Most of currently announced Rockchip RK3288 based Android mini PCs comes in box form factor, rather than in HDMI stick form factor, but I’ve been informed that MK903V is one of the first HDMI stick based on the latest Rockchip quad core Cortex A17 SoC.
MK903V specifications:
- SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad core CortexA17 @ 1.8 GHz (likely 1.6 GHz or lower) + Mali-T764 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0, and OpenCL 1.1
- System Memory – 2GB DDR3
- Storage – 8GB NAND flash + micro SD card slot (up to 32 GB)
- Connectivity – dual band WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz) with external Wi-Fi antenna, and Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6330)
- Video Output – HDMI 2.0 output (male) up to 4k2k @ 60 fps
- USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 2x micro USB ports (1x OTG, 1x for power)
- Misc – Firmware update button (pinhole).
- Power Supply – 5V/2A
- Dimensions – N/A
This HDMI dongle runs Android 4.4.2 on top of Linux Kernel 3.10 as all other RK3288 devices. It is sold with an IR remote control, a 5V/2A power adapter, an HDMI cable, a USB cable, a Wi-Fi antenna, and a user’s manual. You can find it for $122 on Aliexpress including shipping. But before you rush to buy the device, understand that Rockchip RK3288 devices are still not really ready, more like beta devices, even Android TV boxes which are expected to come before HDMI sticks had to have their PCB re-laid out to fix some hardware bugs, and the firmware needs more work based on various reports.
[Update: Now available on DealExtreme and GeekBuying for about $100]
Thanks to Gabe for the tip.
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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HDMI 2.0 output (female)?
@Galll0s
Well spotted 🙂
Why are they still not producing TV dongles with ventilation. How hard is it to drill some holes? Sure you get a rk3288 device, but you won’t be able to get close to utilizing its full potential. These companies keep producing products with more and more powerful processors, but keep making smaller more enclosed boxes and dongles.
The heat will be A BIG PROBLEM for the RK3288 Dongles. be careful.
Charbax recently had a video on Sunchip’s RK3288 HDMI Stick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqdRSM2GXxY
Also, Uyesee’s EZCastV3 and Cast2Tv V2 are some interesting HDMI sticks that do pc desktop mirroring! Something that I’ve only seen on the crowdfunded Airtame.
http://www.uyesee.com/us/products/video.html
Too expensive for a dongle, can buy a RK3288 TV Box for $130.00 and it’s 16GB Nand.
http://www.nagrace.com/nagrace/en/products/detail/id/125.html
@nowandlayda
The lack of visible ventilation holes sure does not inspire confidence. The case is black and looks rather metallic … maybe it’s meant to serve as a heat radiator which could be helpful if the case had good thermal connection to the SoC.
I’ve never seen ventilation holes in a mobile phone or tablet so I presume they are engineered to transfer the intermittently generated heat into the main body of the device for dissipation. I certainly won’t buy another dongle form factor device unless I’m confident that its use cases will not include any sustained loads.
@ben
All EZCast dongles can do PC desktop mirroring.
I tried it with Tronsmart T1000, but it was not very smooth… Maybe because of my slow Windows XP netbook… http://www.cnx-software.com/2013/12/13/tronsmart-t1000-mirror2tv-review-with-android-and-windows-xp/
You guys are all stupid.Otherwise you might have pondered why your quad core or 8 core modern smart phones do not have ventilation holes that dissipate heat like old desktop PC’s?-answer is the mobile chip and microarchitecture produce much less heat require only passive cooling.Same is the case with these android sticks-remember this is only 4 cores,today we have smart phones and tablet pc’s with 8 cores and they donot have “holes” like the old PC’s(you forgot that old desktop PC’s suck in dust through these holes and freeze the system and every time you have to open the system unit and clean it).
So think twice before going ‘critical’,or else you will make yourself fools as you did now.
@Jason
If you had read the previous posts more carefully instead of rushing to make rude and insulting remarks, you might have noticed that my post on 19th August did, in fact, note that mobile phones and tablets are designed to operate without ventilation holes. Perhaps you are the one who should “think twice”.
Another RK3288 TV Dongle. ZERO Devices Z5C Thinko. https://twitter.com/ZeroDevices/status/510121545403215872/photo/1
Available in about 45 days. No price.
MK903V listed on GeekBuying for the same price – http://www.geekbuying.com/item/MK903V-RK3288-Quad-Core-1-8GHz-Android-4-4-Mini-TV-Box-Dongle-Stick-HDMI-HDD-Player-2G-8G-2-4G-5G-WIFI-Bluetooth-4-0—Black-332518.html
They’ve also released the firmware: http://blog.geekbuying.com/index.php/2014/09/24/stock-firmware-flash-method-for-rk3288-android-mini-pc-mk903v/
I have this device..you can see a review at freaktab
-cheers
@Mitchell
Is that your review? http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?18218-MK903V-ROM-OPTIONS&p=254565#post254565
I have three sticks now, although one of them is more like a very small TV box. I only tested Zero Devices Z5C for now. One of the things to check out for these small devices is temperature. Try to watch a full HD/UHD movie (~2 hours) and/or play 3D games for several minutes. My stick would reboot, as it got really hot (> 100 C using IR thermometer).
For stability these sticks should probably be clocked at 1.4 GHz max, but they still clocked them at 1.8 GHz, at least in the firmware I tested.
Netflix is not working on this device. I have tried with stock firmware and the latest firmware. has anyone seen issue with Netflix. Everything else works like youtube, instant video.
We have this in stock now at betteq.com but I recommend the HPH box – latest firmware very stable with full HDMI passthrough audio (DTS and Dolby Digital). We’ve tested it to play H.264 and H.265 smoothly at 4k resolution, 60 FPS over HDMI 2.0.
You will also find Bluray (50 MBs + bandwidth) movies are difficult to stream in some houses without Gigabit Ethernet on board like the full boxes.