and a screen that shows the tv guide from my cable TV app. Unfortunately, I could not get the remote to properly navigate the tv guide to make that app usable. While I think that I was doing everything correctly, I am not ruling out “lack of knowledge by user” 🙂
There is also a screen showing access to Spotify to listen to online streaming music.












Performance

I was able to watch movies from my USB drives and across my network via WiFi and wired ethernet with no issues, and they played flawlessly and in full HD. Installing apps from the Google Play store is very easy, and all of the apps that I tested worked well. The cable TV app that I referred to was one that I installed via an external website, and not from the Google Play Store apps offered from within the box. Once the Abox is on your network, you have the option of adding Android apps using a computer on the same network. It is important to note that I installed the cable tv app via a networked computer since it was not showing as an available app when I searched the Play Store from the Abox. This is likely why it is not fully compatible and functional.

I am not a gamer, so I cannot provide too much information on those types of apps. However, based on the overall performance of the Abox, I would suspect that they will work flawlessly as well. The Abox also offers the ability to connect a keyboard and mouse via Bluetooth, and they sell a combination keyboard via the Abox-tech website for $34.88.

What I like

I really like that the Abox provides access to all of my shared media on my home network and that even via WiFi it maintains a strong connection. I also like that I can add drives directly to it vis the built-i USB ports and that is with the apps from the Google Play Store, I can play all of my various types of files with ease.

What can be improved

My biggest issue with the Abox is the inability to navigate certain apps properly when using the remote. For example, I am used to watching my Cable TV programming using my Roku Streaming Box and the cable TV app. With the Roku remote, I can use the up/down functions of the remote to scroll through the TV guide. This function does not work with the Abox remote, and for me, that is a big deal.

Final thoughts

The Abox 4 Android TV 4K Streaming Box offers a lot of options and convenience for the price. The 2 USB jacks along with the card slot and network capabilities make it easy to integrate it into your network of devices. While I do find the Android OS and the remote response somewhat sluggish when compared to my IOS devices, I do enjoy using the Abox and for now, it has a permanent place among my media equipment.

Price: $79.99
Where to buy: Abox-tech website and Amazon.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Abox.

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Abox 4 Android TV 4K Streaming Box review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 25, 2018 at 9:00 am.

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