Mini M8S Pro: review of the new TV set-top box with SoC Amlogic S912. Mini M8S PRO is a contender for the title of "People's TV Box". Review with disassembly and comparison of test results Which album to choose

Probably everyone who was born at least before the mid-nineties remembers this miracle - the first thing that appeared after film cameras was a healthy unit called “Polaroid”. Squeak, and the white rectangle darkens before our eyes, showing the outlines of a merry company captured (usually at a festive table). Then the first “digit” appeared, but it wasn’t the same. Clean technology. But instant photo printing seemed like real second-level magic. The second - because, undoubtedly, the first was the same process of drawing the outlines of the frame on paper, but in the “red room”.

The Polaroid in the house was incredibly cool. And the footage from it - albeit blurry and “soapy” - was valued more than film footage. Of course, there can be as many as 36 frames on film, and it cost a penny compared to cassettes for 10 photos. Then, in the era of digital cameras, this magic was a little forgotten, but instant cameras found a second wind relatively recently, when Fujifilm, along with the company that created this technology, began working on them.

A little history:

We have one American girl named Jennifer to thank for the appearance of the photograph. She was three years old, in 1944, she was walking with her dad around the town of Santa Fe and suddenly asked him why you can’t immediately see what you’re photographing. How many questions do little whys ask their parents and what do these questions usually lead to? At the most, to an explanation of this or that phenomenon, at a minimum - to an irritated “Leave me alone!” But Jenny's father was a certain Edwin Land, already a successful inventor and founder of Polaroid. What he answered to his daughter then is unknown, but three years later the first instant camera was born. Thank you Jennifer!

Edwin Land, who by the way was the idol of another technological genius, Steve Jobs, believed that patents would save, if not the world, then its exclusivity. 535 patents were recorded for him, more - only for the “inventor of the light bulb” Thomas Edison. And it was thanks to patents that Land first won a lawsuit against the Kodak company, which decided to produce its own similar cameras (even though it took 10 years to sue), and after a lawsuit with FujiFilm, he entered into a mutually beneficial deal. Thanks to Fuji, Land's company had the opportunity to produce video cassettes and floppy disks, and a new era began in the history of FujiFilm - the era of instant photos of the Instax line.

Now the line includes eight different models of Instax cameras, allowing you to take instant pictures in two formats: mini, the size of a regular business card, and wide, a couple of centimeters larger. This winter I got my hands on one of the most popular of Fuji’s “instant” models - Instax Mini 8.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Specifications:

Film used: FUJIFILM Instax Mini

Received photo size: 6.2 × 4.6 cm

Lens: fixed, two-element and two-component, f=60 mm, 1:12.7

Viewfinder: optical

Shooting distance: 60 cm - ∞

Shutter speed: 1/60

Flash: always on, recharges within 0.2-6 seconds, effective at a distance of up to 2.7 meters

Instax Mini 8 comes in seven colors, including classic black and white, as well as candy colors - pink, raspberry, purple, lemon and mint blue. To be honest, for such a hipster toy camera, I would have preferred one of these rich shades, they fit perfectly, but I still ended up with the black one.

My “hipster photography starter kit” included the camera itself and two cassettes of instant film. A small box contains the gadget itself, a couple of batteries for it, a lanyard and instructions. If you want something extra, you can purchase it separately. Fortunately, the company has enough accessories: from cute handbags and special photo albums for the size of Instax photos to lens attachments and color filters.

I’m not raising the question of necessity here; they rather created their own ecosystem with a certain philosophy: “If you have a cute camera, then why not take it with a photo album and a stylish handbag, for a complete set?” From a marketing point of view, the ideal way to reach your target audience and the right decision is to create an entire community around the product. On the website of the Instax line you can find news about entire art projects based on instant photographs (I remember a dress made from cards;)) - but I got distracted.

The camera itself cannot be called miniature, about 12 centimeters in height and length, almost 7 in width, it seems somewhat “puffy”, plump, thanks to its streamlined design. But it is light - about 300 grams in total, if you weigh it without batteries and a cassette. The body of the Instax Mini 8 is made of matte plastic, it feels very pleasant to the touch, but alas, it is easily soiled.

