I have used an Android TV, an Android box, a Mac mini and also a mini PC for my media centre device. While each device has its own pros and cons, I ultimately go back to the Android TV as my media centre of choice. Here’s why.
The Mac mini and the mini PC are two full-fledged computers with a standard desktop operating system running on them. Naturally they possess the most powerful processors, the biggest RAM and also the largest disk space. Watching video streams is a breeze but they both lack what Android TV and Android box has to offer which is the humble remote control. Sure there’s an app called Remote Mouse that allows you to use your smartphone as a remote control, or more like a mouse plus keyboard combo but controlling the cursor with the app is still awkward at times. The other choice is to use an actual mouse to control the cursor and navigate through the browser which is quite a hassle.
Yes a browser because unless you install Kodi, these desktop computers don’t have a dedicated media centre interface for your streaming purposes. And you know I don’t like to run Kodi. Who has the time to go around searching for the latest plug in just to watch Netflix, DIsney+ or Astro Go? It's too much work.
The other downside is the boot time. Unlike Android TV and Android box which are always on standby, I had to actually turn on these computers and shut them down once I no longer use them, just like a regular computer. I could probably leave them on all the time but TNB will have a field day charging me on my electricity bill. And the boot time is not instant like the Android boxes. Yes one to two minutes is not that long but feels like forever in this day and age. I want my media centre to wake up the moment I press the remote button.
I bought an Android box because I thought it would be a major upgrade from my old Mi Box 3 Android TV. The Mi Box 3 has only 2GB of RAM and a meagre 8GB of disk space while the TX6 Android Box has a bigger 4GB RAM and a generous 32GB disk space. It’s a no-brainer, right? After using it for 2 months, not really.
First thing first, there’s a few major differences between an Android TV box like the Mi Box and an Android Box such as the TX6. An Android TV box runs a dedicated Android TV OS which is custom-made by Google for certified devices like the Mi Box series, Nvidia Shield or many modern Android TVs or Smart TVs. It has a standard Android TV interface which receives regular updates from Google. An Android Box however is basically a generic little multimedia device which runs a modified Android OS not unlike those on Android mobile phones. They have several custom “skins” or user-interface like Alice on the TX6 but underneath it is a modified Android phone OS. Android boxes usually have much more RAMs and disk space, up to 64GB in the top end and they come with a little remote as well just like the Android TV devices. More about the remote later.
The problem with these modified Android OSes on Android boxes is that you can only find a handful of apps on the Play Store that work out of the box with the remote provided. I could count about a dozen apps that play nice with the remote, the rest, you will need a mouse or a mouse app to move around the apps. As I said earlier, the remote is central to any media centre experience. The Android TV, despite its modest hardware, comes with a remote that works seamlessly with all the apps available from the Play Store. The Android Box does offer Aptoid, the alternative app market and the usual sideloading but you will need to use a mouse to run all of the apps installed from those sources.
Did I mention the Android Box remote was horrible? You need direct line of sight to move around the UI unlike the Mi Box remote which uses Bluetooth and spares you the trouble of pointing directly at the box itself. Moral of the story here is, a powerful Android device is useless if the user-interface is poor and the remote experience is appalling.
Which brings us back to the trusty Android TV box such as the Mi Box 3 and Mi Box 4 that I have at home. Both of them still run on a modest 2GB RAM and provide 8GB of space, although the latter comes with a slightly faster processor. But the most important thing is that the Android TV user interface is a joy to navigate and the remote experience is top notch. Yes I still do need to use a mouse for certain unsupported apps but that’s only for running HBO Max, Hulu or Astro Go from the sideloaded Chrome browser app. It’s quite strange that they don’t provide a Chrome version which is compatible with the Android TV up until now. Once HBO Max, Hulu or Astro Go officially comes to the Malaysian Play Store, I can download them legally and use the remote like any other official Play Store apps.
So if you’re looking for a great media centre device for your living room or any room, stick with an Android TV box light the Mi Box 4. If money is no object, go for the thousand ringgit Nvidia Shield which is much more powerful. Don’t bother getting any of those generic Android Box sets which provide really poor user-interface design and experience. Most of them are only 40 to 50 ringgit cheaper than those Android TV boxes but trust me, the Android TVs are a real worthy long-term investment.
