It runs Android 2.3.1. Here is my quick review after one day of use:
1. It runs old Market version (older by 2 versions), and I can download/install app fine.
2. I still can't root it by Z4Root and Gingerbreak.
3. It plays 1080p mkv movies from my external USB HDD. Though it is watchable, the output quality is worse than dvd quality. The movies play smoothly. I use its stock video player, Moboplayer.
4. The stock launcher is not so good, I replace it with LauncherPro plus and it works better.
5. The remote control can't control some menus on some apps. However, I can use my existing RF wireless keyboard/touchpad (Visenta v1) to totally control it. I can play Angry Bird with this keyboard. I believe all RF keyboard/touchpad can work with this unit.
6. Youtube can play high quality video, or HD video; but the display quality is not that great (same as playing HD movies). But it is more than watchable.
7. I connect it with the included hdmi to my LG Plasma 42 inch (1024x768), the aspect ratio is correct.
8. Unfortunately, the included apps, e.g. Market, Map, etc.. can't be updated from Market (all stock apps are system-protected).
9. Mine comes without builtin bluetooth and 2.4Ghz RF. Though wifi is builtin.
10. USB can be set as both host and OTG
11. The box itself and the included AC adapter are a bit warm when in use, indicating it is not so power hungry.
12. I've tried the following apps and they are working fine: TEDAir, GeekBeat TV, Revision3, Teamviewer, Moboplayer, tTorrent, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Smartkeyboard Pro, Dolphin Browser HD, TuneIn Radio, Whitehouse, etc. Text display on Facebook and Google+ are too small and no way to adjust the Text size in the apps. Ubersocial always works in landscape two-pane mode which I don't like and the text is also too small; thus, resort to Seesmic.
13. It sometimes shuts itself off when I press my remote key too fast, this is a bug.
14. I can use the stock remote to shut it off, but can't switch it on with it. I need to press the power button in front panel of the box to switch it on.
15. It takes over a minute to switch on. During booting up, it displays a big "G-BOX" word.
16. I can't find way to set the screensaver. The display is always on.
17. When I connect the box with LAN cable to my router, I can't establish Wifi connection. If I disconnect LAN cable, wifi connects fine.
18. Operating this box is quite responsive, except the moment it is installing a new app from Market. Not a big deal, though.
19. It has SD card reader on the right side of the box. It works fine. It works like an SD card slot in notebook. It has spring-loaded and the inserted card sits flushed when mounted. No other ports/slots on the left side of the box. The front panel has only power switch button and IR remote window. The remote operating angle is not great but ok.
20. Internal flash disk size is 4GB (not 2GB as Flexiview).
21. The case is all plastic material; but looks nice.
Overall, I'm happy with this box in every aspect, except the HD video/movie output quality which is somewhere between VideoCD(Mpeg-1) and DVD(Mpeg 2). It is a very good value for money. I'm not sure this is the limitation of Google OS or the box itself.
The box is bigger than the Flexiview, due to accommodation of CBVS output ports. The stock remote should be replaced for total control of the apps and for playing games. Angry Birds game is awesome on my Plasma TV, though (still don't know how to zoom out the screen).
I hope someone can root this things because I wish to upgrade those included apps to the latest version.
I can't find an equivalent box which has an official website for future firmware upgrade. The ********** vendor is also very vague about firmware upgrade when being asked.
Will report more when I have more time playing it.
Update: day2: It's my fault. The HD/FullHD video playbacks very well at high quality on my Plasma TV. Yahoo HD, Vimeo HD also deliver high quality video from this box. What a great box!
Update: 30 Sept 2011:
1. Upgrade Adobe Flash to the latest version from Market, and Flash won't play in browser (stock browser and Dolphin HD). Still don't know what to do.
2. Friendcaster for Facebook is my favorite Facebook app because I can set it to display larger font size. The official Facebook app displays too small font.
