MK808 Quick Review

[deadhp1]

I received my MK808 today.

My first impression are the MK808 looks like a very nice device.

The packaging is slick. It comes in a clear plastic box with:
mini usb to full usb male adapter cable for power
mini usb to full usb female adapter for the OTG port
mini HDMI to full HDMI male adapter cable
and an almost unusable USB power supply.(Did not power my unit properly.

The outer casing of the MK808 feels smooth and rubbery. If anyone has ever felt an older Apple Newton then you know the feeling.
The quality of the build seems impressive.


Upon booting the device I noticed the screen looked stretched. It's not super stretched, but it is still stretched.
I've tried to adjust the resolution settings, but it seems to default back to 1080p no matter what TV or settings I choose.(Still stretched at 1080p)

Video Playback is also stretched, but can be fixed by choosing different options.
Netflix does not have an option for this and video is slightly stretched. I get black bars on the top and bottom.

Audio/Video Sync seem perfect so far. I've tried several videos from avi(divx) to mkv 1080p. All seem to play very well.

Wireless gets a much better signal than the UG802, BUT I cannot connect to my Wifi-N routers. I can connect just fine in G mode. As soon as I set my router to N only mode the MK808 won't connect to it. The UG802 was also able to connect to my Wifi-N only routers. Keep in mind that I'm not even talking about 5Ghz only 2.4Ghz.
When clicking on the connection to my router the MK808 only reports 54g mode.
That's a bit of a let down as I cannot stream 1080p without pauses now.

The MK808 scored 6505 in Antutu. My UG802 score a bit higher at 6821.
This can be chalked up to different versions of Android. The MK808 runs Jelly Bean and the UG802 runs ICS.

Antutu CPU Master reports a maximum speed of 1272Mhz for the MK808. The UG802 was only capable of 1200Mhz.
I've heard that a build of ICS for the MK808 exists with the full 1600Mhz. I'm trying to get my hands on it.

The screen rotation in apps for the MK808 can be a bit annoying. For example in Antutu while doing the graphics tests the screen goes sideways.
This happens in several other apps too.

All in all the MK808 seems like a very nice device with firmware that needs some attention.
Hopefully we will get a firmware update that can correct these problems.

The main problems being Screen Rotation in apps, Wifi N, and Screen Resolution.

[deadhp1]

Another little annoying fact.
The MK808 is missing the option to connect to pc and also missing the enable ADB option.

[userx]

Thanks for the mini review deadhp1
You work is greatly appreciated in the mini HTPC community.

Sounds like another can of worms that need fixing In the firmware.
But if all the bugs can be fix its another option out there for us.

Why would they hard code 1080p? Thats not very smart.
The power supply problem was reported by another review. Bad quality control.
The wifi stuck on "g" signal is a deal breaker. Major flaw in firmware or hardware.

Looking forward to a full review. Thanks

[alexinc]

thx for review. i guess many of us are waiting for even deeper comparison between ug802 and mk808, as we are still considering sending ug802 back because of its flaws in hw-design and software bugs. ugoos should come up with a better working rom asap, otherwise my (and i guess lots of other devices) may get returned!?

[deadhp1]

Thanks for the mini review deadhp1
You work is greatly appreciated in the mini HTPC community.

Sounds like another can of worms that need fixing In the firmware.
But if all the bugs can be fix its another option out there for us.

Why would they hard code 1080p? Thats not very smart.
The power supply problem was reported by another review. Bad quality control.
The wifi stuck on "g" signal is a deal breaker. Major flaw in firmware or hardware.

Looking forward to a full review. Thanks

I agree that the G mode wifi is not right. I was a little pissed when I found that considering it says it supports N.

I can drop the resolution down to 720x480 and it changes, and it can goto 720p, but if you go back to settings later it will say 1080p.

I really want to try the ICS firmware, the JB firmware just seems immature.

edit: another annoying thing. I play a lot of hd movies from an ftp server on my lan. With the ug802 I can skip forward without a problem. The mk808 does not like this. It will not continue the movie. It just sits there.

[geekbuying]

Hi ,OP, Thanks for your fast reply.

This is geekbuying.com .

Now we are working with the MK808 factory directly, and we have reported all of the bugs you are talking. I get some information, and want to share with you guys:

1 about the 802.11 N wifi problem, the factory told us ,it can support N for sure, we will have a test tomorrow (now it is night here) ,and ask the factory to give us proof;

2 about the cpu speed, with the antutu test, we get 1.27Ghz, and 6784 score. before it release, some seller said it is 1.6Ghz, in fact, for the rockchip rk3066 chip, in some tablet, it can run @1.5Ghz, factory told us they want to control the OS steady,and the heat, so they have to reduce the frequency. but they promise me , they will offer me two firmware tomorrow, one is ICS with 1.6Ghz CPU, and the other is JB with 1.6Ghz CPU, we will release that firmware in our offical blog: it is blog.geekbuying.com.

3 about the stretched problem you are talking, we test with the 17" monitor, it is normal, don't have the stretched problem, maybe you can try on different size TV to check;

4 About the other problem you are not mentioned, which charger do you get? i think most other seller in market sell this mk808 with 5V / 1A charger, that is not good for this mk808, when you run some heavy app or antutu test in some big size TV,it will freeze with the 5v / 1A charger, so we geekbuying.com has changed all of the charger to 5v/2A version.

We are the first seller to sell this MK808 and now we working with the factory directly. we want to help our customers to fix any problem they have.

In the end, thanks for your first review, OP. you did a great work.

[desmond]

I read from some seller show external SD card max is 32GB and geekbuying.com state only 16GB. Anyone can confirm which is true and can it support class 10

[BooLE]

Hi ,OP, Thanks for your fast reply.

This is geekbuying.com .

Now we are working with the MK808 factory directly, and we have reported all of the bugs you are talking. I get some information, and want to share with you guys:

Hi geekbuying,

can you please share the name of the factory, since I know that deadhp1 and me are in contact with Shenzhen Tomato that claim to be factory that produces mk808.

[deadhp1]

Geekbuying,
I have tried the mk808 on 5 different TV's. They all show the stretching problem. Even if I set the TV to 1:1 mode.
I'm looking forward to your firmware.

[userx]

Geekbuying

Why does the mirco SD card slot only support up to 16GB?
From you site... SUPPORT SD Card: 1GB-16GB

Can you use a larger micro SD like 32GB?
Could you get the manufacture to support this.

Also can the manufacture offer a unit with built in Bluetooth support on chip.
A lot of people want this feature. Bluetooth support on-chip and in firmware support.

deadhp1 also mentioned in the software, the development option connecting to PC and usb debugging have been removed from the firmware. Can this please be put back into the firmware. We as users want full control of all setting.

If the manufacture could release the kernel source code to developers they would be able to customize the unit to are liking. User made ROMS and features would increase sales dramatically. This would result in more sales for you and more people demanding the product. User customization will drive future sales. If not people might pass on this unit and look for other units with these options. Users want both a stable unit with full control of firmware for development.

Thanks userx