This is an unboxing and review video of X96 X4 Android TV box.
This smart TV box uses Amlogic S905X4, which is an advanced application processor specially designed for smart set-top boxes.
In this video, we will look into its hardware and features, and show you a live demonstration on how to set and use this TV box.
We will turn a normal TV into a fast Android smart TV.
This is the X96 X4 product box.
Nothing fancy here, just the model number and the picture of the TV box.
It mentions 8K video codec here.
There’s no additional information on all the other sides.
Now, let’s open this box and see its contents.
These are all the items from the product box.
This is the X96 X4 Android TV box, remote control, power adaptor, HDMI cable and the user manual.
The user manual is very simple, contains diagrams and basic information that is enough for experienced users but may confuse beginners. I wish the user manual is more detailed to cater for all types of users.
The X96 smart TV box has a solid feel and is made of hard plastic.
At the top is this circular design with the X96 logo.
To the front is the digital display.
At the side, this is the USB 3.0 port, memory card reader and USB2.0 port.
At the back is the AV port and HDMI port, both functions to output video and audio to a display device such as TV, monitor or projector.
This is the ethernet port if you need to connect network cable directly to a modem or router.
Optical cable port to transmit high quality audio to amplifiers, speakers or other devices.
This is where you connect the power adaptor cable.
All the ports are clearly labeled.
There is nothing on the other side.
At the bottom are the ventilation holes, I personally prefer ventilation holes at the top as hot air goes up. Probably keeping this device sideways may help to dissipate heat more efficiently.
The large rubberized bumps keep it from slipping if you decide to place it flat on a surface.
This TV box comes with 4GB of memory and 32GB of storage space which should be sufficient for normal use.
The remote control is a very standard looking one similar to other smart TV remotes.
It has the mouse button to activate the cursor on screen and move the cursor with the navigation buttons.
This TV box remote control feels very light and has a nice shape for a comfortable hold.
It requires two AAA batteries to operate.
To test this Android TV box, I’m going to output its display to a small LCD TV.
Connect the HDMI cable from the TV to the X96 Android box.
Turn on the TV and make sure the right HDMI source is selected.
Connect the power adapter cable to the Android box and turn on power.
The Android TV box operating system will boot. In my testing, it took 26 seconds from turning on power to loading the Android home screen. This part has been sped up just to show you quickly.
The Home screen interface looks simple and easy to understand.
The top row has large button tiles, GooglePlay, Chrome, YouTube and LED Control.
The second row has smaller button tiles, Apps, FileBrowser, Miracast, Gallery, MoviePlayer and Settings.
The third bottom row already has two buttons and allows you to add shortcuts to apps by using the + button.
If you are going to access online content and media, the first thing you need to do is connect to Wi-Fi or internet via network cable.
For Wi-Fi connection, click Settings, select Network and Internet, select and connect to a Wi-Fi network.
Click on Device Preferences, and click About, it shows that this Android TV OS is on version 11, and the security patch level date is also shown here.
Clicking the System Update will check and let you know if there is any software update available. In this case, the system is already up-to-date.
If you had noticed earlier, the displayed date and time was incorrect. This can be fixed by setting the correct timezone for your location.
There are 52 language choices here, so this Android TV box caters for a wide range of users around the world.
Under Display & Sound, you can check the Screen Resolution.
Here, you will find that this box supports up to 4K at 60Hz.
This Android box supports HDR with choices of Always HDR or Adaptive HDR.
HDMI CEC allows you to control HDMI connected devices, in this case the TV and this Android TV box by using only one remote control. You can turn on and off the settings here.
S/PDIF audio support allows you to enjoy high quality digital audio.
Remotes & Accessories allows you to pair Bluetooth enabled devices.
Using this system and interface appears to be very quick and responsive.
These top 2 rows of tiles are fixed and can’t be changed.
One of them is LED Control. There are 9 menu options here for the Android TV box RGB lighting effects control.
To check the system hardware details, you can use system info apps like the ones listed here. I’ll show you a few of the apps.
The device manufacturer is DroidLogic and the device board is ohm. The operating system is Android 11 with API level 30.
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 videos from those protected services.
The box has 4GB RAM and 32GB flash storage by Toshiba.
The System-On-Chip is by Amlogic with a 4-core ARM Cortex-A55 processor.
It supports 64-bit processing but currently is running on 32-bit mode.
The CPU clock speed ranges between 100 and 2004 MHz.
The graphics processing unit is ARM Mali-G31 which supports Vulkan 1.1
Vulkan is used for high-performance real-time 3D-graphics applications, such as video games and interactive media. It offers higher performance and more efficient CPU and GPU usage compared to the older OpenGL and Direct3D 11 APIs.
The Android box supports Bluetooth version 4. Under the CPU tab, you can view the CPU utilization and the running speed of all the 4 CPU cores.
I’ve plugged in an USB flash drive with a few 4K video files.
Now let’s play 4K quality video files to test this X96 X4 Android box capability.
This is a 4K demo video generally used for TV displays.
Let’s play a couple of 4K movie trailers too.
I’m going to play a few 4K quality video streams on YouTube. Let’s see how the Android box with WiFi internet connection performs in the video playback.
As mentioned earlier, due to Digital Rights Management security level of this Android box is only L3, it does not support playback of HD or 4K quality on protected streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ or Prime Video.
If you want to know how to get huge discounts for Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+, HBO Max and more, I have provided a link in the video description for you.
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.
I’m not good at games, but I will try playing this racing game just to show how it performs on this X96 X4 Android box.
There are a lot of positive points for this Android TV box.
It is easy to connect and ready to use straight away.
It has a very fast and responsive interface and navigation.
Applications load fast and provide a good experience.
4K video files play without any problem.
Youtube 4K video streams play without any problem too.
Playing game was responsive and did not have any issues.
There are 2 concerns that I have for this TV box.
The first is that it does not have the DRM security level support to play Netflix in HD or 4K.
The second is that some apps are not available in Google Play. However, you can still overcome this by installing APK files.
X96 X4 Android TV Box is a great way to turn your normal TV into a smart Android TV media and entertainment center.
You can connect a wireless keyboard such as this one from Logitech or a mini-keyboard with touchpad like this. They make it easier to use the smart TV box.
If you are interested in this TV box, you can get it from the links provided in the video description.
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