3. In order to display great on your LCD/Plasma, set the Sharpness to 0.
4. Tweetcaster is my favorite twitter app because of its beautiful UI, and can set to display larger font size.
5. The box is still performing very well and fast. If you already have "dump" LCD TV and want to upgrade it to a super smart TV, don't buy a new TV, buy this box (or other similar box)!
Update: 7 Oct 2011: The Flash 11 problem has been solved. I have to uninstall flash, then go to website that requires flash for video. Then let the browser download the correct flash version. Now it works, and found that it downloaded Flash v.10.2. So this box only support Flash 10.2. It's good because Flash 11 take 5MB more space on internal SD.
Update: 26 Oct 2011: Really happy with this box. One annoying thing is that it has audio sync problem (just a bit) with all the offline and online videos I play regardless of any video player apps.
Last edited by bthoven; October 26th, 2011 at 04:52 AM.
The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to bthoven For This Useful Post:
It looks as it is the same with my google tv box, only the box size/type is different.(I have open a thread in this forum).
Yes, the image output is 720p that is why you don't have the best picture in your movies.
For me the biggest problem is what you say: "I can't find an equivalent box which has an official website for future firmware upgrade. The ********** vendor is also very vague about firmware upgrade when being asked."
I have searched all the net and found nothing about firmware upgrades. Seems there is no support for this box... Well, yet... Maybe it is very new, I don't know. Let's wait... if you find anything please post!
My HD video (720p or 1080p mkv) quality from this box can't be called HD at all. It is worse than the dvd quality output from RGB port connected from my netbook (to the same Plasma TV).
Geekbeat TV HD from Revision3 also looks grainy.
Update- Day 2: After setting HDMI output resolution to 1280x720p in the box, now it displays HD video very well at high quality now. The box allows you to set 1920x1080p output too; but my Plasma TV is just a HD one.
Last edited by bthoven; September 26th, 2011 at 01:09 PM.
How do you set the HDMI output? Mine doesn't have this future. Also can you tell me your firmware version? Mine has Vr.1.28_0701 (check the foto in my thread and tell me if it has the same kernet too)
How do you set the HDMI output? Mine doesn't have this future. Also can you tell me your firmware version? Mine has Vr.1.28_0701 (check the foto in my thread and tell me if it has the same kernet too)
Hey,
Here it is:
Mine have a lower version than you, i.e.. v1.28_0614.
My HDMI output resolution:
and this shows you all the output options:
Last edited by bthoven; September 27th, 2011 at 10:19 AM.
Well, I can see a lot of differences! Mine doesn't say G-Box and it hasn't your display menu. Maybe mine is a clone? Can you tell if there is any audio options in your box(like set the optical output etc)? Also please install Android System Info apk and post a pictrue of the CPU and build infos! It would be very helpfull...
Ah, I forgot to tell you that the reason you can't root your box(and mine ) is that the filesystem is CRAMFS ( but if we have a new firmware we may do it)
Last edited by sstavross; September 27th, 2011 at 12:00 PM.
After checking the internal SD card inside, I found that it should be 4GB as advertized. But I still can't verify that it has 512MB Ram. All I see is 265MB (yes 265, not 256MB), which number persuade me to believe that it has more than 256MB. However, I don't know where is the other 247MB??
Im considering buy this because of the hardware, but i would like in future root(thats new thing to me) to update the OS and before that, maybe if i could, install a linux distro like debian, or arch, that supports ARM.
Searching in web i found this, maybe can help root the system.
I also have bought this box
Android TV G-Box ATV-S12 - Android 2.3 - RockChip RK2918 ARM Cor
I have several questions:
- Who is the manufacterer? My guess is Starworth unfortunately no support on their website
- Any suggestion where to find the latest firmware? It crashes from time to time and the website where I bought it (Asianpads) doesn't respond on my question about the firmware).
