REVIEW: A95X F3 Air II, an interesting budget Android TV-Box

A95X F3 Air II is an Android TV-Box with the extended SoC Amlogic S905W2, below you can read its analysis or review. A small TV-Box oriented to multimedia use and applications such as KODI or IPTV.

This Android TV-Box A95X F3 Air II mounts inside the new Amlogic S905W2 SoC, a chip that despite being low-end gives good results to use Android smoothly, it also has support for the new AV1 codec. This device also offers us the Android 11 operating system, as it does not have certifications it is not designed for paid streaming systems but it offers us a good margin of freedom compared to the more restricted certified Android TV.

You can read in our review how this A95X F3 Air II defends itself and what it offers compared to others.

PRODUCT DETAILS

Unboxing A95X F3 Air II

The Android TV-Box A95X F3 Air II comes in a cardboard box with the product image on the top and little information about its functions. Inside we find the TV-Box, IR remote control, HDMI cable, 5V 2A charger and a first steps manual.

Description

This small box A95X F3 Air II has a classic design but surprises us with its RGB LEDs in the upper area (they can be deactivated). On the sides we have a 10/100 Ethernet connector, 2x USB 2.0, AV jack, SPDIF, HDMI 2.1, power connector and microSD reader to expand the internal storage. We also have a fairly basic IR remote control that may not be worth changing for a wireless PC mouse to operate it more comfortably with a pointer.

Integrated on the board is a Wifi aC + Bluetooth 5.0 chip with an internal wifi antenna. The passive cooling system is very basic but effective. In the audio jack has a reset button to reboot the system if it suffers a software catastrophe and reset it. The RGB LED lights on the top can be disabled thanks to an included app.

• Remote Control: Basic IR Remote / Compatible with keyboard and mouse / App control for CetusPlay.

SYSTEM AND PERFORMANCE

Environment and Android system

We boot the A95X F3 Air II and it starts automatically, after a few seconds we get to the new launcher installed which is based on rows with different shortcuts. In general this launcher is quite uncomfortable and we can change it for another that we like more from Google Play. The system moves smoothly, we can move quickly between menus or apps. Unfortunately we do not have navigation bars or notification area.

• Launcher: We can use another launcher installed from Google Play / Android UI rendering at 1080p.
• Multitasking and access: Multitasking NOT available / Notifications not available.
• Languages and Google Play: All the international Android classics / Android store installed.

System

In this box we check the system data and the options included in terms of root, we also observe that power systems allows us this device. If we find any firmware we will publish it on our website, usually only updated by OTA.

• Power on/off: Power off and sleep mode / Additional options in settings.
• Version and root: Android 11 (32 bit) / NO Root  / NO Root selector / Kernel v5.4.86.
• Support: Only OTA support / NO website for support.

Network, storage, RAM and ports

Thist TV-Box A95X F3 Air II in the review version has 4 GB of RAM and for storage we have 32 GB eMMC that we can expand with a USB memory. In the network section we find a wireless adapter Wifi ac + Bluetooth 5.0 that as we can see in the test the ok results and the network connector is only Ethernet 10/100.

• Network: One internal Wifi antenna / Range 47 dBm / Link 5G 260 Mbps / Bluetooth OK.

The performance of the internal storage is good and moves the system without problems, on the other hand the RAM memory offers data in the line of these devices. The port with the highest speed is the USB 2.0 which behaves normally.

• Storage: Total 32GB  – Free 27GB / Expandable with a USB or SD external memory.
• RAM: Total 4GB – Free 3GB / DDR3.
• Read/Write Ports: USB 2.0 OTG / On external USB drives it is only possible to read data.
  
• We recommend reading our Tutorial SAMBA on Android networks if we are going to use files from our network PC.

Power and performance

On the performance side, the A95X F3 Air II has the Amlogic S905W2 Quad Core SoC with ARM Cortex-A35 processors limited to 1.8GHz and a mid-range Mali-G31 MP2 GPU. This SoC offers similar performance to the S905X4 with less CPU power. As the results show we have a good performance for the hardware set and the performance of this new AMLogic SoC, it is close to the new Googlecast TV and far exceeds the Xiaomi Mi Box which is already somewhat outdated.

• CPU performance: Min 500 MHz / Working  1.0 GHz / Max 1.8 GHz
• Check our Amlogic S905W2 SoC Comparison against all SoCs in the sector for more details.

