Amlogic S905X powered TV boxes have now hit the market, and compared to existing Amlogic S905 devices add VP9, and provided your TV can handle it, HDR (High Dynamic Range) support. GearBest sent me one of the cheapest S905X TV Box with Mini M8S II, and in the first part of the review, I’ll take some picture of the device, and tear it down, while the second part will be posted later, and focus on testing the firmware.
MINI M8S II Unboxing
The package was slightly damaged, but nothing to bad. The top reads “Mini TV Box” with some icons describing the main feaures like 4K & H.265/HEVC support, WiFi, and so on.
I’ve recently realized that logos and trademarks may cause problems with customs in some countries, and the package does have several potentially problematic trademarks like HBO and Netflix, as well as logos for Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo…. In most cases, it should not be an issue, but it’s something to have in mind, especially if you order several in one order.
The TV box ships with a 5V/2A power supply, a HDMI cable, a user’s manual, and an IR remote control taking two AAA batteries.
The device is rather thin (1.75 cm), and one side features a microSD slot, and USB 2.0 port, while the rear panel comes with optical S/PDIF output, an Ethernet port, HDMI 2.0 output, another USB 2.0 port, and the DC jack.
You can watch the unboxing video if that’s your thing…
MINI M8S II Teardown
The two pieces of the case are held together with plastic clips, so you’ll need some sharp plastic tool to open the case.
The bottom of the board have two RAM chips, the recovery button (top right), and some silkscreen showing he name of the board: MINIM8S_II. Let’s loosen four screen to take out of the board.
Cooling is achieving with a metal plate connected to Amlogic S905X processor via a thermal pad.
If we check out the board a little closer, we can see Amlogic S905X processor, two more Samsung K4B4G1646E BCMA DDR3 SDRAM chips bringing the total to 2GB RAM, and an 8GB FORESEE NCEMASD9-08G eMMC flash. Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity is achieved through Ampak AP6212 module, and Ethernet connectivity using S905X’ built-in 10/100M PHY and an external H1601N magnetic transformer. The serial console can probably be accessed through the 4-pin found on the right of the micro SD card.
I did disconnect the WiFI antenna when trying to reassemble the device, so I’ll have some soldering to do…
I’d like to thank GearBest for providing MINI M8S II, and if you are interested, you could consider buying the device for $36.99 using GBM8SII coupon. Other shopping options include Banggood, Aliexpress, and Fasttech, but they are roughly $10 more expensive at this time.
Update: You can now check out Mini M8S II TV Box (Amlogic S905X) Review – Part 2: Android 6.0 Firmware.
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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