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The DroidBOX T8-S Plus is an Android TV box powered by the Amlogic S812 and featuring 2GB of RAM, 32GB of onboard storage, wireless AC, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.0 and even a 2.5″ HDD slot.
However, the company adds a number of features on top of the hardware, including a number of pre-installed apps, Apple Airplay support, the DroidBOX Share streaming and support for OpenELEC that turns the unit into a pure Kodi appliance.
I want to say thanks to DroidBOX for sending me a sample to review. The company provided me their Gamer Edition bundle which comes with a 120GB SSD, the DroidBOX controller and VIP Plus airmouse.
Check Price at DroidBOXNow, you’re probably wondering why there’s been such a delay between my impressions article and my review. It turns out that the issue I experienced during my impressions article happened again and DroidBOX advised me that it was caused by a faulty SATA cable that affected a small number of their units. They sent me out an improved SATA cable which fixed the issue. I can’t fault DroidBOX’s customer service.
[aps_product_specs id=”6729″]
Inside the box, you get:
DroidBOX also offers a Gamers Edition, which bundles the DroidBOX T8-S Plus with a 120GB SSD, VIP Plus Airmouse Remote and DroidBOX Play gamepad which I’ll be reviewing separately.
The 120GB SSD in my unit was a Sandisk and DroidBOX have suggested they will be including branded SSDs in the bundle which is excellent.
The DroidBOX T8-S Plus feels well-made, with it’s metal case. The actual unit looks very similar to devices like the Zidoo X9 or HiMedia H8. The black matte design features chamfered silver edges that looks great.
The front of the unit houses an IR reciever, LED display and power button.
Ports are located on the right and rear of the unit. The right side houses a fullsize SD card slot, 3 USB 2.0 ports and a reset button.
The rear of the unit has the WiFi antenna, DC In, Ethernet, HDMI, Composite ports and optical audio. The company tell me that the composite ports are not supported however.
The 2.5″ hard drive tray is located underneath the unit and is secured with two screws, with the actual hard drive mounted to the removable plate with 4 screws.
The included remote is fairly comprehensive, with an impressive set of multimedia controls (including buttons for subtitles and audio amongst others) in addition to Android functions and a mouse mode.
The buttons are “clicky” so can be a little loud at times but overall I was pretty happy with the remote.
The unit is powered up via the power button. A cold boot takes around 40 seconds with a mouse and keyboard connected. Unfortunately, there’s no standby mode so you’ll need to keep the unit on powered on all the time if you want it to always be available. You can power up the unit using the included IR remote or the VIP Plus airmouse however.
The DroidBOX T8-S Plus comes with a TV friendly launcher that reminds me that’s similar to the one seen on Probox’s devices. It uses square tiles that act solely as app shortcuts. There’s also a “My Favourites” panel that allows you to save a list of your favourite apps. Swiping over to the right reveals another two pages that you can add your favorite apps into.
The DroidBOX T8-S Plus has a really cool feature that lets you use hard drives installed in the 2.5″ bay as internal storage. This means that you can install apps on it in addition to other multimedia. With games and apps growing in side, it’s great to be able to be able to add as much space as you need.
The Droidbox T8-S Plus comes with a number of pre-installed apps including FilmON Live TV, Skype, IPVanish and MX Player. Droidbox have also packaged their own apps including Control Centre (for getting help and fixing issues), Market (DroidBOX’s app store), DroidBOX Play Market (a dedicated store for games), DroidBOX Share for streaming media, DroidBOX Switch for switching to OpenELEC and their customised version of Kodi called DroidBOX Media Center.
That said, I feel that the launcher feels a little dated compared to some of those released by companies such as Zidoo and Himedia, with limited animations. Of course, it can always be changed in a future firmware update.
I really liked that DroidBOX have included a helper app that allows you to fix common issues automatically. It makes things so much easier to use.
There’s links to guides on their YouTube channel, scripts for fixing issues or backing up your device and links to Quicksupport which leverages TeamViewer to allow the DroidBOX team to offer remote assistance. It’s an impressive package and makes the DroidBOX the most user-friendly Android device I’ve reviewed.
OTA updates are supported, with the company regularly releasing firmware updates that fix bugs and add features. Since I’ve had the box, the company has already released at least two new firmware updates adding features and fixing bugs.
DroidBOX Share is DroidBOX’s sharing software that allows you to stream content to and from your smartphone to the DroidBOX.