We test in this box games like PUBG in medium/low quality and also cloud gaming services such as NVIDIA GForce Now. In the emulators section we can get at most run some Wii titles, but we will not have problems with 2D games from classic consoles with emulators like Retroarch or from KODI, the EmuELEC system can not be run, as it is not yet compatible.

• Games and emulators:  IS possible to play games such as PUBG / Emulators up to Wii / YES Vulkan support.
• Controls: Compatible with Gamepads BT or cable.

This new SoC S905W2 of the A95X F3 Air II is manufactured in 12nm, has a very low power consumption, the cooling system works well and temperatures are not very high in normal use. The SoC manages speeds well so as not to overheat.

• Thermals: Min. 62ºC / Working 70ºC / Max. 82ºC / Maintains performance up to 73% / Heat zone on the top / Noise 0db
• Consumption: Off 0.5W / Min 5.5W / Working 8W / Max. 9.5W

VIDEO AND AUDIO TEST

Video playback test

In the video playback section, the Box A95X F3 Air II has a VPU that is compatible with modern video formats such as h.265 or VP9 up to a native resolution of 4K@120fps HDR, it is also compatible with the recent AV1 codec on Youtube for example. We have few video quality settings and also with automatic refresh rate change. We have HDR support to get a better image to some content.

We can normally use players like KODI or PLEX without the slightest problem by installing them directly from the Google Play store. As for audio, we can play DD and DTS sound up to 5.1 through its HDMI or SPDIF port and stereo through the AV jack.

• Video Settings:  NO image quality settings / RGB and SDR / HDMI-CEC available, see manual / Automatic refresh no available.
• Audio Settings: HDMI 5.1 / SPDIF 5.1 / Stereo Jack / No USB audio settings.
• Color and HDR: 10Bit / RGB / HDR 10 / HDR can be disable in settings.
• Media sharing: GoogleCast No / Miracast No / DLNA with BlubblePnP / Airplay No.
• LibreELEC: NO compatible with LibreELEC or CoreELEC for now.
• Tutorials: Install add-on in KODI / Judder effect, how to fix it / Multi-channel audio guide / Correct dark video playback in Android.
• We recommend reading the Setup Guide of our TV to get the best picture quality.

Video and audio results

• The maximum bitrate depends on the port used to connect or the limitations of SAMBA Networks.
• SW = does not have hardware acceleration and may have have some frameskip in very heavy files.

• Native – Supports the format directly in our AV receiver or similar / More info.
• Core – Only the 5.1 core of the format is played so we go to the Dolby or DTS base system / More info.
• PCM – Only stereo downmixing from DD or DTS.

Streaming services

We performed multiple tests on the streaming services to check how the most popular services work. The A95X F3 Air II presents us with the classic configuration without certificates which limits us in quality in several services. We can use it with many of these services, but always in basic quality.

• DRM: Google Widevine L3.
• Audio certification: No.
• Tutorials: Change the size of the captions and the mouse pointer on Android / Install Addons in KODI in a simple way

• Multichannel audio only available via HDMI connection in streaming services, via SPDIF stereo only.

CONCLUSIONS AND BUY LINKS

Score

Opinion

After performing our review on the A95X F3 Air II we can say that the Amlogic S905W2 SoC has enough power to use it with the most popular multimedia apps and we have good performance that allows us to run all kinds of apps smoothly, it is a processor without thermal problems. At the top we have some striking RGB LEDs that can be easily disabled using the app that brings this Box for it.

In terms of connectivity the A95X F3 Air II integrates a Wifi aC + Bluetooth 5.0 adapter that has an acceptable performance even though it could be better, we have two USB 2.0 ports and unfortunately only Ethernet 10/100. In this Box we have the Android 11 operating system but we miss the root permissions. Unfortunately the SoC S905W2 is not yet compatible with LibreELEC although we can run emulators and other games from Android. We also found that Google Play gives compatibility problems with many apps that we can’t find.

With this hardware it is possible to play our content in 4K HDR quality without many problems, even 8K. We can also use other apps such as IPTV players, PLEX or KODI to watch local content. We are faced with the classic limitations of Amlogic SoCs such as the lack of image quality control or automatic refresh rate change. It also has AV1 codec that for now seems to work properly in services such as Youtube.

Overall we can say that the A95X F3 Air II is a TV-Box enough to use popular apps smoothly, if we are not interested in paid streaming services can be an option, but if we are only interested in these streaming there are better alternatives.

Where to buy