#s922-xj

[dropswisdom]

Ugoos Am6 Plus is Ugoos’ newest Android TV box, and I can honestly say, it’s not only their best box yet, but one of the best boxes I ever reviewed so far!

Thanks goes to James from Ugoos for providing the Review sample.

    What’s in the Box?



AM6 Plus arrived in a simply designed square cardboard box, in white and green. Inside I found, aside for the AM6 Plus itself and its two antennas, a quite standard affair of: Infrared remote control, HDMI 2.1 cable, a 12v power adapter and a UK adapter plug, as well as a small user manual. No OTG cable is included, but considering the power-box this model is, I cannot complain.

  AM6 Plus Looks

AM6 Plus is a black metallic square box, not dissimilar to other boxes from other manufacturers.. but.. for one, it is made of metal. Blacked out aluminium shell to be exact with plenty of venting holes and slots. The power led is actually on the top of the box, inside the first “o” of Ugoos manufacturer’s logo. The box also comes with a dual antenna setup which may be responsible for the very good WiFi performance measured. The rest are quite standard – multiple ports and slots arranged around the box’s periphery, with one port which I miss – a USB-C port. There are USB 2.0 ports, and a single USB 3.0 port, but not USB-C port.

AM6 Plus – Top

AM6 Plus – Bottom

AM6 Plus – Left

AM6 Plus – Right

AM6 Plus – Back

AM6 Plus – Front

Here are the items that come in the box: AM6 Plus, Two antennas, Infrared remote control, HDMI 2.1 cable, a 12v power adapter and a UK adapter plug, as well as a small user manual.

AM6 Plus Specifications

Chipset Amlogic S922XJ with 12nm，Quad core ARM Cortex-A73 and dual-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU GPU ARM Mali TM-G52 MP6(6ppc) Memory / Storage LPDDR4 4GB / 32GB (EMMC) LAN 1*RJ45 1000M (1000M Ethernet Integrated IEEE 802.3 10/100/1000M Ethernet MAC with RGMII interface) Wireless 2.4G+5G The wireless module complies with IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO standard and it can achieve up to a speed of 867Mbps with dual stream in 802.11n to connect the wireless LAN (WiFi Module: AmPak 6398S) Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.0 with LE technology OS Android 9.0 Pie Video Output HDMI (2.1 and 2.0) to support maximum 4K@60fps output(HDCP2.2) Audio Output / Input Supports MP3, AAC, WMA, RM, FLAC, Ogg and programmable with 7.1/5.1 down-mixing I2S audio interface supporting 2-channel input and 8-channel (7.1) output Built-in serial digital audio SPDIF/IEC958 output and PCM input/output Built-in stereo audio DAC, Stereo digital microphone PDM input Support concurrent dual audio stereo channel output with combination of analog+PCM or I2S+PCM Power DC 12V/2A Peripheral Interface 1 * HDMI 2.1, 1 * USB 3.0 Fast Speed, 3 * USB 2.0 Host, 1 * SPDIF, 1 * DC Jack, 1 * TF Card (MicroSD), up to 32GB (SD 2.X, SD 3.X, SD 4.X, eMMC ver 5.0), 1 * 3.5mm Stereo input/output Packing Included IR Remote controller, Dimensions 117mm * 117mm * 18.5mm, 300 grams

  AM6 Plus Benchmarks and Testing

All completed benchmarks have been repeated 3 times and results have been averaged to give a more accurate reading:

Antutu Benchmark

The Antutu benchmark tests single core performance over multi-core as it is a better indication of the performance of one device over others in most situations. Ugoos AM6 Plus jumps the queue and takes first place! above any other device I’ve tested so far.

Bellow is a screenshot of the latest Antutu benchmark (I have not tested other boxes with this new version, so there is no comparison graph as yet):

    GPU Mark Benchmark

Average & Screen Normalized Score

Average frames per second

GPU Mark tests 3d gaming performance and also provides a normalized score according to the used screen resolution (for a more accurate result). The test is quite short and should be taken as a supporting result to that of the more serious 3D Mark benchmark. Ugoos AM6 Plus reached 3rd place in average frames per second, and only 5th place in the average and screen normalized score. However, the seemingly low placement may be deceiving as it’s not far off from it’s competitors, and the one that tops the chart is a tablet that contains a much more powerful GPU.

