Chinese device maker Measy is working on a new Android TV stick featuring a quad-core processor, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean software, and WiFi and Bluetooth.
It’s called the Measy U4B, and Geekbuying reports it’ll be available in May for under $100.
Like other Android TV sticks, the Measy U4B looks like a chunky USB flash drive. But instead of plugging it into a computer, it has an HDMI connector which you can plug into your TV. Then attach a power supply and keyboard, mouse, or remote control and you can run Android apps on your TV.
This model has some of the best specs available on an Android TV stick, including 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0.
Update: The Measy U4B has 2GB of RAM, not 1GB.Â
It’s powered by a Rockchip RK3188 ARM Cortex-A9 quad-core processor, which outperforms the NVIDA Tegra 3 and Samsung Exynos 4412 in benchmarks.
The stick also features a microSD card slot for extra storage, a microUSB port for power, and a full-sized USB port for peripherals.
This isn’t the first quad-core Android TV stick. Ugoos, Rikomagic, and others have also unveiled similar devices.
it has an HDMI connector which you can plug into your TV.
“Under US$100” makes it appear like it would be around US$ 90 or so. And it doesn’t have very good specs – 1 GB of RAM is unworthy for a RK3188 SoC. Tronsmart T428 costs US$ 99 and has 2 GB of RAM…
The UG007B with near the same specs and also 2GB RAM is US$ 77
I wish one of these could run a real mythtv frontend.
I didn’t realize MythTV was still around. I thought everyone uses XBMC now.
MythTV is very much alive. XBMC doesn’t actually record TV from cable/OTA. The MythTV backend can stream to upnp clients like XBMC, but that loses the ability to recognize the commercial marking and in general makes skip fwd/back a problem. It takes a client that actually understands the MythTV frontend protocol to be full featured.
who cares if the device is in a small thumb drive for factor. We want an ethernet port!
I agree but these ultra small/mobil form factor may be appealing for some people.
Agreed. But, we all know that streaming 1080p over wifi on these tiny devices with no external antenna is such a challenge when you are more than a few meters from the router.
Needless to say that nowadays its very common to have crowded wireless neighbourhoods which worsen even more the connection.
I still don’t see the point on focusing on make the device as tiny as possible when your TV is 1000x bigger. Portability? Well maybe. But I’m sure most people only use these on their home TV.
Is it that bad to just use a USB gigabit adapter? They are like 5 bucks. I agree that an ethernet port directly in the case would be pretty nice, alongside a double stack USB host port so that connectivity was easy. But for the bargain basement price these mini-sticks go fo, it is what it is.
I wonder what the wifi reception will be like.
Judging by most others in this class…poor to middlin’.