We are used to cameras being shaped like rectangles “on their sides,” but this one is more extended upward, and the viewfinder looks “placed on its butt” - this decision is due to the fact that the camera is mainly used in portrait mode. When shooting in landscape orientation, you need to rotate - they even demonstrate how to do this correctly in the user manual.

The camera's shutter button is located on the front panel - also unusual for everyone who usually looks for it from above. In addition to it, there is also a viewfinder window, a flash, two round windows - sensors for measuring light levels, as well as a lens with a power button: it activates the power and extends the lens. It slides in simply by hand, and the camera turns off. If you leave the camera alone without retracting the lens, it will turn off automatically after five minutes.

The photo of the back panel of the camera clearly shows what I talked about a couple of paragraphs above - the soiling of matte plastic. I don’t know how it is on color models (I think it’s less noticeable there), but on a black camera you can literally do fingerprinting without special equipment after just a few minutes of use - fingerprints remain very clear.

Here is the cassette compartment cover with a window in which you can see the presence of a cassette inside, a viewfinder and a frame counter.

On the left edge there is only a fastening element for the strap, on the right there is also a compartment for batteries. At the top there is a slot for feeding finished photographs. There is nothing interesting at the bottom, not even a tripod mount (that’s right, why does this camera need one?).

Each model has a different color strap. Well, here again everything is banal for me :)

The camera uses regular AA batteries; according to the company, they last for 100 pictures on average. During the entire testing period, the ones included in the original package worked for me.

We come to the most interesting part: use. As a child, I somehow didn’t have the opportunity to “refill Polaroids”; our parents did this for us all the time, so here I opened the cassette compartment with great curiosity. Everything turned out to be quite boring, except that I looked at the lens from the back.

Only branded Instax Mini cassettes work with this camera, and this (or more precisely, their cost :)) is the main problem. There are only 10 pictures in a cassette, and until recently the cost was about seven hundred rubles for a package with one cassette and about one thousand three hundred for a double. The other day the company lowered prices and they promise that now a package with one cassette will cost 500 rubles, and with two - 800. Of course, 40 rubles for a photo is not 70, but it’s also noticeable.

The cassettes are stored vacuum sealed; before use, it is important to remember to remove the foil packet and not to press on the moving parts of the housing.

I place the cassette in the compartment so that the yellow mark on it matches the mark on the body. It is recommended to close the compartment immediately - otherwise there is a risk of exposing the film inside.

Those who like to change shutter speed and aperture are nervously smoking on the sidelines; the concept of ISO is generally not needed by Instax users. Here, as a maximum, you can set the shooting mode, depending on the lighting around. There are four options - home, cloudy, sunny or sunny.

The camera itself, thanks to the sensors, will tell you by blinking the diode which mode is more suitable at this particular moment, but you don’t have to listen to it - on the contrary, experienced users prefer to lower the exposure by one step... oh, sorry, choose the “darker” mode, This makes the photos more rich.

For lovers of saturation, there is also a fifth mode - Hi-Key, which allows you to take brighter and more contrasting photographs. But in any case, the best possible result is achieved by trial and error, which, unlike with a mirror (see the paragraph about the cost of the frame :)) is somehow annoying at times. However, I gave myself permission in advance to completely screw up the first cassette while training, and I advise all new Instax owners to do the same.

The Instax Mini has a number of limitations: what cannot be done with the camera and film is clearly shown in the drawings from the instructions. From the quite obvious “don’t chew photos” and “don’t force a photo out of the camera” to the common mistake of covering the light sensors with your fingers and waving the card - so that it appears faster.

I would like to note two important features in using this camera:

1. What you see in the viewfinder and what you end up with in the photo are, as they say in Odessa, two big differences. Okay, not particularly big, but it’s important to know. The viewfinder here shows the scene a little to the right and higher than the lens “sees” it, so you also need to practice lining up the frame exactly. In the end, it’s done something like this: look, move the camera yourself literally a few centimeters to the left, or move the camera a centimeter or two and shoot.