- I have a RF keyboard (Logitech K400) attached to it and this works. However I have an azerty keyboard and the system is configurated to a qwerty keyboard. In settings there is nothing to alter is. I found on the net that I should alter the file "qwerty.kl" so the keys would be mapped to azerty. To alter this I should have root access. Has anybody succeeded to root this box?
- Has anybody got suggestions for good apps for a TV-BOX?
I also have bought this box
Android TV G-Box ATV-S12 - Android 2.3 - RockChip RK2918 ARM Cor
I have several questions:
.....
- Has anybody got suggestions for good apps for a TV-BOX?
Thx.
Most Froyo/Gingerbread apps when displaying on TV, the font size is a bit small. Some video podcast apps do not have an option to play HD version. So we have to find apps which allow text resizing and HD playback.
Twitter app: Seesmic, Twidroyd, or Tweetcaster (all of them allow big text display option) Vimeo app: Vimeo Mobile (can set it to play HD version of their video catalog) Google+ and Facebook: the official ones display text size are too small. Friendcaster is a good alternative app for Facebook because it has bigger font option. Still don't have alternative app for Google+ Youtube: the official one is fine (allows you to switch between standard and HQ quality playback) JetVD Lite: an alternative Youtube player/downloader which can stream upto 1080p quality video e-mail: K-9 allows big text display Videoplayback: Moboplayer (support embedded and external subtitles, stream video) Scheduled recording online radio: Radio RIP or Recordio Video Podcasts aggregator: iMediashare (work only with wifi on, not wired internet) Video Podcasts/Internet TV: Geekbeat TV, Revision3, TEDAir, NASA, Whitehouse, CNN
Still no luck finding new firmware for this box. Mine seldom crashed, very stable.
Last edited by bthoven; October 27th, 2011 at 03:49 AM.
I got this unit Today
I have chinese input layout keyboard and I could not change it to english. I did not find the keyboard input changing menu as usual on the other android tablets
Could anyone help me if where can I find the english keyboard layout and how can I change it?
I got this unit Today
I have chinese input layout keyboard and I could not change it to english. I did not find the keyboard input changing menu as usual on the other android tablets
Could anyone help me if where can I find the english keyboard layout and how can I change it?
Hi, I just purchased a couple of these & like everything else from China although cheap, requires hours of trouble shooting due to the wham bam mentality of selling unsupported products. Thankfully we have groups like this one where we can share knowledge & support one another.
The image above shows a demo firmware version. 1 of the boxes I received has the exact same firmware & it's buggy to say the least. Half the box is still in chinese, including keys on the keyboard. It won't factory reset, & has a host of force close issues. The second box I have has firmware build rk29_gingerbread_v1.28_0614 root.20111021 it's much more stable, fully english compliant including keyboard and pre-installed apps. The two versions are so different it's like comparing a chevette to a corvette..
I'm still stuck with 2 stupid remotes that requires weird watch batteries..& the CURSOR doesn't appear. Does everyone else have one? The supplier I got mine from pictured a kick ass keyboard remote & sent me the same ones pictured at the top of this thread.
If the firmware I mentioned earlier is of any use & can be extracted somehow, send me instructions...maybe the same firmware is available in the download section.
After doing some reading, these appear to be knockoffs of the MicroBee Cloud Station Box. Or at least that's the picture my supplier used in his listing..
There are a few differences including 8GB memory on the Microbee, Cloud Station logo on box, remote & boot logo, the remote is also more advanced. just google microbee cloud station for more details. Hopefully someone with more know how can help us with the firmware rooting processes.
Last edited by ftanl; November 4th, 2011 at 01:56 AM.
I got this unit Today
I have chinese input layout keyboard and I could not change it to english. I did not find the keyboard input changing menu as usual on the other android tablets
Could anyone help me if where can I find the english keyboard layout and how can I change it?
THX ALL
Quote:
Originally Posted by bthoven
Have you tried settings-->keyboard...?