After navigating to the IP address displayed, you can download the DroidBOX Share app (available for Android/iOS/Windows).
The app’s got a heap of functionality, including the ability to stream media to and from your smartphone, use your phone as a remote or airmouse. I found it worked well.
OpenELEC is also pre-installed. A quick click on the DroidBOX Switch app in Android automatically boots the box into OpenELEC. If you’ve used OpenELEC before you know what to expect: an appliance-like experience based around Kodi.
Everything worked perfectly in OpenELEC and it was a really pleasant experience.
DroidBOX have also customised OpenELEC, adding scripts to install DroidBOX Cloud to enhance the unit’s capabilities.
DroidBOX Media Center is based on Kodi 16.0, with a few company-specific tweaks such as inclusion of the DroidBOX Repository, and a rather unattractive wallpaper.
A quick multimedia test in DroidBOX Media Center was promising. 1080p24 H.264 and H.265 content played back fine. Automatic framerate switching also works after being enabled in Settings which is great, as few Android boxes actually support ot.
| Codec | DroidBOX Media Center | OpenELEC |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p 3D SBS H.264 | OK | OK |
| 1080p 3D ABL H.264 | OK | OK |
| 1080p24 H.264 | OK | OK |
| 1080p High Bitrate H.264 | OK | OK |
| 1080p60 H.264 | OK | OK |
| 720p50 H.264 | OK | OK |
| 1080i25 H.264 | OK | OK |
| 4K 30FPS H.264 | OK | OK |
| 4K 60FPS H.264 | Unwatchable – Audio Out of Sync with Video | Unwatchable – Audio Out of Sync with Video |
| 1080p24 HEVC | OK | OK |
| 4K 30FPS 8-bit HEVC | OK | OK |
| 4K 30FPS 10-bit HEVC | OK | OK |
| 1080p VP8 | OK | OK |
| 720p Hi10p | OK | OK |
| 1080p Hi10p | Unwatchable – Decoding Issues | Unwatchable – Decoding Issues |
| 1080p MPEG2 | OK | OK |
| 1080p VC1 | OK | OK |
| Unencrypted Bluray ISO (Sintel) | OK | OK |
Performance was identical whether I was running Android or OpenELEC, handling pretty much everything I threw at it.
Deinterlacing performance was good, without any obvious artifacting on interlaced samples.
Automatic framerate switching is supported inside Kodi once it’s enabled in Kodi’s settings.
23.976FPS content appeared to play back fine without any noticeable judder.
Dolby Digital 5.1 passthrough via HDMI worked fine.
Netflix works via the Netflix Android app, however, playback is limited to 480p like most Android boxes.
AirPlay worked perfectly on my iPhone 6 running iOS9. AirPlay Music, AirPlay Video and AirPlay Mirroring functioned as expected.
Miracast worked with my Samsung Galaxy S7 and I was able to mirror my screen onto the DroidBOX.
Google Cast also worked via YouTube, though other services such as Netflix aren’t supported.
Playing back movies from my 2.5″ USB-powered HDD and USB flash drive worked perfectly.
To test gaming performance, I installed 2 games,1 2D and 1 3D title:
The DroidBOX T8S-Plus’ Amlogic S812 has a fairly powerful GPU so gaming performance was solid as expected.
Jetpack Joyride was silky smooth whilst Beach Buggy Racing was great on maximum settings. Even titles such as GTA San Andreas ran well when maxed out.
I did get a some slowdown when maxing out Riptide GP2 however, but this was occasional and the game remained very playable.
I didn’t have any issues hooking up my DroidBOX Play gamepad via Bluetooth to play the various games I tested. My Gamesir G3 also worked via Bluetooth.
Sixaxis Compatibility Checker reported the DroidBOX T8-S Plus as compatible too.
Networking performance was tested using Wifi performance was tested using Wifi Speed Test, conducting 3 tests and averaging the results. My router is approximately 5m away, with a single wall between the router and the device. WiFi performance is heavily impacted by a number of factors so your performance may vary.
Wireless performance was respectable on the DroidBOX T8-S Plus, with upload and download speeds of 44.5Mbps and 43.2Mbps respectively on the 2.4GHz band and 65.7Mbps and 82.7Mbps on the 5Ghz band.
Wireless streaming was also good, streaming my 1080p and 4K H.264 samples from my NFS share without any noticeable buffering.
