The new Tanix TX2 Android TV Box comes with Android 12 and has a compact and simple looking design. In this video, we are going to talk about the hardware and software details, set up the Android TV box and perform some tests.
To make it easier for you, this video has been broken into these sections so that you can quickly find the information you need. If you find this video informative, follow this channel to get future updates on technology and gadgets related videos.
The product box for Tanix TX2 feels quite light and is smaller than many other Android TV box products. The box design is very minimal and it is from an OEM manufacturer.
The only indication of what’s inside the box is the sticker at the top showing the TX2 model and its specifications.
Let’s open the box to see its contents. The Android TV box is wrapped in protective plastic and the rest of the items are placed below it.
These are all the items from the box.
The Tanix TX2 Android TV media box, IR remote control, power adaptor, HDMI cable and user manual.
The Tanix TX2 Android box is compact in size and feels quite light at below 80g.
It has a modern looking shape, the brand Tanix is printed at the top and a line here which looks like status lights.
On the side are two USB 2.0 ports and a microSD card reader.
On another side is the DC IN power port, HDMI port, LAN cable port and AV port.
At the bottom are the ventilation holes and four hard plastic feets.
Connect the HDMI cable from the Android box to a display such as TV or monitor.
Connect the power cable and turn on power.
After the Tanix boot splash screen and if this is the first bootup, you will need to connect to the internet and complete the first settings process before the TV box Android interface loads.
You may not have seen this Android screen interface in any other Android TV boxes as this seems to be unique to Tanix. This is called the Alice UX interface and it runs on Android TV OS version 12.
The interface has a main navigation panel on the left and a pop out panel that shows recently launched apps. The main part of the screen has large tile like icons and you can also add your own shortcuts using this plus button.
This box comes preinstalled with apps like Aptoide TV, Miracast Receiver, Netflix and TV Center. There is always a huge selection of apps from the Play Store that you can install from and make better use of this Tanix TV box.
This TV box is manufactured by Oranth and is the model Tanix TX2 but the system is reporting it as TX12. The device has 2GB installed RAM and 16GB internal storage space, however it is reporting 11.18GB here.
The system-on-chip model is Allwinner H618 with 4-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor. It is a 64-bit processor running on 32-bit mode. The CPU clock speed can range between 480MHz and 1512MHz.
The graphics processor is a single core ARM Mali-G31. The current screen resolution is 1280 x 720 and the display refresh rate is 60Hz.
The integrated graphics processing unit supports Vulkan which is a low-level low-overhead, cross-platform API and open standard for 3D graphics and computing. This box supports 4K decoding capabilities.
Android version 12 which is also called Snow Cone is installed in this device. This device is rooted and that allows a user perform actions such as changing the operating system, replace or alter settings and system applications, install custom themes, and download specialized apps.
Unfortunately, Bluetooth connected devices are not supported in this TV box.
Lets have a look at the available OS settings and options. Under Languages, there are 49 languages to choose from.
Keyboard selection and mouse mode can be set here.
Under Advanced display settings, you can configure HDMI, CVBS and HDMI advanced settings.
Format selection shows supported formats are HDR10 and HLG. Unsupported formats are Dolby Vision and HDR10+.
Advanced sound settings shows a list of sound formats and all of them show as unsupported. There are toggle fields for each of them to turn them on and off.
Google Assistant can be turned on or off here.
There is also a screensaver function that can be activated when the box is idle.
There are also accessibility options such as high contrast text and text to speech settings.
Now let’s test playing 4K video files and see the playback performance. This is a 4K trailer of a movie and 4K video playback seems to be good. I did not expect it to play a 4K video well with only 2GB RAM.
Let’s test another 4K movie trailer. And this video seems to play well too. This TV box seems to be good for watching 4K videos and you can enjoy smooth video performance.
Let’s test playing a 4K YouTube video. The video started playing in a lower resolution so I’m changing it to 4K. The streaming video playback is quite smooth and clear. If you have a non-smart TV, this Android box will let you enjoy watching YouTube on a larger screen.
DRM or Digital Rights Management is a way of protecting contents from piracy. To stream and play HD quality videos from services like Netflix, Disney+ or Prime Video, the device needs to have DRM Security level L1.
This Android TV box is only certified for L3, so you can’t stream HD or 4K quality videos from those protected services.
If you want to know how to get huge discounts for Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+ and more, I have provided a link in the video description or comments section.
Let’s test playing a 3D game in this Android box. The game is called Riptide GP2. This is just a demonstration of game performance and graphics in the Tanix TX2 Android TV box.
In this test, I’m going to use the Miracast function to connect and cast my phone screen to the Android TV box which is going to be displayed on the connected TV.
Wait for the Android TV box to detect the phone, and the phone to detect the Android box, then select the name to connect.
Once the phone is connected, the phone screen should be replicated on the TV.
You can now launch any app on the phone and the display is duplicated on the TV. This is great for playing games or watching movies on TV.
Tanix TX2 is an easy to use Android TV box which performed pretty well during my test.
The Alice UX is easy to use and has a responsive interface and navigation.
Applications are generally loaded quickly and provide a good experience.
4K video files play without any problem.
Youtube plays 4K video.
Miracast screen mirroring works well.
Playing games was responsive and did not have any issues.
The box is priced less than competitors.
But I also have some concerns about this TV box.
It does not have the DRM security level support to play Netflix in HD or 4K.
No Bluetooth support.
RAM is only 2GB which is small for today’s standard.
Storage space is only 16GB which can run out quickly.
Overall, Tanix TX2 is suitable for activities like watching or streaming videos, moderate gaming or productivity apps.
I hope this video has been useful for you.
On TechTubeTV, I make easy to understand videos on technology related topics. If you like my content, please consider clicking the Subscribe button to follow my future video uploads. Thank you for watching and I hope to see you soon.