If you are looking for deals, when new products come to market, older devices are usually sold at a deep discount, and sometimes you also have the advantage of getting a firmware that has gone through various iterations, and that’s more stable than the ones pre-loaded on new devices. We’ve already seen MK813 quad core TV box selling for less than $50, but it lacks Ethernet, and today I’ve been informed of another Rockchip RK3188 device with similar specifications but with an Ethernet port called FVIEW U2 that’s currently selling for $53 on Buyincoins.
FVIEW U2:
- SoC – Rockchip RK3188 quad Cortex-A9 CPU @ 1.6 GHz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU
- System Memory – 2GB DDR3
- Storage – 8GB NAND Flash + SD slot (Up to 32GB)
- Connectivity
- 10/100M Ethernet
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n with external antenna
- Bluetooth 3.0
- Video Output – HDMI
- Audio Output – HDMI + optical S/PDIF
- Video Codecs (Decode) – MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 (up to 60 Mbps), AVS, VC-1, RV, VP6/VP8, Sorenson Spark, MVC @ 1080p60
- Video Codecs (Encode) – H.264, VP8, and MVC @ 1080p
- Audio Codecs – MP1, MP2, MP3,WMA,WAV,OGG,OGA,APE,FLAC,AAC,M4A,3GPP…etc
- Camera – 2MP camera
- USB – 3x USB host ports
- Misc – IR port, recovery button, power button
- Power – 5V/2A
- Dimensions – 13.60 x 13.60 x 2.4 cm
This Android 4.4 4.2 box is sold with an infrared remote control, a USB cable, a power adapter, and a user’s manual. So no HDMI cable based on the description, but according to a picture on Buyincoins, you’d get an HDMI cable, and no USB cable. I’ve been looking if the device was popular and had some supports on the Internet, but no luck, and I could not find the firmware either. Somebody provided a link to pictures of the board, which could could a clue to the hardware and alternative firmwares, but Google Drive asks for permissions, and I haven’t been able to access them yet. The company that made the box is called Shenzhen Firstview Electronics, but there’s nothing in their download section at all.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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Didn’t even realise it has a camera!
Seems like unless your focus is 3D graphics, at this price the RK3188 offers more processing power/$…?
@onebir
Cortex A9: 2.5 DMIPS/MHz, Cortex A12: 3 DMIPS/MHz, Cortex A17: Maybe 3.3 DMIPS/MHz.
So the processor will be faster too both thanks to the new A12 or A17 cores, and a faster frequency (1.4/1.6 vs 1.8), but you’re right with regards to GPU difference, as the gap between Mali-400 and Mali-T764 is much greater.
RK3288 also brings Gigabit Ethernet, that you can’t find on RK3188 boxes.
i just bought one hope its good
Rooting this device is clearly possible: http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?12997-FVIEW-U2-TV-BOX-Mini-PC-RK3188T-Quad-Core-root-Help.
I’m gonna order one too!
Trying to order one, but unable to pay with cred card as the alipay site times out..strange.
cnxsoft, do you think we should have an IRC chat channel for the users? Would be really nice 🙂
@fossxplorer
IRC channels are nice, but I would not really have time to maintain it.
But if somebody creates one, I’ll probably mention it in one of my posts, and on social networks.
I order one too. The CPU is RK3188T (up 1.4 Ghz) not RK3188 (up 1.8 Ghz).
@Manuel, oh i didn’t pay attention to that important details. Thx for pointing out.
Anyways, i was finally able to check out with my cred card 🙂
@cnxsoft, ok, i’ll see and let you know.
I just received my FView U2 and took it for a spin. Some things are nice, some aren’t, but in short you get what you pay for.
The unboxing experience was fitting with the price: the unit was wrapped in bubble wrap and tape. No box whatsoever. The unit rebooted several times when picking it up, so I had to resolder the DC power connector on the mainboard. After that no more reboots.
The box runs Android 4.2 (so no 4.4) with a custom launcher. XBMC, Play Store and a few racing games are supplied. Rooting the device is just a matter of placing Finless’ Neo X7 update.zip on an sd card and installing the update. However, no custom ROMs are available.
RAM does appear to be 2GB as advertised. micro SD slot is not micro, just ordinary SD. I haven’t been able to verify 1.6GHz but as noted by others the CPU maxes out at 1.4GHz.
i think the performance is really bad it very slow to navigate even the g-box mx2 seems twice as fast then this my one did not come with xbmc so i installed spmc from google play and th f/w is not rooted also the firmware on my box is android 4.1 not 4.4 or 4.2. when you guys say neo x7 update zip dose that mean i can install minix f/w
Have a look at this thread on Freaktab: http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?12997-FVIEW-U2-TV-BOX-Mini-PC-RK3188T-Quad-Core-root-Help
I don’t share your experience with slow navigation and such, but I must admit my previous experience is a Raspberry Pi running XBMC, which is quite slow to start with.
ok just an update guys and girls the finless neo x7 is a zip file that just root the device its not an actual F/W its just over 1Mb in size and the process is you need to put it on an sd card and plug sd into the box then stick a needle into reset or recovery hole and press power for a few seconds then you will see recovery menu there you will choose update zip from external sd then click on update.zip after a minute or so it will finish installing then just reboot the device.
and boy am i amazed how much difference it make to root the device even though it is an rk3188T it is very fast when navigating through menu’s within android or spmc i dont think i have ever seen xbmc work so well and network ohhhboy it is very fast i have 4 rk3288 and vega elite and this box feels much more faster then them.
http://www.freaktab.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7372&d=1407053889
thats the zip file you need extract it and put it on a sd card the file is called update.zip also a have no luck on finding stock or custom rom for this box.
@adem, thx a lot for sharing that file and info, i’ll try when i get mine!
Does XBMC video playbacks work smooth?
@fossxplorer
xbmc work very well. i also find spmc from play store works very well you can install them side by side
@adem, awesome. thx alot for the feedback!
It’s mullti-language ?
Tried Big Buck Bunny H.264 1080p, using different videoplayers it works well, buti n xbmc, it doesn’t.
I suspect XBMC not to use HW accel. Tried with XBMC Gotham and Kodi RC1.
there is no firmware update for this item i think its not going to happen just like my cs868
any updates on this device ???