Ethernet performance was average, not reaching half of the Gigabit standard. Upload and download speeds were 445.4Mbps and 418.3Mbps respectively.
| Benchmark | Score |
| Antutu 6.0.1 | 41224 |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited | 7584 |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme | 6011 |
| GeekBench 3 Single Core | 554 |
| GeekBench 3 Multi Core | 1407 |
| OS | Off | Standby | Idle | 1080p24 Video | Under Load |
| Android | 0.4W | N/A | 5.4W | 6.7W | 11.9W |
| OpenELEC | 0.4W | N/A | 5.4W | 6.2W | 6.7W |
The DroidBOX T8S-Plus is well-built and thought out device. DroidBOX have created a device that performs well and the company really added to the hardware. Their value added software is great, particularly the helper app which is perfect for those not familiar with the inner workings of Android. It really is the most user friendly Android box I’ve used to date.
It’s not perfect but it’s a solid package. Add in the regular firmware updates, the ability to expand your storage via an SDD plus the other inclusions make the DroidBOX T8-S Plus a winner.
You can purchase the DroidBOX from the company directly or via Amazon.
If you’re wanting an all-in-one solution, I’d fork out for the Gamer’s Edition which packages the DroidBOX T8-S Plus with a 120GB SSD, DroidBOX Play gamepad and the DroidBOX VIP Plus Mini Keyboard which is great value for the extra cash.
Check Price at DroidBOX
The Himedia Q10 Pro is the company’s latest Android TV box and one of the few Android boxes using the quadcore Hisilicon Hi3798C V200 SoC. With a 3.5″ HDD bay, touch-enabled control panel and a premium pricetag, is Himedia’s latest device a winner? Read our Himedia Q10 Pro review to find out.
I want to say thanks to Himedia for sending me a sample to review. You can pick up the Himedia Q10 Pro from Amazon and GeekBuying.
Please note: HiMedia have released firmware 2.0.6 for the HiMedia Q10 Pro that supports 4K UHD Blu-ray navigation on Android 7.0.
Check Price at Amazon[aps_product_specs id=”6366″]
Inside the box, you’ll get:
The Himedia Q10 Pro is a seriously huge device size. Coming in at a beastly 226x180x50mm, it’s around the same size as a Playstation 4.
However, it’s massive frame is put to good use. The front panel features a large LED display, a set of touch controls and the power button.
The right side has a lock that slides to open top of the unit, exposing the 3.5″ internal SATA bay.
Jumping over to the left, you’ve got a USB 3.0 port, 2 USB 2.0 ports and an SD card slot.
The remote that comes with the Himedia Q10 Pro is pretty much identical to the one that shipped with the Himedia H8. Thankfully, it’s pretty nice including the key Android functions, dedicated media controls and even buttons that can be learned from other controls so you can control or amp from the one remote. It’s a nice touch. The keys themselves are reasonably quiet too.
Booting up the unit takes around 25 seconds with a keyboard and mouse connected. Standby unfortunately doesn’t seem to be supported so you’ll have to leave it idle or power it up every time. It can be powered up via the remote however.
The Android launcher is a modernized version of the one seen on the Himedia H8, keeping the same bright multicolored tiles and comprehensive skinning whilst using a flatter, Material-inspired design.
There’s a few preinstalled apps, including Facebook, Skype, Kodi 15.2 and Happy Cast for AirPlay support. Google Play works as expected but the box isn’t rooted.
You can also use the device as a fileserver using the built-in Samba server which is great, particularly given that you can chuck in a massive harddrive and get the unit to double up as a fileserver.
Interestingly, the unit has two 12GB partitions: One with 11.46GB/12.12GB free and the other with 11.36GB/12.02GB free.
The Himedia Q10 Pro is also comes with OTA update support. I wasn’t able to test it out however, as I already had the latest firmware pre-installed. The company does have a reputation of releasing firmware updates to fix issues however.
Android performance was good without any noticeable lag, whether it’s navigating Kodi, launching apps or just using Android itself. The firmware itself feels pretty stable and the only crashes I experienced were with 3DMark (which has been giving me grief on a few boxes).
