Zidoo have a history of releasing some pretty impressive Android TV boxes. Their latest Android TV box, the Zidoo M9, continues this tradition with a developer-focused twist.
Inside the Zidoo M9’s aluminium shell is a device designed for those who like to tinker with a whole range of additional inputs and outputs including dual PCIe interfaces, dual cameras and USB Type-C.
The whole device is powered by the powerful hexacore Rockchip RK3399 processor. It’s also equiped with 2GB/4GB of RAM, and 16/32GB of storage. There’s M.2 slots on board which can be used for a range of expansion cards including high speed wifi, Bluetooth or additional storage.
The box runs Android 7.1 with a open source SDK which should offer developers far more flexibility than other Android TV boxes allow.
Flexibility is the real unique aspect of the Zidoo M9 and where tinkerers will get their kicks. Zidoo have shown that the Android TV box can be expanded using various additional cards.
I found the PoE module interesting, allowing the entire box to be powered via Ethernet, making it an ideal candidate for simple digital signage applications.
Performance should be solid too. As I’ve found in reviews of other Rockchip RK3399 devices, the GPU performance should be respectable thanks to the ARM Mali-T860 GPU inside combined with a capable CPU.
Whilst this probably won’t be an Android TV box for most users (particurly due to its lack of intergrated wifi and Bluetooth), I’m definitely keen to see what creative users developers come up with.
Pricing and Availability
There’s no information around pricing or availability for the Zidoo M9 as yet.
For more information, check out Zidoo’s product page.
Michael is a technology expert with over 15 years of experience in IT, Home Theatre and Automation. Feel free to send Michael a message here.
