Mini MXQ, TV box with the new RK3229

I know my readers prefer reviews about amateur radio, and that will be the next one, so bear with me a little. :)
Today, though, I have a TV box on my desk—a hybrid featuring the new RK3229 processor and the familiar Android version 4.4.
As always, a complete teardown, tests, and analysis.

It's been quite a while since I reviewed an Android TV box, even though they do have some advantages over boxes running Windows.
I deliberately chose a very budget-friendly model for this review, because I was curious to see what inexpensive TV boxes can do.

First, the specifications.

Processor — RK3229
Number of cores — 4 (ARM Cortex-A7 CPU, 1.5 GHz)
Graphics — Mali-400 (ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU)
RAM — 1 GB
Flash memory — 8 GB
Wi-Fi: 2.4 GHz
LAN — 100 Mb Ethernet
Ports: 2×USB 2.0, SPDIF, HDMI, RJ45, TF card
H.265 support
Supports 4K resolution
Operating system — Android 4.4
Dimensions — 110 x 110 x 17 mm

Yes, the specs are pretty modest, but the manufacturer claims an interesting feature: hardware decoding of 4K (H.265) video at 60 fps and 10-bit color depth. It also supports decoding 4K video in H.264 and VP9 formats at 30 fps.

First, as always, the packaging—and as always, it's under the spoiler.

And here's everything in the box:
1. TV box
2. IR remote
3. HDMI cable
4. Power supply
5. Manual


1. The manual is very basic: it shows what to connect where, plus a couple of pictures.
2. The HDMI cable is as budget as they come, though often that's all you need—plug it in and forget about it.
3, 4. The power supply looks very basic, judging by both its size and the stated specs. The manufacturer rates it at 5 V, 2 A.


Since the power supply is fairly easy to open, I couldn't pass up the chance to see what's inside.

The remote is the standard one bundled with inexpensive TV boxes. I've been seeing remotes like this for at least a year and a half, and nothing has changed.
The remote is powered by two AAA batteries.


And here's the TV box itself.
It's entirely black, but the flash brought out some light-colored streaks on the top cover. You can't see them under normal lighting.
The top is matte, while the sides are glossy.


The power button and indicator are in the front-right corner of the case. The indicator glows blue. One plus is that it's not very bright, and the diffuser is matte, so it won't be annoying.


The customary photo with a matchbox for scale.


This TV box is a little short on ports.
The right side has a slot for a microSD card, with a USB port next to it.
There are more ports on the back:
SPDIF digital optical audio output
Ethernet port
HDMI port
Second USB port
Power input.

Yes, there aren't many ports. It's a shame there's no analog audio/video output, but what disappointed me more is that there are only 2 USB ports.


There's nothing on the bottom—not even feet—and the bottom cover is a striking bright orange.
Actually, there is one thing: a hole for the reset button.


I originally planned to move on to the test results, but then decided it would be better to show what's inside first and get to the tests afterward.
Actually, I ran the tests before taking it apart so as not to compromise their validity, but I'll show the results later.

And of course, a little about testing.
As I wrote at the very beginning, the TV box runs Android version 4.4—more precisely, 4.4.4.
This version of Android is considered quite outdated now, although personally I like it more than 5.x. But that's really a matter of personal preference.

By the way, as soon as I connected the box to the internet, it notified me that a new version was available (if only I could remember which one) and offered to update. Then it did so again. So, right after turning it on, I automatically got two updates.


There are two launchers to choose from in the settings menu.


The more colorful, tile-style one is installed by default.


But I find it less convenient, since the “buttons” are huge and not all the apps (though there aren't many) fit on one screen. A few apps with Chinese characters in their names are off-screen.


The second launcher is much better known, so there's no point in showing it in detail. I'll just show the apps screen.


Of all the apps, the only one that's probably of interest is the well-known Kodi. The rest—file manager, calculator, maps, and so on—are unlikely to interest anyone.


