It’s been a while since we’ve seen a new TV-Stick in stores, but today we found the X98 S500 on AliExpress that caught our attention for including the Amlogic S905Y4 SoC.
A processor chip that is very present in certified Smart Boxes and that lately is jumping to generic Chinese mediaplayers. This small X98 S500 TV Stick already comes with Android 11 and, among others, includes native decoding of the latest generation AV1 codec.
Little to highlight about this TV Stick, where its connectivity options are very basic. We are not going to have the necessary certificates to be able to view paid streaming services such as Netflix or HBO Max in maximum quality, for that purpose we have other much more interesting products.
X98 S500 Specs
The Stick X98 S500 includes an AMlogic S905Y4 processor manufactured in 14nm. A Quad Core chip with ARM Cortex-A35 processors and an ARM Mali-G31 MP2 GPU that reaches 850 Mhz. This SoC includes decoding of the new AV1 codec, support for video output up to 4K@60fps resolutions, and compatibility with HDR 10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision technologies.
On its small board we have soldered 2/4 GB of DDR3 RAM and 16/32 GB of eMMc storage memory.
Other features
Regarding wireless connectivity, we find Dual Band Wi-Fi aC and Bluetooth 4.2 in its version with 4 GB of RAM, while the model with 2 GB of RAM has Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1. The connectors included are minimal, a USB 2.0 port, one HDMI 2.0 video output, USB Type-C port for power
The operating system is Android 11 and a small remote control with a microphone and various shortcut keys to streaming platforms is included, although Netflix, as you can see, is crossed out.
Price and availability
- The TV-Stick X98 S500 with AMlogic S905Y4 SoC can be purchased on AliExpress from around $45 with free shipping by applying the seller’s discount coupon.