    A1 SD Benchmark

Internal/External Storage Speed

RAM Copy Speed

A1 SD Benchmark tests RAM and flash memory speeds. As can be seen in the provided graphs, RAM is much faster (by a factor of about 40) than flash memory – that is why it’s in smaller amount and is also volatile (does not keep its contents after a reboot). Ugoos AM6 Plus shows its muscles as its DDR4 speedy RAM wins it second place in RAM copy speed test, and its updated eMMC storage flash places it in third place in Internal/External storage speed tests.

    PC Mark Benchmark

AM6 Plus wins first place in this extensive suite of productivity tests which is designed to show a more balanced picture of an android device’s ability to perform various tasks such as spreadsheet calculations, photo editing, complex web page browsing and more.

  3D Mark Benchmark

3D Mark benchmark is considered as one of the best ways to test 3d performance on Android (and other platforms). Ugoos AM6 Plus takes second place, right after the aforementioned tablet.

    AM6 Plus Extra Benchmarks

For some more information, see the following screenshots from other benchmarks such as AndroBench, Mobile GPU Benchmark, Vellamo, Passmark, and SD Card Test Pro:

AndroBench

  Mobile GPU Benchmark

  Vellamo

  Passmark

  SD Card Test Pro

  AM6 Plus Bugs and Issues

AM6 Plus refuses ADB connect requests, thus making use of SCRCPY remote control program not possible. For SCRCPY to work, wifi debugging need to be enabled under debug settings, developer options need to be enabled and USB Debugging needs to be on, and then adb kill-server command followed by adb shell command ran from the PC. Then a prompt will appear to authorize the RSA key for the connecting PC, and after that, SCRCPY will work.

Built in Samba file server only supports SMB v1, which means Windows 10 owners are unable to access the AM6 Plus files over the LAN. However, the built-in Samba client supports upto and including v3 – so there is no issue for the AM6 Plus to read files from any Samba share on a local network.

The IR remote that comes with the AM6 Plus is less than ideal. It’s very directional and keys are not sensitive.

8k video works somewhat, but I think software optimization can improve on it and give this box a much longer shelf life.

Angry Birds 2 no-click-possible-for-next-level bug is present and accounted for.

  AM6 Plus Root function

AM6 Plus come with a built-in root function which works like a charm. All you need to do is go to the settings, locate it under Uggos settings section, and turn it on or off as needed. It will keep after reboot, till you decide to turn it off. The power and decision are all yours!

    AM6 Plus Video Playback testing (Using KODI)

Resolution Video Format Local Playback Network (Wi-Fi) Playback 720p (1280*720) AVC (High@L4.1) Plays Okay Plays Okay 1080P (1920*1080) AVC (High@L4) Plays Okay Plays Okay  2160P (3840*2160) HEVC (H.265) Plays Okay Plays Okay 4K (4096*2304) AVC (High@L5.1) Plays Okay Plays Okay 4K HDR HEVC Main 10@L5@High HDR10 Plays Okay Some buffering 4K TS HEVC HEVC (H.265) 10Bit Plays Okay Mixed experience

The box does perform well in day to day situations (most videos played are 1080p or standard 4k), however, it seems that network optimization needs some work as even with the good speedtest results, buffering of heavy video files was observed. Still, the playback results are quite good in general.

AM6 Plus showed excellent picture quality, and also surprised with partial support for 8K video. This chipset does not officially support 8k, but with the new crop of 8k supporting AV receivers (for now, Denon already declared it) coming later this year, I have tested a few 8k video files. As can be seen in the above table, all of them actually played, with mixed results. For me it means that this box is capable of playing 8k, even though it would be limited up-to 30 frames per second. With some software optimization, it can even be a smooth experience.

  AM6 Plus was also tested with HDR content as it becomes more and more common in today’s TV and projector sets. HDR contains more information and is definitely heavier than standard 4k content. As such I did notice a bit of buffering with it – when played over wireless LAN. Again, an issue that may be solvable with some updates.

  AM6 Plus Network performance

I tested the network performance using the popular Speedtest.net application from the play store. I tested both WiFi (the fastest WiFi supported – in this case 5GHz 802.11ac), and wired connection (in my case AV1200 Ethernet over power line). My home connection is a symmetric 500 Mb Fiber connection so it would not limit the testing (but the Ethernet over power line connection does) – Ugoos AM6 Plus performed above average with high ranking results for 5GHz WiFi network, and much lower results with my powerline adapter wired connection:

Speed Test – WiFi

  Speedtest Wired

    AM6 Plus Gaming performance

Ugoos AM6 Plus performed smoothly as expected in the gaming tests. It’s graphic chip can handle most games without an issue. However, control may be an issue, unless you splurge for a game pad or other more gaming friendly remote.