2. Does everyone remember that Instax is called a “camera for hipsters”? What are hipsters afraid of in their sneakers and short tight pants? Right, Russian winter. Fuji Instax doesn’t react very well to frost; at subzero temperatures, the photo simply won’t develop, and you’ll add “White Rectangle” to the “Black Square” masterpiece in the world’s collection. If you want to fully cosplay Malevich, you need to shoot in heat above 40 degrees - high temperatures can, on the contrary, make a dark spot instead of a frame. For this reason, in winter, take the camera out into the cold immediately before shooting, and then promptly put it in a warm place, along with the resulting print, or shoot from a window or a warm car :)

In general, of course, I had a lot of fun taking photographs with this camera, even when I tested it on cats or tried to photograph the New Year's illumination (naive, in low light conditions we again return to Malevich. In general, the ideal use of the camera is shooting portraits or landscapes in good illumination. A fairly narrow field of application, of course, but there are several situations in which Instax will be indispensable.

First, a moment of magic - video development of photographs, and then I will tell you about them.

The first cool options for using an Instax camera that came to my mind were:

1. You take a photo hugging a departing friend at the airport. Immediately write good wishes to him on the photo and give the photo as a keepsake. Or vice versa - a selfie with a star and immediately an autograph across your happy face :)

2. A child of the 21st century, incredibly far from turning on the red lamp in the bathroom, with the help of such a camera learns to appreciate shots, build a composition and try to shoot - immediately getting results (this is important for children, you know). Maybe there's a chance that later he won't take 503 selfies in one trip to a restaurant, hmm? :)

3. Grandma is tired of asking you to print her pictures from the next family gathering. You give her a similar camera and duplicate the photo from the digital camera with a photo on it. The cassette will last for a year, I think.

4. The most favorite and interesting option is when instant photos are woven into some kind of art project, starting from the dress I already mentioned above from photographs and embroidery in photographs and ending with the use of instant photographs in further shooting.

So, one of the photographers who achieved great success on this wave is, by the way, also a Khabarovsk resident - Maxim Zavyalov on his Instagram @mzаviаlov shows very beautiful pictures in this style. His submission even received its own name and the author’s hashtag #timethroughphoto, which many others later began to use, showing similar pictures.

To sum it up, the Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 is undoubtedly a niche toy, but a fun toy. You shouldn’t expect super quality from these photographs (although looking at the photo of the same Maxim one can argue about this), but these photographs are valuable to others.

And you know, even though I immediately gave the camera to a friend after testing, I no longer... no, I don’t regret the gift, I love making them, but I catch myself thinking that I want one again. Or a similar one from the same line. And maybe I’ll buy it, I’d like to shoot “frame within a frame” in the summer.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Instant Camera Review: How to Become a Hipster

Edwin Land liked to repeat: “the only thing that protects our exclusivity is patents.” In total, he has 535 patents, only Thomas Edison has more. It was this business philosophy that helped him win a patent trial against the number one company in the photo industry at the time, Eastman Kodak. The Kodamatic instant camera had a different design from Polaroid. The main difference was the location of the film; in Polaroid cameras the cassette was located at the bottom and the image from the lens was projected using a mirror; in the Kodak camera it was located in the classic place for a camera - at the back, directly behind the lens. Also, the set of photographic materials did not have a battery; the batteries were replaceable and located in the camera itself.

Kodak tried to make his camera better than Polaroid's and made significant changes to the design and reagent recipe, but this did not save him from a lawsuit for violating ten patents at once. The trial lasted 10 years, and in 1986 Kodak announced the abandonment of its own line of instant cameras and paid a record total penalty for lost profits at that time in the amount of $925 million. The progress of this process was followed with particular interest by FujiFilm, and a lawsuit was also filed against them, since their instant camera Fotorama was largely based on improvements from Kodak, and had the same form factor. The Japanese company knew that Polaroid had spent its entire history trying to avoid the label of “one item company” and they had something to offer.

As a result, an exchange of technologies took place, Polaroid began to produce VHS cassettes and Floppy disks, which were so popular in those days, using many years of developments in the field of magnetic media of the Japanese concern, and FujiFilm was able to further develop instant photography technology under its own brand. Well, let's say R&D of the Tokyo concern: bravo! in forecasting the life cycle of a product, they were already ahead of the rest.

But at that time, the Americans felt like winners, because they gave FujiFilm only the Asian market and certain countries like Canada and Australia, but the largest markets of the USA and Europe were closed to them under the terms of the agreement. In 1998, Polaroid's US patent expired and FujiFilm introduced its new Instax line of instant cameras. The American company ceases to be a monopolist in the instant photography market; its shares fall by 44%. There were 3 years left before Polaroid went bankrupt.