The included version of Kodi was out of date so I installed the latest version from the Google Play store to complete my tests (Kodi 16.1 at the time of writing) and used the Himedia Wrapper to enable automatic framerate switching.
| Codec | Video Performance (Kodi 16.1) |
|---|---|
| 1080p 3D SBS H.264 | OK |
| 1080p 3D ABL H.264 | OK |
| 1080p24 H.264 | OK |
| 1080p High Bitrate H.264 | OK |
| 1080p60 H.264 | OK |
| 720p50 H.264 | OK |
| 1080i25 H.264 | OK |
| 4K 30FPS H.264 | OK |
| 4K 60FPS H.264 | Unwatchable – Audio Out of Sync with Video |
| 1080p24 HEVC | OK |
| 4K 30FPS 8-bit HEVC | OK |
| 4K 30FPS 10-bit HEVC | OK |
| 1080p VP8 | OK |
| 720p Hi10p | OK |
| 1080p Hi10p | Unwatchable – Decoding Issues |
| 1080p MPEG2 | OK |
| 1080p VC1 | OK |
| Unencrypted Bluray ISO (Sintel) | OK |
Deinterlacing performance was good, without any obvious artifacting on interlaced samples.
Automatic framerate switching is supported but to get it working in Kodi, you’ll need to get it to use Himedia’s internal player as it doesn’t work using Kodi’s native player. The Himedia Wrapper APK will do the config for you and then you just have to enable it under Playback settings.
23.976FPS content appeared to play back fine, without any obvious stuttering. However, I’ve heard reports of occasional stutters on long videos.
Please note: HiMedia have released firmware 2.0.6 for the HiMedia Q10 Pro that supports 4K UHD Blu-ray navigation on Android 7.0.
Dolby Digital 5.1 passthrough via HDMI worked fine via Kodi 16.1
Netflix works via the Netflix Android app, however, playback is limited to 480p like most Android boxes.
Using the included Happy Cast app, AirPlay worked intermittently for audio and video. AirPlay Mirroring wouldn’t function at all. However, a future app update will likely fix this issue.
Alternatively, you could pick up AirPlay/DLNA Receiver (PRO) from the Google Play Store.
Miracast worked perfectly using my Samsung Galaxy S7.
Playing back movies from my 2.5″ USB-powered HDD and USB flash drive worked perfectly.
To test gaming performance, I installed 2 games,1 2D and 1 3D title:
The Hisilicon Hi3798C V200’s Mali-T720 GPU so I expected decent gaming performance and the Himedia Q10 Pro performed well. Beach Buggy Racing played back perfectly at maximum settings whilst maintaining a fairly solid 30fps.
I didn’t have any issues hooking up my GameSir G3 via Bluetooth and use it to play Beach Buggy Racing.
As the box isn’t rooted, I wasn’t able to run SixAxis Compatibility Checker.
Networking performance was tested using Wifi performance was tested using Wifi Speed Test, conducting 3 tests and averaging the results. My router is approximately 5m away, with a single wall between the router and the device. WiFi performance is heavily impacted by a number of factors so your performance may vary.
Wireless performance was fantastic on the Himedia Q10 Pro, with upload and download speeds of 44.0Mbps and 36.6Mbps respectively on the 2.4GHz band and 115.3Mbps and 135.2Mbps on the 5Ghz band.
4K H.264 streamed fine wirelessly from an NFS share on my server.
Ethernet performance was decent, with upload and download speeds of 595.8Mbps and 644.4Mbps respectively.
| Benchmark | Score |
| Antutu 6.0 | 37326 |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited | Crashed Before Benchmark Selection Screen |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme | Crashed Before Benchmark Selection Screen |
| GeekBench 3 Single Core | 687 |
| GeekBench 3 Multi Core | 2187 |
I wasnt able to complete the 3DMark benchmarks as the app kept crashing whenever I tried to swipe to the other benchmarks. This isn’t the first box that I’ve seen this happen on so I suspect the issue is with the 3DMark app rather than the Q10 Pro.
| Off | Standby | Idle | 1080p24 Video | Under Load |
| 0.8W | N/A | 5.0W | 6.8W | 8W |
The Himedia Q10 is an excellent Android TV box. Although the pricetag may be a little high for some, it’s exceptional performance and features make this a solid choice for those wanting a good all-round Android box that offers top image quality and respectable gaming grunt.
The Himedia Q10 Pro is available from the following stores:
Check Price at Amazon
The MXQ 4K is an Android TV box powered by the new Rockchip RK3229 SoC. It also features 1GB of DDR3 RAM, 8GB of NAND … Read more
