I’ve had a chance to play with the Beelink i One, which features the quadcore Amlogic S812 and runs Android 4.4.2, . It is also one of the few Android devices that offers HDMI In.
Thanks to GearBest for providing me a sample for review. Click here for more information.
What Is It?
An Android mini PC powered by the Amlogic S812 chipset. Its quadcore CPU and octacore GPU offer good performance across both multimedia playback and gaming.
What’s in the box?
Inside the box, you get:
- 1x Beelink i One
- 1x HDMI cable
- 1x USB OTG cable
- 1x Power Adapter
- 1x Remote control
Beelink i One (i826) Unboxing and Demo
Beelink i One (i826) Technical Specificationss
- Operating System: Android 4.4.2
- Chipset: Amlogic S812
- CPU: Quad core ARM Cortex-A9r4, 2.0GHz
- GPU: ARM Mali-450MP6
- Memory: 2GB DDR3
- Internal Storage: 16GB eMMC + Micro SD card slot (up to 32GB)
- Connectivity: 10/100M Ethernet, dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
- Audio/Video Output: HDMI 1.4, SP-DIF
- Audio/Video Input: HDMI In (up to 1080p)
- Interfaces: 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x micro USB OTG
- Power Supply: DC 5V/2.5A
- Other: IR Sensor, Power button
- Dimensions: 11.9 x 11.9 x 2.3 cm
- Weight: 208g
Beelink i One Impressions
The Beelink i One follows the traditional Android mini PC design principles. It’s largely a black slab, with the bulk of the ports to the rear of the device. Thankfully, Beelink have opted for a matte finish to minimize fingerprints on the device.
You need to press the red power button to boot the device and the first boot presents you with a setup wizard, which is a nice touch. Booting was a little slow compared to other devices I have tested, taking approximately 40 seconds. However, resuming from standby is instantaneous, so I doubt this will be a significant issue to most.
Beelink have opted for a re-skin on the Mediabox launcher with a lighter color scheme which looks good. Navigating through the Android UI felt smooth, although there was a little bit of a delay bringing up the app menu.
Google Play is installed and, for those of you who like root, the Beelink i One is rooted out of the box.
EShare
EShare is Beelink’s application for sharing content between your phone/tablet and your Android Mini PC. I have to say that this application is impressive. Not only can you share media such as movies and music to the Beelink i One, but you can also use the application to act as a remote or air mouse, in addition to mirroring the mini PC’s screen on your phone and controlling it. This is incredibly powerful, as you can use the app to monitor your mini PC remotely.
Gaming Performance
It didn’t have any issues connecting up my iPega PG-9025 via Bluetooth and playing some games, which was excellent. Both Angry Birds and Beach Buggy Racing performed well. Angry Birds was ultra smooth and Beach Buggy Racing maintained a good framerate on maximum settings, with minor slowdown occurring when there was lots of action on the screen. To see it in action, check out the demo video above.
Multimedia
Kodi runs very smoothly and I had no issues playing a handful of common codecs, including 4K H.264.
For a more detailed view of how the Amlogic S812 chip performs, read our Rikomagic MK12 review in the meantime.
HDMI In
The Beelink i One’s big feature is the inclusion of HDMI In. This allows you to connect another device into the Beelink i One and display its video output. Unfortunately, the HDMI In feature is limited to Picture-in-Picture (PiP) only at this stage. However, Beelink are currently working on the HDMI recording functionality which should be available in a later firmware update. If you need to record from HDMI currently, you’d be better off with as the Zidoo X9, whose HDMI recording feature I use for my device demos.
Networking Performance
I had no issues streaming both 1080p and 4K videos from a server over Wifi so those looking for a wireless media player should be well looked after.
Beelink i One Power Consumption
| Powered Off | Standby | Idle | Load |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2W | 3.3 W | 5.0 W | 7.4 W |
Verdict So Far
The Beelink i One is definitely an interesting device so far. Its performance during my brief multimedia and gaming tests was respectable and the HDMI In works better than expected. It’s a shame that HDMI Recording wasn’t available at launch, but hopefully Beelink will release the update shortly.
Keep posted for our detailed review.
Getting One
If you’re interested in getting the Beelink i-One for yourself, click here to get one from GearBest.
Alternatively, the Beelink i One is available from Geekbuying.
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