I had the same issue, settings-keyboard/Language-changed to United States English & still get Chinese symbols for keyboard & menu options..I think it's a firmware related issue,, because the other box I have has a newer firmware & everything is fine.
Im considering buy this because of the hardware, but i would like in future root(thats new thing to me) to update the OS and before that, maybe if i could, install a linux distro like debian, or arch, that supports ARM.
Searching in web i found this, maybe can help root the system.
Hi, I just purchased a couple of these & like everything else from China although cheap, requires hours of trouble shooting due to the wham bam mentality of selling unsupported products. Thankfully we have groups like this one where we can share knowledge & support one another.
The image above shows a demo firmware version. 1 of the boxes I received has the exact same firmware & it's buggy to say the least. Half the box is still in chinese, including keys on the keyboard. It won't factory reset, & has a host of force close issues. The second box I have has firmware build rk29_gingerbread_v1.28_0614 root.20111021 it's much more stable, fully english compliant including keyboard and pre-installed apps. The two versions are so different it's like comparing a chevette to a corvette..
I'm still stuck with 2 stupid remotes that requires weird watch batteries..& the CURSOR doesn't appear. Does everyone else have one? The supplier I got mine from pictured a kick ass keyboard remote & sent me the same ones pictured at the top of this thread.
If the firmware I mentioned earlier is of any use & can be extracted somehow, send me instructions...maybe the same firmware is available in the download section.
After doing some reading, these appear to be knockoffs of the MicroBee Cloud Station Box. Or at least that's the picture my supplier used in his listing..
There are a few differences including 8GB memory on the Microbee, Cloud Station logo on box, remote & boot logo, the remote is also more advanced. just google microbee cloud station for more details. Hopefully someone with more know how can help us with the firmware rooting processes.
Hi,
The above photo was taken from my box which doesn't have problem whatsover. Keyboard and menus come in English from the start. Force closed is very rare from a month of my usage. Not sure what's the problem with yours.
When looking at Chinese advertisement, don't believe every pictures they show. I have to ask them to send me the real photos of what I'll get (show the opened box and sample screen displays).
The remote I got (shown in my first post) is quite useless because it won't show cursor on screen; and pressing 4-directional keys is like tapping back/forward/up/down between menu items which could not be fulfilled on some app. At the end, I have to use my existing RF wireless keyboard/touchpad and it works very well with this box.
Though I don't have problem with the stock keyboard, I change it to Smartkeyboard pro because it has suggested words when typing. You can choose language switch between English and whatever language you want.
Though I don't have problem with the stock keyboard, I change it to Smartkeyboard pro because it has suggested words when typing. You can choose language switch between English and whatever language you want.
How did you change it to Smartkeyboard pro? The one that works good, has sample soft keyboard in the menu & the crappy one doesn;t. most of the menu is still in chinese.
I had the same problem with the remotes, the real cloud station remote has a cursor which would make the remote operate like a wii remote or the FV-1 google tv box..still not ideal, but 10x better then what came with this one.
So is there any way to extract the firmware? or root these devices yet?
hello @bthoven !
I just got this toy from Hong Kong for tests,
I read your tests and other users and I decided to ask the manufacturer some firmware changes, including:
- a new home page screen, new keyboard, driver usb webcam (for Skype) etc,
if anyone has done tests or other facilities included are intended to give me the news.
thanks
Last edited by radumx; November 23rd, 2011 at 04:58 AM.
Hi.
I have bought this box, and now my nervs really needs help..
I have tried to connect a keyboard to it with a dongle, but nothing happens..It is a 2.4 keyboard..Do I have to change any setting, or what should i do.
And im not shure that it has bluetooth, and the edr 2,4..Does it come in two different versions.With, and without.. The guy i bought it from doesnt answer my questions..
What keyboards do work with this one, you guys that got it working..? Does it work instantly, or does it have to "install" itself for a while...
Its so annoying thou it would be quite an interesting little thing, but with the crappy remote it really suck..
I need your help fellows, )
Kind regards from Alex, and Sweden.