Only in 2011, Instax instant cameras officially began to be supplied to Russia. It seems that FujiFilm was waiting for people to finally play enough with digital photography and want something well-forgotten old. Personally, as the owner of the first camera of this line, Instax Mini 10, I was waiting for this advent much earlier, firstly, because the same Polaroid by the mid-90s had enormous popularity in our country, Russia accounted for not much or less in the company’s global sales 2- oh! place after the home market in the USA, secondly, I simply had nowhere to buy cassettes.

The market has long matured, over the past three years, fashionable young people have been buying lomo cameras, and a sufficient number of hipsters have appeared in Russia, hungry for nonconformist cameras. As a result, the company brought the 3rd generation of Instax cameras to Russia: Instax Mini 7s and Instax 210. If, seeing the pot-bellied mini 7s, similar to a large tomagotchi, I imagined it in the hands of Sailor Moon, then the official FujiFilm website thinks differently: “Instant cameras Instax stamps can be useful to specialists who need irrefutable visual evidence or personal identification.” In short, a tender for the supply of Instax to the Ministry of Internal Affairs is just around the corner. And then you see, soon a district police officer with a pink Instax is making bows for brutal lawbreakers - beauty.

In January at CES 2013, Fuji introduced a new model, the Instax Mini 8s. It is the youngest in the Instax line and replaced the popular Mini 7s.

The new camera is available in five colors: black, white, pink, blue and yellow. She doesn’t look so cartoonish anymore, but you will still be asked the question: “God, what is this?”, after all, in certain circles this is also appreciated.

The kit still includes only a wrist lanyard and batteries; only older models are equipped with a lens attachment that allows you to take macro photographs and self-portraits.

Taking the Instax Mini 8 out of the box, the first thing that catches your eye is the reduction in size and weight. Unlike its predecessor, which fit only in a backpack or bag, mini 8s can actually be put in a jacket pocket. This was achieved primarily by reducing the number of batteries, which are standard AA AA batteries. The new camera now runs on only 2 batteries, instead of 4.

Instax Mini 8 Specifications

The second thing we noticed was the smoothly rotating lens ring. Finally, we thought, this is what the user really needed, the ability to focus, if not automatically, but at least manually. We felt cheated when we inserted the batteries. When pulled out, this ring lost its smoothness and turned out to be the exposure mode selector.

The form factor generally remains the same. Only the controls underwent minor changes; they moved to the front part of the body. The camera still turns on by extending the lens, but now there is a special button for this.

The most significant improvement, of course, is the appearance of an active exposure meter. Previous models were deprived of such luxury. The appearance of Instax and the absence of any settings always indicated that this is a toy that even a child can handle. In fact, everything is not so simple. As we understand it, Fuji took on an educational mission and decided to teach its consumers the basics of meteorology, without which it would be difficult to set the correct exposure. How, for example, can you distinguish sunlight from not too sunny, but still bright?! More than one frame was ruined by constant selection of the appropriate mode; every second photograph periodically turned out to be a test photograph and was given as a gift to others as an overexposed artistic exercise. In mini 8, a red light now lights up near the clouds and houses, indicating the optimal settings for this lighting. The only parameter that the camera will not recommend is the new High-Key mode, it is creative, as it adds some glamor to portraits by applying a glow effect.

The main components of a high-quality photograph are the optics and the photographic material used. Neither one nor the other has been changed, so you shouldn’t expect a breakthrough in image quality. If the problem with incorrect exposure selection was solved in this model, then another Achilles heel - the problem with focus, was never corrected in Instax cameras. The lens indicates a range from 0.6 m to ∞. But in fact, this is not the case; after two cartridges, the understanding comes that sharp photographs are obtained at a distance of 0.6 m - 3 m. It will not be possible to shoot a landscape. Even though we no longer study meteorology, we still practice eye training. And so, friends, in order not to make a mistake in choosing the right mode, you can measure the distance to your girlfriend in steps or apply the formula to determine the distance to the object:

D = L x 1000 / A;

where D is the distance to the object; L - linear magnitude of the object (length, height or width); A is the angle at which the linear magnitude of the object is visible; 1000 is a constant value.

If you don't do this, you risk getting blurry and cloudy photos. But if you don’t forget about this feature and learn to feel this “golden mean”, you will get decent pictures.

