There are now several Android TV boxes powered by Amlogic S802 such as Tronsmart Vega S89, SZTomato/Eny M8, and Minix Neo X8, and Zoomtak T8 hardware specifications are quite similar to these three devices, except it happens to feature an internal 2.5″ SATA bay placed under the board, and the body is made of aluminum.
Zoomtak T8 specifications:
- SoC – Amlogic S802 quad core cortex A9r4 @ 2 GHz with Mali-450MP6 GPU
- System Memory – 1GB DDR3
- Storage – 8GB NAND flash + SD/MMC/MS card reader + 2.5″ SATA bay
- Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi with external antenna.
- Video Output – HDMI 1.4a, composite output, and component output
- Audio Output – HDMI, stereo RCA, and optical S/PDIF
- Video Container Formats – DAT, MPEG, MPE, MPG, TS/TP, VOB, ISO, AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, FLV, MKV, M2TS, MTS, M4V, WMV, ASF, RM/RMVB, etc…
- Audio Formats – MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, OGA, FLAC, ALAC, APE, AAC etc…
- USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports
- Misc – IR receiver, LED display on front panel, and power button.
- Power Supply – 5V/2A
The box is strangely said to run Android 4.2, instead of Android 4.4 for all other S802 devices, and comes with an HDMI cable, a user’s manual and an IR remote control. The case is made of aluminum available in black, gold, or silver. The downsides are that there’s only 1GB RAM, and Bluetooth is only supported with an external USB Bluetooth dongle. The specs only list PAL/NTSC to 1080p60 resolutions to be supported, no 4K, which seems odd as well. Having said that, the manufacturer’s product page as different hardware specs with 2GB RAM, built-in Bluetooth 4.0, 4K output, and Android 4.4 with XBMC pre-installed. For people who care about proper power handling, power on/off can be handled both by the remote control and the power button on the box, which should be mean an MCU is controlling the power.
Zoomtak T8 can be purchased for $79 + shipping (about $20) on Zoomtak Aliexpress store. With an Aluminum casing and a SATA bay it seems pretty inexpensive, so I’d assume the specs on Zoomtak Aliexpress might be correct, rather than the ones on their own website. AFAIK, S802 SoC does not features SATA, so it is most likely implemented via a USB 2.0 to SATA chip limiting throughput to 60MB/s in theory, but in practice it should be even lower. I’m also a little concerned about power dissipation seeing where the SATA is placed in the enclosure.
[Update: left comments on Google+ saying he has received the box, it comes with 2GB RAM, built-in Bluetooth, Android 4.4, and the hard drive he has inserted is working fine. Not bought from Aliexpress however.]
Via AndroidPC.es
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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