REVIEW: MINIX NEO T5 a solvent Box with Android TV certified by Google

PRODUCT DETAILS

Unboxing

The MINIX NEO T5 comes in a standard cardboard box with a image of the device in the top, inside we found the TV-Box, IR remote, HDMI cable 4K@60fps compatible, Manual and a powerful DC 5V 2A adapter.

Description

The MINIX NEO T5 is made of plastic and has the MINIX embossed logo on the top, a classic design of this brand and without ventilation slots. This Box includes a basic IR remote to perform the most common operations on the Android TV system, if we want voice control and Flymouse compatible with IR remote ignition we have to acquire a MINIX NEO A2 Lite or MINIX NEO A3 control separately.

On one side of the box we have the update button in case it is necessary to update the firmware and if we disassemble the bottom cover we can see the ceramic heatsink something unusual. On the motherboard we can see the Wifi aC Dual Band 2×2 MIMO + Bluetooth 4.1 (AP66356SA) chip and the two internal Wi-Fi antennas.

• Remote Control: IR Remote / NO Flymouse / NO microphone / We can choose other alternatives.
• Alternate control: Using Google Android TV Remote app from our mobile we can control it remotely.

As we say for this TV-Box we have the official MINIX NEO A2 Lite and MINIX NEO A3 remotes that we have seen in detail on several occasions and that are reissued with the launch of the MINIX NEO T5. The two controls have two sides, one multimedia and one with a full backlit keyboard, they have an integrated Flymouse and IR transmitter to turn on and off these TV-Boxes, something that with a generic control cannot be done, only the A3 model has with microphone.

SYSTEM AND PERFORMANCE

Environment and Android system

Connecting the power adapter at the MINIX NEO T5 boots automatically and we get to the default Android TV 9 launcher based on squares where we can customize the top row, in this model if we can use the mouse pointer on the main screen something not very common in Android TV OS boxes. In the installed apps Netflix and Youtube stand out, from Google Play we can install any other compatible one. The performance of Android TV 9 is very good with the all the apps and games, the system moves quite fluid thanks to the S905X2 SoC.

• Launcher: We can change launcher but we recommend the official / Android UI render at 1080p.
• Multitasking and access: Multitasking only from the remote control icon / Android notifications in the upper icon.
• Languages and Google Play: All the international Android classics / Google Play installed.
• Check our Android TV User Manual to install classic Android Apps, prevent screen rotation and much more.

• On/Off Controls: If we keep press the power button we have reset and power off option / NO configurable in settings.
• System version and root: Android TV 9 Pie (32 bit) / The system is NO root / NO root menu.
• Support: MINIX have official support site / Firmware available / Custom firmware not available yet.

Network, storage, RAM and ports

The MINIX NEO T5 TV-Box has eMMC memory for internal storage and DDR3 RAM, it has two USB one 3.0 port and SD card reader. In the network section it has a wireless adapter Wifi ac Dual Band 2×2 MIMO + Bluetooth 4.1 (AP66356SA) and Gigabit Ethernet port and we can also install a SATA 3 2.5″ disk. As we can see in the tests the results are good, we have good Wifi speed although the range is not max and  a fast internal memory.

• Storage: Total 16GB  – Free 10GB / NTFS + exFAT compatible / Expandable with a USB memory stick.
• RAM: Total 2GB – Free 1GB / DDR3.
• Network: Basic speed with two internal wifi antennas / Range 43dBm, basic. / Bluetooth OK.
• We recommend reading our Tutorial SAMBA on Android networks if we are going to use files from our network PC.

Power and performance

At the power level the MINIX NEO T5 is enough for any Android app or game with the Amlogic S905X2 Quad core SoC with ARM Cortex-A53 cores and in the graphic section a Mali-G32 MP2 GPU that is in the mid range. This SoC is manufactured in 12nm, has a fairly controlled consumption and temperatures are very low if we demand performance in powerful games or demanding applications, cooling system works very well.

• Check our Amlogic S905X2 SoC Comparison against all SoCs in the sector for more details.

• Consumption: Off 0.5W / Standby 2W / Basic use 3.6W / Maximum 5.8W
• Thermals: Minimum 36ºC / Maximum 55ºC / Maintains performance up to 100% / Heat zone on the top / Noise 0db
• Games and emulators: IS possible to play titles such as PUBG with low settings / Emulators up to Wii / NO Vulkan support.
• Controls: Compatible with Gamepads by cable or bluetooth.

VIDEO AND AUDIO TEST

Video playback test

In the video playback aspect, the MINIX NEO T5 features the Amlogic S905X2 SoC and a VPU Amlogic TruLife Gen8 compatible with most modern video formats such as h.265 and VP9 with 4K HDR native resolution, don’t have video quality settings. We can use players like KODI or PLEX without the slightest problem, the system comes by default with a version of KODI full of addons that we recommend uninstalling. At the audio level we can play DD and DTS sound up to 5.1 through the HDMI port.

This model has Chromecast that allows us to send YouTube but it will not work with Netflix since it requires special certifications. Check our Amlogic S905X2 SoC Comparison against all SoCs to see more details about A/V aspects of this SoC.

• Video Settings: NO image quality settings / RGB and SDR / HDMI-CEC available / NO automatic refresh rate.
• Audio Settings: HDMI up to 5.1 audio / Stereo Jack.
• Media sharing: Chromecast YES / Miracast NO / DLNA with BlubblePnP / Airplay NO.
• LibreELEC: This model will be compatible with LibreELEC or CoreELEC.
• Tutorials: Install add-on in KODI / Judder effect, how to fix it / Multi-channel audio guide / Correct dark video playback in Android.

Video 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.

Audio test results

• PCM – Stereo only doing downmix from DD or DTS
• Core – Only the core of the format is played back with what we passed to the Dolby / DTS base system
  * Our AV receiver does not support these native formats but we verify that it is played back to 7.1

Streaming services

In our usual tests with streaming services we see how the most popular services work. The MINIX NEO T5 presents an interesting configuration with several DRM systems and also with Google certification which allows us to have several compatible streaming options and even Chromecast integrated, although as we see we have no Netflix certificate and we stay in SD+ quality.

• DRM: Google Widevine L1 / Microsoft Playready / HDCP 2.2
• Certification: Google Certificacion for Chromecast
• Tutorial: Change the size of the captions and the mouse pointer on Android / Install Addons in KODI in a simple way

• (1) Installing the Android Mobile APK (NOT the Android TV version) and using a launcher for these apps.
• (2) Installing the Android TV APK (NOT the Android mobile version)

CONCLUSIONS AND BUY LINKS

Score

Opinion

Once reviewed of the MINIX NEO T5 has been carried out, we can say that we are facing an interesting TV-Box with Amlogic S905X2 SoC that also has a Google certification, something that allows us to use Chromecast with several applications such as YouTube. A model that has a very efficient cooling system and a fairly fast internal storage, undoubtedly MINIX continues to print quality to its products at the design level and components.

At the level of connectivity the MINIX NEO T5 has good performance thanks to its Wifi aC Dual Band adapter that reaches a good speed, also has Gigabit Ethernet port to be able to load all kinds of content over the network at maximum speed. At the software level, the Android TV 9 Pie system is stable, although we miss options such as the automatic refresh rate, would have been good to include a Flymouse remote with microphone although we can acquire a MINIX NEO A3 or similar control to control it with Google Assistant.

As we see the MINIX NEO T5 is an interesting Certified model that stands out for having Chromecast and being compatible with many streaming platforms. If we are interested in a reliable Android TV TV Box, it is certainly a good option.

Where to buy

• Consult our recommended models to see other alternatives.

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