RESULT

Fuji instax Mini 8 turned out to be a very successful continuation of the line of instant cameras. Yes, it still requires some skill when focusing, it is still large, considering the credit card-sized prints it makes. After all, this is a junior model in the line, pay an extra 1,500 rubles. and you will get a stylish compact mini 25. If the dimensions are not scary, and the camera is not a fashion accessory for you, then feel free to buy mini 8, because most importantly, in the quality of photographs, they are no different. The average cost of a cartridge is 350 rubles. for 10 photos, don’t forget to remind your friends about this when they ask you to give them a couple of cards.

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Introducing a review of the new TV set-top box Mini M8S Pro, which is an improved model of the popular console mini m8s II. The new product is powered by a newer 8-core processor Amlogic S912, has an increased amount of RAM and built-in memory, as well as dual-band Wi-Fi with an internal antenna. Set-top box for sale priced at $55.99(currently on flash sale) for the version with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory.

Mini M8S PRO Specifications:

• Manufacturer: Beelink
• Model Mini M8S Pro
• Process CPU Amlogis S912, 8 core, 64-bit ARM® Cortex™-A53 up to 2 GHz
• Process GPU ARM® Mali™-T820
• RAM (RAM) 2 GB (3 GB)
• Built-in memory (ROM) 16 GB (32 GB)
• Memory card support microSD slot
• Operating system Android 6 Marshmallow
• Support for audio/video formats Multi-format, all formats (HTML5, MKV, MP4, HD ISO, 3D MVC (ISO and MKV), VP9, ​​FLAC, MP3, AC3, etc.)
• Video playback (HW) UltraHD 4K – 60 FPS, HDR, 10-bit HEVC/H.265, VP9, ​​H.264, AVE-10, HD 2.0V, 10-bit HEVC/H.265, H.264/AVC
• Audio playback (SW) HD audio (5.1ch)
• Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac, dual band (2.4 GHz / 5.0 GHz)
• Bluetooth v. 4.0
• Additionally HDMI 2.0, HDMI-SEC
• Connectors 1x HDMI, 1x S/PDIF (2CH, 5.1CH), 2x USB 2.0, 1x micro SD slot, 1x RЈ-45 (1000 Mbit), 1x power connector
• Contents: 1x Smart device, 1x IR Remote control, 1x HDMI cable, 1x Power supply, 1x Manual for use
• Dimensions 110 × 110 × 17.5 m

Package

Mini M8S Pro Packed in a regular cardboard box, painted in traditional blue and red colors. The box describes the main characteristics of the console.

The equipment is minimal, typical for all inexpensive TV set-top boxes:

• TV set-top box
• Remote control
• HDMI cable
• Network adapter
• User guide

Power supply unit with European plug.

Output voltage 5V, current up to 2A.

The HDMI cable is short, about 80 cm long.

The control panel can be said to be classic, like the vast majority of budget set-top boxes.

Despite its apparent simplicity and the lack of programmable buttons, it is quite functional and convenient.

There is a good set of necessary buttons, including: quick launch buttons for the media center, music player, browser, application menu and settings. There is a mouse simulation mode to control the cursor.

The remote control is powered by two AAA batteries.

User manual for quick start, describing basic settings.

Design

The console is made in a black plastic case, which does not have any buttons or ventilation holes. On the top cover there are model inscriptions and several icons describing the main advantages of the console. There is a small hole on the front panel, behind which there is an LED indicator for the operating mode of the set-top box. It does not shine very brightly and, thanks to the small diameter of the hole, does not interfere at all in the dark.

On one of the side walls there is a USB port and a slot for a TF card.

The rear panel contains the following connectors: SPDIF, LAN port, HDMI output, second USB and 5V power connector.

There are no rubber feet on the bottom cover at all. There is a single hole behind which the RESET button is located. The almost complete absence of any ventilation holes is an unusual solution that is found in some other models, for example Beelink GT1. This increases the requirements for the heat dissipation system to avoid overheating of the processor.

Disassembly

The console is quite difficult to disassemble. The bottom plastic cover is attached only with latches and fits very tightly.

On the bottom side of the board you can see two K4B4G1646E DDR3L SDRAM chips with a capacity of 512 MB each. Two more chips are located on the top side of the board.

There is also a button to enter the recovery menu.

