For nearly a year, we’ve been waiting for Android TV media players based on the latest AMLogic quad core Cortex A9 SoC, that’s been known as AML8726-M8, then M801/M802, and there’s AMLogic S802, which is the set-top box version of the SoC. M must probably stands for MID, and S for STB. Geniatech ATV1800 seems to never become available, and instead I’ve found out about two other Android TV boxes powered by S802 called Tronsmart Vega S89 and Eny ES8 that should sell very soon. The specs look great, but if you are into rather standard enclosures you may be disappointed…
Tronsmart Vega S89
The first one is Vega S89. It will be sold on Geekbuying, and has with the following specifications:
- SoC – AMLogic S802 quad core ARM Cortex A9r4 at 2.0GHz with ARM Mali-450MP6 GPU
- System Memory – 2G DDR3
- Storage – 16 GB NAND Flash + micro SD card slot up to 64GB
- Video Output – HDMI 1.4b up to 4K2K (2160p = 3840×2160), and AV
- Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
- USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports + micro USB OTG
- Audio Output – HDMI, AV, optical S/PDIF
- Misc – IR Sensor, Power LED, power button, and recovery/update switch (via hole)
This hockey puck media player will come with a 5V/2A power adapter, an HDMI cable, and USB cable, and a user’s manual. It will run Android 4.4 Kitkat with stock home screen, support OTA function, Miracast, and DLNA. If 4K support is important to you, please note that it’s using HDMI 1.4b which limits the frame rate to 30 fps in UHD resolution. You’d need HDMI 2.0 for 2160p60 support. Price and retail availability is unknown at this point, but Geekbuying will received samples some time next week. You can check Tronsmart Vega S89 page for more pictures.
Eny Technology ES8
ES8 media player has similar specifications:
- SoC – AMLogic S802 quad core ARM Cortex A9r4 @ 2.0GHz with ARM Mali-450MP6 GPU @ 600 MHz
- System Memory – 2GB DDR3 @ up to 1600 MHz
- Storage – 8GB / 16 GB NAND Flash + micro SD card slot up to 64GB
- Video Output – HDMI 1.4b up to 4K2K (2160p = 3840×2160), AV
- Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
- USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports
- Audio Output – HDMI, AV, optical S/PDIF
ES8 will be available with either 8 or 16 GB, and miss Bluetooth support and a micro USB port found in Tronsmart Vega S89. Price and availability are not available either. You can check Eny Technology ES8 page for a few more 3D renderings. The company sells the device on Alibaba.
The Antutu scores on an early sample of Geniatech ATV1800 was 25,000, and it goes up to over 30,000 on M802 based tablets such as Onda V975m. Rockchip RK3188 based devices only get around 18,000 in Antutu. The higher score is due to a new revision of Cortex A9 core (revision 4) that allows M802/S802 to reach 2 GHz, a much faster 6+2 core GPU, and more memory bandwidth. Another advantage with AMLogic SoCs is that XBMC support is likely to be better than for Rockchip or other silicon vendors’ ARM SoCs.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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