Asphalt 8 Airborne – a 3d graphic intensive racing game. AM6 Plus Loads and runs it smoothly, Using the included standard IR remote I could steer, but could not use Nitro..

Angry Birds 2 – a popular 2d action game. AM6 Plus run it smoothly and loaded the stages fast, but had this bug I noticed in other TV boxes, where at one point you could not click on an icon to continue to the next level and so you get stuck.

Walking War Robots – an online robot warfare game that requires a game-pad (I don’t have a game-pad). AM6 Plus runs it well, as long as you have a gamepad or a air mouse. Otherwise, control is only partial and you cannot complete a battle.

    AM6 Plus Conclusions

Did I like it? Yes. It is not a perfect box, and the lack of v2/v3 samba server support is very disturbing, but it is a very stable, and a super fast TV Box.

Would I recommend it? Yes. It is a serious contender in the top android TV box market. Good quality build, lots of ventilation, a little pricey but you can see what you are paying for.

You like it! Where can you buy it? There are few options to buy the Ugoos AM6 Plus:

159 USD (before any coupon discount, currently at 10%): UGOOS AM6 PLUS Amlogic S922X-J 2.2GHz 4GB DDR4 32GB ROM Smart Android 9.0 TV Box 2.4G 5G WiFi 1000M Bluetooth 4K HD Media Player

Some cheaper options are out there, but this is the higher spec version with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of built in storage.

Same price can be found here (no coupons available on page though): UGOOS AM6 Plus Amlogic S922XJ 4GB/32GB Android 9.0 4K TV BOX Wake Up on LAN with 2.4G+5G MIMO WIFI 1000M LAN Bluetooth 5.0 HDMI 2.1 USB 3.0 – Black

Other places I checked are: Amazon (no availability or price), eBay (significantly higher pricing), or other Chinese stores which either offer a higher price or different models such as the AM6 Pro.

Review | Ugoos AM6 Plus Amlogic S922XJ TV Box Ugoos Am6 Plus is Ugoos' newest Android TV box, and I can honestly say, it's not only their best box yet, but one of the best boxes I ever reviewed so far!

[couponoffercode]

MINIX NEO U22-XJ TV Box for $169.99

MINIX NEO U22-XJ TV Box for $169.99

MINIX NEO U22-XJ Amlogic S922-XJ 4GB DDR4 32GB eMMC Android 9.0 4K HDR TV Box Dolby Audio MIMO 2.4G+5G WIFI Bluetooth Gigabit LAN HDMI 2.1 USB 3.0*3 USB-C – Black disc 6%

[dropswisdom]

Minix Neo U22-XJ is Minix’s latest (and blazing fast!) Amlogic based Android TV Box! Based on Amlogic’s most powerful S922-XJ SoC, you can now expect great HDR support as well as Dolby Vision straight out of the box.

  What’s in the Box?



U22-XJ comes in the standard classy box embossed with the logos of supported standards such as 4k, HDR, Dolby and so on. Inside we find the TV Box itself encased in soft nylon and laid in a caveat inside a cardboard cover. After we lift that cover we find all the peripherals – HDMI 2.1 cable, USB-OTG cable and, of course, the DC power adapter (with multiple power plug adapters), removable antenna, IR remote control and the Setup guide. U22-XJ itself uses the standard black minix matte plastic box with its plethora of ports (see details bellow)

  U22-XJ Looks

Minix box design remains the same over the years. If I had to venture a guess, it is to reduce cost and use the same basic box design for all of Minix’s Android/Windows product lines. At most, extra ports need to be embedded into the box, but the classic black plastic shell is the same.

U22 Top

U22 Front

U22 Back

U22 Right

U22 Bottom

U22 Left

U22-XJ PCB Top without heatsink. Curtesy of Minix & Trebor from Freaktab Forum

U22-XJ PCB Bottom. Curtesy of Minix & Trebor from Freaktab Forum

U22-XJ Open Box showing PCB with heatsink. Curtesy of Minix & Trebor from Freaktab Forum

Here are the items that come in the box: WiFi antenna, HDMI 2.1 cable, User Guide, IR Remote, Power adapter, Power plug adapters, and a USB-OTG cable.