Unscrew the four screws and remove the board from the case. A large metal radiator in the form of a thick plate attached to the top cover immediately catches your eye.

The plate covers the processor through a thermal pad and two more RAM chips.

The heart of the console - SoC Amlogic S912. It is based on a new eight-core 64-bit (Cortex-A53) processor operating at frequencies up to 2GHz and integrated Mali-T820MP3 (750MHz) graphics.

The cores are divided into two clusters: one optimized for high performance (big), and the second for low power consumption (little).

Memory module 16 GB eMMC 4.51 Longsys FORESEE NCEMBSF9-16G. Often found in TV boxes, there are no complaints about reliability.

WiFi module (2.4GHz & 5GHz) + Bluetooth 4.1 Aigale AW-CM273SM

10/100/1000M Ethernet transceiver Realtek RTL8211F and galvanic isolation of the LAN port

WiFi Chip Longsys LTM8830 Network: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4GHz / 5.0GHz

The internal WiFi antenna is glued to the top cover.

The board as a whole looks decent, neat soldering. Upon careful examination, you will notice that the board Mini M8S Pro resembles a board Beelink GT1, besides, all the same basic components are used.

Let's also see what hardware is installed using the AIDA64 application:

Inclusion

When you turn on the set-top box, a Windows 10-style boot page appears and after it the initial settings wizard starts. Here you can select the interface language, screen and wireless network settings.

After the first settings, we find ourselves on a brand new desktop, made in the form of large multi-colored tiles on a black background. These are buttons for quick access to multimedia files, an application menu, a settings menu, as well as widgets with a clock, weather, and memory clearing. The bottom row of icons is customizable - for selecting favorite applications. At the very bottom of the screen there are icons for turning off the set-top box and adjusting the sound on the left side and connection status icons on the right side.

There is a top notification bar and a convenient bottom navigation bar, which can be called up by swiping the mouse up.

There are a minimum number of installed applications - a browser, a gallery, a file manager, Miracast, Play Store, a Qodi media center, an Appinstaller application installer, a built-in video player and MX Player, Youtube, an application for updating the firmware and one Chinese game with fish, which unfortunately does not start.

The main settings menu is in the form of large tiles, for easy navigation using the remote control. There are basic settings that allow you to configure the set-top box for comfortable use.

The set-top box supports the HDMI CEC function - it allows you to control both the set-top box and the TV at the same time, provided that the latter supports this feature.

Automatic frame rate switching – HDMI self-adaption

Even more settings in the classic menu.

The gamepad connects quickly via bluetooth and works without problems.

WiFi connection occurs without problems.

Initially, 6.36 GB of internal memory out of 16 GB is occupied. That is, about 10 GB remains for installing applications and storing files.

On average, 645 MB of 1.8 GB are occupied by RAM.

The system is based on Android version 6.0.1

Application for updating firmware over the air or locally. At the moment the latest firmware version is installed and there are no updates.

Built-in applications work flawlessly.

An application for cleaning RAM will help unload and free up RAM. Although 2 GB of RAM is quite enough for ordinary needs, the set-top box does not freeze or slow down.

Miracast– allows you to duplicate everything that happens on the screen of your phone, tablet, or laptop onto your TV.

YouTube– official client for viewing popular video hosting.

Unfortunately, a regular mobile application is installed, which is difficult to control with the remote control, we recommend installing it immediately YouTube for Android TV, for example from here.

App Store Google Play It works fine, applications download and install without problems. All applications and games are available.

Standard browser Google Chrome works great.

Media center QODI version 16.1 without installed add-ons.

Root Checker tells us that superuser rights are set and this is very good.

Testing

The speed of RAM is almost the same as on the Beelink GT1 Ultimate console:

• Mini M8S Pro: 3308.17 Mb/s
• Beelink GT1 Ultimate: 3369.03 Mb/s

The speed of the built-in memory is slightly lower compared to Beelink GT1 Ultimate:

• Mini M8S Pro: Reading: 36.05 Mb/s Entry: 12.16 Mb/s
• Beelink GT1 Ultimate: Reading: 46.47 Mb/s Entry: 21.70 Mb/s

But visually, the set-top box works very quickly, navigating through the menu, launching and ending programs occurs without delay.

Antutu

The Antutu performance test showed a good result of 41093 points (Beelink GT1 Ultimate - only 39079).

