[Android Stick & Console AMLogic based Computers] Alberto96:
Introduction​

Together with many other Android Mini PCs, also Minix decided to release an up-to-date device with many interesting features, most of them exclusive from this Company. This is an huge upgrade of their previous Minix X8-H Plus, only the Chassis hasn’t been redesigned.

This is the Minix NEO U1 Media Hub

Unboxing

Most of you will receive two packages when you order it, the Minix NEO U1 Package and the Minix A2 Lite (Air Mouse/Keyboard) package.

NEO U1 package comes with many accessories: 1x HDMI Cable, 1x Power Supply (5V/3A), 1x WiFi Antenna, 1x Micro-USB Cable, 1x Micro-USB OTG Cable, 1x Remote Control (no Air Mouse), 1x Multi-Language Setup Guide, 1x Product Brochure and the Mini PC (of course).

No Air Mouse/Keyboard is included in the main package, but the Minix A2 Lite Air Mouse/Keyboard is provided separately without any Extra Cost. Just two different packages.

The NEO A2 Lite is absolutely a great Air Mouse/Keyboard, it feels pretty Solid and it doesn’t weight much too. I just don’t like the noise produced when Keys are pressed, unlike standard Remote Controls. It works also on other devices such as standard Desktop PCs or anything else that has a USB Port and supports Mouse/Keyboard input.

Device

About Design, the Chassis is plastic made and it has a kind of rubberized surface, this is what makes the device look so opaque. Heat Dissipation isn’t impacted though, so don’t worry even if this isn’t made of Metal.

It is as compact as most of all Mini PCs, just 12.8x12.8x2.3 and it is also lightweight enough.

As specified before, the whole surface (except the lower side) is kind of rubberized. On the Upper Side there is just a big brand logo (pretty cool, not printed), nothing else. Absolutely clean.

On the front side there is the IR Receiver (required to use the included Remote Control) and a Blue Power LED.

On the left, there is just 1x Wi-Fi Antenna Connector but the Second Antenna is internal, fixed to the upper side of the chassis. (2x2 RX/TX Wi-Fi Adapter)

On the right, there are 3x Standard USB 2.0 Ports, 1x micro SD Card slot, 1x Kensington Lock, 1x Micro-USB Connector (used for OTG or to connect the device to a PC) and a Power Button.

USB Ports are well designed here, you won’t have any kind of problem even with big USB Sticks. Well Done Minix!

The rear features separate Headphone/Microphone Jacks (like PCs), 1x HDMI port, 1x SPDIF port, 1x LAN 10/100/1000 port (Yes, Gigabit Ethernet), and 1x 5.5mm DC in.

On the lower side there isn’t anything at all, absolutely clean.

Testing

Using latest available System Software, I didn’t managed to find any performance issue. Android is always smooth, it doesn’t hang at all neither it feels extremely customized so that Stock Android experience would have been somehow impacted. It is just AOSP, with minor customization required to use the Mini PC in the best way possible, nothing extra except the Minix Launcher & Settings. There are also some third-party apps installed such as ES File Manager. Not a lot though.

Minix Settings app is complete and comfortable to use. Nearly required if you plan to use only the Remote Control.

If you don’t like Minix Settings, or if you need something that is missing, you can still open the Standard Android Settings.

The built-in Wi-Fi Adapter is super fast; it supports 2x2 config. so I managed to get connected to my 5GHz Home Network (using a Netgear R6300v2) at nearly maximum speed even if signal wasn’t extremely good. I don’t have a super fast internet connection, so I won’t be able to show you an useful speed test, but I can just say the results weren’t different than the ones recorded on my Desktop PC.

This device is powered by an Amlogic S905 CPU supported by an ARM Mali-450MP GPU. Even if the GPU isn’t a last-gen version, it still performs pretty well. I’ll talk about performance on next paragraph.

Latest available OTA Update is based still based on Android 5.1 Lollipop, maybe in the future it will be update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow or even better Android N, but I think that there isn’t any need yet to upgrade it.

I have tested some USB Sticks, and all were recognized without any compatibility issue. This is a test with a 64GB USB Stick formatted with NTFS File System.

Benchmarks​

I have used 3DMark (Ice Storm, Ice Storm Unlimited, Ice Storm Extreme), A1 SD Bench, Antutu Benchmark, Antutu Video Tester (for Video Playback), Epic Citadel, GeekBench 3, AndroBench, PCMark (Work) and Vellamo (Browser & CPU Tests) to stress the device to the limit. I won’t test Games or Video Playback because there are already some related tests included in these Benchmark suites.

3DMark

Ice Storm

Ice Storm Unlimited

Ice Storm Extreme

Almost all Tests managed to reach more or less 30 FPS, the minimum limit required for a smooth Gaming experience, so it is pretty good considering that the built-in GPU isn’t extremely powerful.

A1 SD Bench & AndroBench – Internal eMMC performance is mediocre, not so much fast but neither so much slow. Powerful enough for an Android Mini-PC.

Antutu Benchmark – Result nearly equal to other CPUs with 4x Cortex-A53. As you can see 3D is the lower score. This is where the age of GPU can have a negative impact.

GeekBench – I must admit that there is something wrong for sure because the score is lower than other worse CPUs (no throttling here, the device was cold) so I think that built-in kernel needs to be optimized a lot to get the maximum from this nice CPU. Minix, take a look at this benchmark’s score.

Epic Citadel – As you can see, Gaming experience won’t be impacted even if the built-in GPU is old, you can enjoy your games without any issue at all.

PCMark – Decent score here, you can use this device also for Office & Web apps in the best way possible.

Vellamo – This is another complete BenchMark Suite, as you can see Browser performance is near to Nexus 5, i’m pretty sure that this will be improved with the next updates. CPU Performance (Single & Multi) is again, similar to Nexus 5, and as I said before, Minix should work a bit on the Kernel to improve CPU performance.

Browser

CPU

Antutu Video Tester – Used to test Video Playback capabilities. All types of Videos are played without any issue, neither there is any compatibility issue. It seems that Minix has optimized this device especially for Video Playback. (“Media Hub” says all)

Kodi (ex KBMC) – I know, this isn’t a Benchmark Suite but I have tested it (it was also preinstalled) to see if it is working in a smooth way in order to use this device as a Media Center, and I can say that it is as smooth as it is on my Desktop PC.

Conclusions​

Well, it is hard to say if this is something that you should buy or not, because the not-so-good GPU Performance and the low CPU Performance related to poor Kernel optimization don’t offer the performance that you would expect, but actually it is hard to find a better ARM-Based Mini PC. This is one of the most complete available and offers continuous Manufacturer OTA Updates (unlike some other Chinese Brands), so...do I recommend it?

The reply is: Yes, unless you want to spend almost 4x the price of this device to build your own HTPC or you prefer an x86 Mini PC with Windows.

Official Specs

Rating: 8.5

Packaging and Accessories: 10

Design and Materials: 8

Performance and Heat Dissipation: 7.5

Software: 9

Price: 8 (based on Amazon.it price)

You can find full-res images (I know, Quality isn't excellent) here: http://imgur.com/a/CBAIT

Official Website: http://minix.com.hk/en/products/neo-u1​