Minix Neo U22-XJ Items

Minix Neo U22-XJ Home Screen

  U22-XJ Specifications

Chipset Amlogic S922XJ Quad Core Cortex-A73 + Dual Core Cortex A53 Processor (64-bit) GPU Mali-G52 MP4 Memory / Storage 4 GB (LPDDR4 3200 MHz) / 32GB eMMC 5.1 flash, microSD card slot LAN Yes, RJ-45, 1Gbit / s Wireless 802.11ac 2.4GHz / 5GHz WiFi (2 × 2 MIMO) Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.1 + EDR OS Android 9.0 Pie Video Output HDMI 2.1 output up to 4Kp60 with HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision support Audio Output / Input HDMI 2.1, Optical S/PDIF, 3.5mm audio jack Power 5VDC/3A via power jack Peripheral Interface RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet Micro SD card reader, Kensington Lock ready USB 3.0 port x 3, USB-C port x 1 (data only) 3.5mm audio jack, IR receiver (remote included) Packing Included power adapter, OTG-USB Cable, HDMI Cable, MINIX IR remote control, and a user manual Dimensions 128mm x 128mm x 28 mm

  U22-XJ Benchmarks and Testing

All benchmarks have been repeated 3 times and results have been averaged to give a more accurate reading:

Antutu Benchmark

The Antutu benchmark tests single core performance over multi-core as it is a better indication of the performance of one device over others in most situations. Minix U22-XJ performs amazingly, and is placed number 1 in the list of TV boxes (and one tablet) reviewed. It is also worth noting that Minix U22-XJ is placed above any other Amlogic based box on the list.

Bellow is a screenshot of the latest Antutu benchmark (I have not tested other boxes with this new version, so there is no comparison graph as yet):

    GPU Mark Benchmark

[easy-image-collage id=28444]

GPU Mark tests 3d gaming performance and also provides a normalized score according to the used screen resolution (for a more accurate result). The test is quite short and should be taken as a supporting result to that of the more serious 3D Mark benchmark. Minix U22-XJ performs very well here, placing it second only to the top contender (a powerful tablet) – it’s S922-XJ chipset placing it higher than all TV Boxes reviewed so far.

    A1 SD Benchmark

[easy-image-collage id=28447]

A1 SD Benchmark tests RAM and flash memory speeds. As can be seen in the provided graphs, RAM is much faster (by a factor of about 40) than flash memory – that is why it’s in smaller amount and is also volatile (does not keep its contents after a reboot). Minix U22-XJ achieved 2th place in the RAM Copy Speed test, placing it only under the powerful tablet. In the storage Read/Write testing, Minix U22-XJ takes 2nd place again, this time only behind a Realtek based box.

    PC Mark Benchmark

The PC Mark benchmark tests run several productivity tests, but sadly, results page comes up empty, and freezes the application.

  3D Mark Benchmark

Slingshot

Slingshot Extreme

3D Mark benchmark is considered as one of the best ways to test 3d performance on Android (and other platforms). Minix U22-XJ is officially compatible with only these two tests: Slingshot, and Slingshot Extreme (which results are also showing above). But using an older APK of 3dmark, I was able to run the older “Ice Storm Unlimited” test and get quantifiable results (with the new version on the android play store, you can run the test, but the result comes out as “Max”). As can be seen, this new generation of Amlogic chipsets opens a wide gap ahead of everything I tested before it..

    U22-XJ Extra Benchmarks

For some more information, see the following screenshots from other benchmarks such as Basemark, Vellamo, Passmark, and GFXBench:

CPUMark

DiskMark

PassMark

    U22-XJ Bugs and Issues

Restarting the box causes loss of picture on screen. Must unplug and re-plug HDMI cable to restore.

PCMark Work 2.0 benchmark will not show results at end of testing

After shutting down box from remote, sometimes unable to turn it back on from remote, and must use the physical power button. Then must unplug and re-plug HDMI cable to restore picture as in issue above

Built-in Root function only works per session (while the device is running, and reverts to non-root after a restart). Also does not play well with SuperSU root permission management app, as when you try to update the SU binary, it will brick the U22-XJ box. Also, the root switch stay “ON” after a restart, even though root functionality is not active.

John from Minix assures me that at least some of these aforementioned issues (especially the loss of picture) will be corrected in upcoming firmware updates.

  U22-XJ Root function

Minix seems to have done away with the unofficial (which requires some know-how and may cause box bricking) methods for rooting their new boxes. Instead, you get a nice menu option for turning Root “ON” or “OFF”.

But.. it is far from perfect. Instead of turning it on and expecting it to stay on after reboot, this root is only per session. Meaning, after reboot the U22-XJ is no longer rooted. On top of that, the switch option itself still remains as “ON”, even though the root is not active. To allow root status again, you’ll need to turn it “OFF”, and then back “ON”. That’s tedious, and really unnecessary.