There's also an unfamiliar app called Dev tools, but as far as I can tell, it's aimed more at specialists than ordinary users.


The first thing I noticed when I opened the Wi-Fi menu—which is the first menu you land in—was the large number of access points nearby.
I'm starting to think that Android devices generally have better connectivity than Windows devices. I don't know whether that's a coincidence or a pattern, but that's how it seems to be.


Connectivity is no problem at all with this box. The file manager immediately found my three computers that were online at the time, and I was able to access the shared folders without any trouble. Two computers were running XP and one was running Windows 7.


CPU-Z gave me the following information about the device.

And of course, the popular AnTuTu Benchmark test. Since I ended up running four tests instead of one, I'll put them under a spoiler as well.

Next up was supposed to be the AnTuTu Video test, but it froze right at the end, and I couldn't complete it, even though it had been running just fine until then. Unfortunately, I don't know what caused this.

So I moved on to the 3DMark tests.
S905 — 4,260 points; 812 chip — 8,053


PCMark scored 2,488 points
The S905 scored 3,232 points, while the 812 scored 8,053 points.


I could only run the Epic Citadel test at this resolution. No matter how I tried to update the software, the download process just went on forever, without even showing a progress bar, so I stopped it after half an hour.


Video of the test mentioned above, as well as the NenaMark test.
Since I don't have an HDMI capture card—at least not yet—please excuse the screen recording.


Toward the end of the tests, I checked whether FullHD video output was working correctly. There were no issues.


Of course, I also tried testing how this box handled video files, since this is one of the major differences between the new processor and even the new S905.
But when playing 4K video at a bitrate of 100 Mbps, I didn't encounter any problems at all, just as with the S905.
You can see some brief freezes in the video, but that's a problem with the video capture, not the box. They aren't there in reality.
Even after uploading the video, I deliberately played the file again. It stuttered in one spot, but everything after that played smoothly and looked great.
And the quality took a hit in the end, too. I originally recorded the clips in 1080p, then re-encoded them to 720p, and YouTube cut them down to 360p. What a bummer :(


I ran into some trouble playing H264 10-bit files.
I tried downloading several video files, but either I misunderstood the developers' claims or downloaded the wrong files. I was only able to get one video to play properly. In all the other cases, I got nothing but a black screen.
It didn't work with these trailers, one, two.
But it played this movie just fine.
I'd be glad to get examples of files to test the claimed h264 10-bit support.

Summary.
Pros
Stable operation.
Excellent WiFi connection quality
S/PDIF output.
Claimed HDMI 2.0 support (I can't verify this)
Claimed support for h.264 10-bit video decoding (not confirmed)

Cons
Support for h.264 10-bit video decoding remains questionable.
Few USB ports
2.4 GHz WiFi only.
Not very suitable for gaming.

My opinion. I'm not going to sing this TV box's praises, since there's not much to praise, but I don't particularly want to criticize it either, because it works pretty well. As I mentioned above, I was pleased with the WiFi quality, which I've had nothing but complaints about lately. There aren't many USB ports: I used a wireless keyboard and mouse (one port) and a flash drive (the second port), but I would have liked at least one more free port.
Build quality is good; everything is neat. The only crookedly soldered component is the IR receiver, but it looks like that was done on purpose. The accessories are, well, budget-friendly, but not excessively so.
It's a shame I couldn't figure out the h.264 10-bit decoding, since this feature should noticeably improve the quality of the displayed image.
This box is best thought of as a device for watching and reading—that is, watching movies and browsing the internet. You can play a few games, but only a few, since the 1 GB of RAM, Mali-400 graphics and rather weak processor will limit your choice of games. Demanding games will lag noticeably.
Unfortunately, the price of the box has gone up a little. Just yesterday it cost 29.68, and I hadn't finished writing the review in time.

That's about it. I'll be glad to hear your comments and questions. In particular, I'd be interested in suggestions for testing how it handles various video formats.

The product was provided by the store for review.