Last edited by alex102; November 23rd, 2011 at 06:40 AM.
Try putting the rf receiver in the other USB port.
That worked for me.
At first my keyboard didn't work but when I plugged in the RF receiver in the other USB port it worked like a charm ... I am however still stuck because my keyboard is an Azerty (Belgium) and I cannot root my device to alter the keymapping
hello @bthoven !
I just got this toy from Hong Kong for tests,
I read your tests and other users and I decided to ask the manufacturer some firmware changes, including:
- a new home page screen, new keyboard, driver usb webcam (for Skype) etc,
if anyone has done tests or other facilities included are intended to give me the news.
thanks
I contacted the manufacter en my reseller (Asianpads)several times but nothing so far ... not even an answer ... very poor support. The system is not bad but with some extra support I could make it great (for my use) and they would sell more units. Support in this kind of products is essential.
Just received this G-Box unit. I change the Lang setting to English but any text that I selected using the remote ends up as Chinese text in, say, Google search text box or Ebay search text box? What is the root cause? What other settings do I need to change?
Would this still be an issue if I used it with a wireless keyboard. Thanks in advance for your helps.
Forget the keyboard included, installed, go keyboard !
I talked to the manufacturer directly (want to import in Romania products) now working on a new firmware, and waiting for proposals, we have reported some bugs, for the moment a good options is change home screen and keyboard, I recommend installing the Go launcher ex, go keyboard and theme ICS (pictures attached), I hope to develop driver for webcamera as promised.
when I have more details, return if anyone interested
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to radumx For This Useful Post:
G-BOX este peste Geniatech, procesor mai bun, android 2.3.1, acum se va face update la 2.3.4, dar update-ul nu va fi free deocamdata decat pt distrtibuitori eu am mai multe produse de la acelasi producator inclusiv mediaplayer cu Realtek 1186 3D media player.
G-BOX is over Geniatech, better processor, Android 2.3.1, now will be updated to 2.3.4, but the update will be free for now just for reseller, I have several products from the same manufacturer including Mediaplayer with Realtek 3D 1186 media player. and are open to requests
parerile sunt impartie,pai geniatech de mult timp are update cu versiunea 2.3.4 , oricum amandoua au nevoie de multe retusuri din punct de vedere software.
Last edited by everst; November 27th, 2011 at 04:35 PM.
Forget the keyboard included, installed, go keyboard !
I talked to the manufacturer directly (want to import in Romania products) now working on a new firmware, and waiting for proposals, we have reported some bugs, for the moment a good options is change home screen and keyboard, I recommend installing the Go launcher ex, go keyboard and theme ICS (pictures attached), I hope to develop driver for webcamera as promised.
when I have more details, return if anyone interested
is there anyway then to root the device? i try to connect to a pc but have no drivers to recognize the device and i don't know where find it!
As reported earlier, my unit has audio sync problem when playing online/offline video. Have you guys experienced the same?
The video sync is perfect on mine. Only on the Veetle lite app I see an audio lag. I have streamed from my desktop and laptop with no issues. Tehcake, youtube, justin.tv and AVIs on SD cards are no issues all with the preloaded video player.
The Following User Says Thank You to KGILLA For This Useful Post:
Thanks KGILLA. So now only if the firmware set the output scale from the default value 160 to 240, in order to display bigger icons/fonts, then it would be a very perfect box. See what I get on the other Telechip box which stock firmware set output scale at 240
I will try this weekend to do root, the device works perfectly, I got a new firmware, but for now way to update is only in Chinese, the only problem I discovered is the power of USB ports is only ~ 400 mA, leading to problems with external HDD's without external power, I have an external 2,5" HDD with USB 3.0, which connect the USB port g-box stops.
G-Box runs perfect HD movies and serials on the Internet (test vplay.ro), without gaps, games (love Mario Android version) using wireless connection
I hope to have time to do a review on youtoube
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