Bonsai Benchmark

The sensitivity and speed of WiFi are good. The ability to operate in the 5 GHz band will ensure smooth playback of any online video, including 4K.

Playing video

The set-top box has a QODI media player (Kodi) and MoviePlayer. QODI works very quickly, it starts and, most importantly, closes almost instantly. On other consoles, closing the media player often takes up to tens of seconds. Additionally, MX Player was installed with the HW+ decoder enabled. As expected, there are no problems with video playback.

Thanks to a modern processor, the set-top box supports the latest modes and image profiles: Dolby Vision, HEVC H.265, VP9-10 Profile-2, HDR10. When testing the console for playback of various test videos, including 4K, everything was played back without problems, lags or freezes, rewinding worked perfectly. Processing and mixing 5.1 to 2.0 audio occurs without problems.

Heat

Considering the absence of any ventilation holes on the body, the set-top box perfectly maintains normal temperature conditions. In rest mode, the temperature stays around 60 0 C, and rises to a maximum of 80 0 C when running powerful applications for a long time (watching video with the H.265 codec, playing Asphalt 8, etc.). You can see the temperature values ​​in different modes in all our screenshots above.

Watching online video on this set-top box was checked using the application HD VideoBox, which allows you to watch thousands of movies in excellent quality. There are no complaints about the operation of the application.

Channel viewing was checked using the application Torrent Stream Controller which will allow you to conveniently view hundreds of channels, including HD. This application works flawlessly on the Mini M8S Pro.

Video review (unboxing) of Mini M8S Pro

Conclusion

TV Box Mini M8S Pro at a price $55.99 definitely worth the money.

Pros:
+ High performance
+ Sufficient supply of RAM and internal memory (2Gb/16Gb)
+ There is a top notification bar and a bottom navigation bar
+ No overheating, stable operation
+ ROOT out of the box!
+ Reasonable price

Minuses:
- Total 2 USB ports
- No rubber feet

Order Mini M8S Pro

We thank Gearbest.com for the sample provided for testing. Mini M8S Pro.

Unfortunately, a person cannot be in two places at the same time and keep everything under control. Because of this, parents often worry about their children who have asked to go for a walk away from home; adult children worry about their elderly parents, because because of work they cannot be with them all the time. And, probably, every car owner is familiar with the situation when you need to leave your “iron horse” in one place and go to another city (for example, on a business trip). The lack of personal control makes a person worry about his property, because car thieves have not yet died out, and the most modern alarm system will not protect vehicles from “masters of their craft.”

However, today the situation has changed, thanks to the entry into the market of GPS trackers that allow remote tracking of the location of a vehicle or person. Among these devices, the Mini A8 tracker is considered one of the best models. It is to him that we will dedicate this review.

Equipment and design of GPS tracker Mini A8

The model in question is sold in white and green packaging, which depicts the device itself. The main components of the delivery set are a tracker and a microUSB charging cord. In addition, inside the owner will find instructions for use. True, it will be written only in English and Chinese.

Externally, this device looks like a compact black parallelepiped. Its dimensions are as follows:

• width - 32 mm;
• height - 43 mm;
• thickness - 14 mm.

On the left side of the Mini A8 GPS tracker there is a place for a USB port into which the charging cord is inserted. As decoration on the front part there is the famous logo of the Android operating system - a cute green robot. The model name is displayed in the lower right corner of the tracker; it is also green. There is a removable cover on the back side. Under it the owner will find a slot for a SIM card. On the right side there is a red panic button.

GPS tracker Mini A8: setup instructions and operating features

1. Activate the SIM card on your mobile phone. During activation, be sure to disable the PIN code requests feature.
2. Accept the GPRS Internet settings.
3. Be sure to top up the SIM card you will insert into the device.
4. Open the cover on the back of the tracker and insert the activated SIM card into the slot. Once inserted, the red light next to the slot should light up. This will mean that the device has begun to function. The indicator will burn for 20 seconds and then go out. If the red glow does not appear, this does not mean that the device is broken - it just has depleted battery power. In this case, charge the device (with SIM card) and repeat the procedure.
5. Next, authorize your smartphone. To do this, dial the phone number associated with the tracker SIM card, inserting two letters in front of the numbers - SQ. Now you can use the functions of the Mini A8 GPS tracker from only one phone. This is a big plus for privacy, but sometimes this feature just gets in the way. To remove it, simply send the letters SQ, already known to us, without a phone number to the tracker number.