On top of that, this is a permission-less root. So there is no “SuperSU” or other permission management app which gets installed along with the root. It will automatically grant your application root rights as needed. Personally, I prefer to have better control of which applications gets root access and which do not. You can always install SuperSU yourself, but be warned: if you agree to update the SU binary – which the application will automatically offer you to do, the U22 will be soft bricked upon reboot, and will require a firmware flash using a cable and a PC. Learned that the hard way.

    U22-XJ Video Playback testing (Using KODI)

Resolution Video Format Local Playback Network (Wi-Fi) Playback 720p (1280*720) AVC (High@L4.1) Plays OK Plays OK 1080P (1920*1080) AVC (High@L4) Plays OK Plays OK  2160P (3840*2160) HEVC (H.265) Plays OK Plays OK 4K (4096*2304) AVC (High@L5.1) Plays OK Plays OK 4K HDR HEVC Main 10@L5@High HDR10 Plays OK Some buffering 4K TS HEVC HEVC (H.265) 10Bit Plays OK Plays OK

Kodi 18.6 arrives pre-installed on the U22-XJ. Video performance is very good, although local network streaming was less than perfect (especially with 4k HDR content) even though the WiFi performance measured very well outside of Kodi.

* 8k video is not really usable in kodi, but I have found that these samples DID play locally (with some stutter and a bit of buffering) on MX Player Pro

Kodi add-ons tested quite well. IPTV streamed without issues. Also, this box contains a SDR to HDR and HDR to SDR capabilities. It makes the picture pop. Some would like it and some would not, but you can always turn that feature off.

Antutu Video Testing got mixed results: U22-XJ played all the videos in the test, aside for FLV and RMVB formats which failed. Video playback was pretty flawless in general.

  U22-XJ Network performance

I tested the network performance using the popular Speedtest.net application from the play store. I tested both WiFi (the fastest WiFi supported – in this case 5GHz 802.11ac), and wired connection (in my case AV1200 Ethernet over power line). My home connection is a symmetric 500 Mb Fiber connection so it would not limit the testing (but the Ethernet over power line connection does) – Minix U22-XJ shows the strength of its MIMO antennas in the excellent WiFi performance, but less so with the LAN over Power-line connection:

WiFi 5Ghz

  Wired, over power lines

According to the Speed test, the network connection performed amazingly on WiFi 5 GHz (probably due to the MiMo and hardware), but not so great on the wired connection. Since the wired connection is over powerline adapters, inferior speeds are to be expected.

  U22-XJ Gaming performance

U22-XJ is definitely suited for smooth gaming – as long as you have a proper controller with which to play:

Asphalt 8 Airborne – a 3d graphic intensive racing game. Loads and runs smoothly, Using the included standard IR remote I could steer, but could not use Nitro..

Angry Birds 2 – a popular 2d action game. U22-XJ loaded the game fast and run smooth as butter – using an air mouse (not included). There is an issue where you cannot move from one stop to the next due to inability to click on an icon (clicking does nothing – also tried with a mouse), but that seems to be due to a game bug with this and some of the other TV boxes I tested.

Walking War Robots – an online robot warfare game that requires a game-pad (I don’t have a game-pad). U22-XJ loaded the game fast, and it run smoothly without issues. But full control was only possible via an air mouse with built in keyboard. otherwise, could only look around, but could not shoot or move with the standard IR remote.

    U22-XJ Conclusions

Did I like it? Yes, it is another quality power performer from Minix.

Would I recommend it? Yes, even though there area few issues, they do not affect the stability or the performance of the box in general. (8k is not currently common, a requirement or officially available on this chipset, so it cannot be counted)

You like it! Where can you buy it? It’s not a cheap box, but starting at about 170 USD for the basic package, you can find it here: AliExpress.com Product – MINIX NEO U22-XJ TV BOX S922X-J Android 9.0 4GB DDR4 32GB eMMC Smart TV BOX Dolby Video Audio 4K UHD Media Hub 2.4G/5.0G WiFi

or here: MINIX Android 9.0 Pie Media Hub 4K Ultra HD Dolby Vision Dolby Audio HDR10+4GB DDR4/32GB eMMC HDMI 4K @ 60Hz 3 x USB 3.0 USB-C [data only] GLAN AC Wi-Fi TF Card (NEO U22-XJ)

Amazon Minix Store

Aliexpress Minix Store

Review | Minix Neo U22-XJ AMLogic S922-XJ TV Box Minix Neo U22-XJ is Minix's latest (and blazing fast!) Amlogic based Android TV Box! Based on Amlogic's most powerful S922-XJ SoC, you can now expect great HDR support as well as Dolby Vision straight out of the box.