1. Check the location of the Mini A8 GPS tracker. To do this, you need to send an SMS with the letters DW to the device number. In less than a minute, a message will be sent to your smartphone indicating the exact geographical location of the device. In addition to this, the device will send a link to the location. You can open it if you have at least a weak Internet connection.
2. Listen to the conversation of a person in a car. To do this, you just need to call the tracker number. The handset will go off-hook automatically a few seconds after the call starts. At the same time, the microphone will immediately turn on. This way you will be able to listen to everything that happens in your car. The same function can be used in cases where the tracker is in a person’s pocket. The principle of operation is the same - you need to dial a number.
3. Activate the tracker's automatic call. In this case, the device itself will call you if noise is detected nearby. To enable this function, you need to send a message 1111 to the device number. The described feature can be disabled by sending an SMS with the numbers 0000. This feature can only be used to protect your car. If the device is in your wife's pocket or a child's backpack, it will call you constantly due to the continuous pickup of noise.

As you can see, the entire functioning of the Mini A8 GPS tracker is based on the use of a mobile network. Therefore, you need to periodically top up the balance of the inserted SIM card, otherwise the device will not be able to make calls or send SMS.

Application areas of the mini A8 GPS tracker

1. Track the location of children. You just need to put the device in your jacket pocket or in your child’s backpack, and you will know exactly where your child is and whether he is visiting a place that he did not inform you about. In the case of teenagers, it is better to carry out such surveillance secretly, because they are unlikely to like the fact that you are tracking every step of “already grown and independent people.”
2. Monitor the whereabouts of elderly relatives. If suddenly an elderly mother or father ends up in an unexpected place (for example, a hospital), you can immediately go there and find out what happened.
3. Give additional security to the car. Perhaps this is the main function of the Mini A8 GPS tracker. If you turn on automatic dialing when there is extraneous noise in the cabin, you will immediately understand that someone is trying to steal your vehicle. The quality of the microphone will allow you to hear everything that happens in the cabin. An attacker will not be able to disable the device while manipulating the car, because the tracker does not depend on him in any way. Even if the hijacker discovers the device, his plans will already be known. You will be able to quickly inform law enforcement agencies and the likelihood of a successful theft will be reduced to zero. Of course, the attacker may escape by some miracle, but your “iron horse” will still be found and returned.
4. Track the location of animals. You just need to hang the device on the collar of your dog or cat if you let them go for a walk alone. If alarming suspicions arise, it is enough to do one of the information described above (request for geolocation), and your pet will be found immediately.
5. Control the movement of goods. An extremely useful function for transport logistics workers. With its help, you will be able to completely control the driver (whether he fits into the transportation schedule, whether he is driving along the optimal route, whether he has turned onto an unplanned section of the road, and so on).
6. Conduct wiretapping. This opportunity, at first glance, seems very exotic, although in practice it can bring a lot of benefits. It can be activated in the two ways described above: call the tracker or enable automatic dialing when noise is detected.

Autonomy of GPS tracker Mini A8

Advantages, disadvantages, price of GPS tracker Mini A8

1. Compact dimensions and light weight- you can easily hide the tracker in your car if you want to protect it from theft. Also, the device can be hidden in a child’s jacket pocket or backpack, and he will not sense its presence in any way.
2. Easy operation, for which all you need is a SIM card and a smartphone. No need to download third party applications. All control is carried out via SMS with simple commands.
3. Availability of high quality microphone, which will clearly convey surrounding sounds within a radius of 8 m.
4. High battery life- on one charge the device can function for a week.
5. High precision data transfer- according to the developers, the geolocation accuracy is about 5 m.
6. Versatility- Mini A8 GPS tracker allows you to monitor the location of family members, animals, personal and work vehicles. In addition, it can be used in emergency situations, thanks to the presence of a panic button.

The price of the mini A8 GPS tracker in Russia is 5,980 rubles. However, if there are promotional offers, you can buy it for 2,990 rubles.

Our review of the Mini A8 GPS tracker is complete. As you can see, this model is worthy of attention. It can provide additional security for your relatives, pets and vehicles, and its low price makes it widely available.

Even more information in the following video review: