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Amazon.ca

Samix r95 2gb ram Android box $49.99 - $5 coupon.

  • Last Updated:
  • Apr 17th, 2021 5:38 pm
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Sr. Member
Jul 11, 2017
960 posts
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[Amazon.ca] Samix r95 2gb ram Android box $49.99 - $5 coupon.

Good price on a good box, looks like it's actually better than the mibox? Has lan and optical audio.
Last edited by TomRFD on Dec 3rd, 2017 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: retailer edit
38 replies
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Aug 21, 2007
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Bella125 wrote: Good price on a good box, looks like it's actually better than the mibox? Has lan and optical audio.
Mibox supports HD netflix, this doesn't
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Jul 3, 2017
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Yes, good choice. It has (or claims to have) the S905X chip rather than the recently-released cheaper and lower-performance S905W chip that everyone is starting to use.

Go for the 16 Gbyte version for $4 more like Paigne suggested - it has Bluetooth as well. Ordered, thanks OP and Paigne.

On both 8 and 16 Gbyte boxes the Wifi is weak internal 2.4 GHz. Both are on Android 6.0, and will never be updated. But you can't have everything.

Xiaomi Mi Box has the advantage of being a true Android TV box rather than a tablet version of Android ported to an Android media player, and it does support HD Netflix as well as acting as a Chromecast receiver. But it's more than twice the price and has no LAN port.

None of these Android media players support HD Netflix - it's a DRM issue, not a technical performance issue. There are some hacks which may work around it. But personally I don't care, I have a Roku box for that.
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Apr 2, 2017
339 posts
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Exp315 wrote: Yes, good choice. It has (or claims to have) the S905X chip rather than the recently-released cheaper and lower-performance S905W chip that everyone is starting to use.

Go for the 16 Gbyte version for $4 more like Paigne suggested - it has Bluetooth as well. Ordered, thanks OP and Paigne.

On both 8 and 16 Gbyte boxes the Wifi is weak internal 2.4 GHz. Both are on Android 6.0, and will never be updated. But you can't have everything.

Xiaomi Mi Box has the advantage of being a true Android TV box rather than a tablet version of Android ported to an Android media player, and it does support HD Netflix as well as acting as a Chromecast receiver. But it's more than twice the price and has no LAN port.

None of these Android media players support HD Netflix - it's a DRM issue, not a technical performance issue. There are some hacks which may work around it. But personally I don't care, I have a Roku box for that.
FWIW, an S905W based box was listed for $9 today. Depending on your needs, that might suffice.
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Jul 3, 2017
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piperdaddy wrote: FWIW, an S905W based box was listed for $9 today. Depending on your needs, that might suffice.
I saw that Ebay scam, thanks. Common sense should tell you not to bite. I don't need to go through the hassle of canceling via Paypal when the fraud becomes clear.
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Feb 19, 2017
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piperdaddy wrote: FWIW, an S905W based box was listed for $9 today. Depending on your needs, that might suffice.
If the price seems too hot be true and from a relatively unknown seller (or seller other/unrelated items)... odds are you wont get what you ordered.

This is filled by Amazon so its not really a comparable item (since fulfilled by amazon means its shipped from Amazons warehouse so at least you should get the right item).
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Nov 21, 2002
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own it its a piece of junk. Launcher keeps giving errors needing a reset, sluggish with very little apps no support at all. Expected some advantage with 2gb. About the only brite side is it has decent cooling it doesn't feel burning hot. Wifi is usesless.

That said fine with libreelec. Anyone got a link to the box's stock firmware can't find it anywhere myself
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Jul 3, 2017
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lead wrote: own it its a piece of junk. Launcher keeps giving errors needing a reset, sluggish with very little apps no support at all. Expected some advantage with 2gb. About the only brite side is it has decent cooling it doesn't feel burning hot. Wifi is usesless.
You say that like you were expecting a cheap Android media player to be different.... :)

If you aren't prepared for those things, then a better choice would be the Minix U1, which was on sale on Amazon.ca yesterday for $98. That's a premium version of these boxes with faster memory, more stable firmware, and much better WiFi. But it was only on sale that cheap because it's now getting pretty old (stuck on Android 5.1, never to be updated). And the price is back up closer to $150 today.

For half the price you get a box that about 70% works when you get it, and can be brought up to 90% with a little work for the apps you care about.
Last edited by Exp315 on Dec 3rd, 2017 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Nov 21, 2002
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Exp315 wrote: You say that like you were expecting a cheap Android media player to be different.... :)

If you aren't prepared for those things, then a better choice would be the Minix U1, which was on sale on Amazon.ca yesterday for $98. That's a premium version of these boxes with faster memory, more stable firmware, and much better WiFi. But it was only on sale that cheap because it's now getting pretty old (stuck on Android 5.1, never to be updated). And the price is back up closer to $150 today.

For half the price you get a box that about 70% works when you get it, and can be brought up to 90% with a little work for the apps you care about.
If its s905x all the hardware is roughly the same its the software and driver support and uboot that is dependent on what the soc releases and how the brand keeps up with it.

All mini-x ever did was re-compile and back port later android updates to their older builds and throw an external antenna on it. If you were lucky,,,, and only if it was easy enough for them to do it. But thats it!! Each chip gets a release with an android sdk how far that goes depends on the level of programming supplied by the seller.

Buy brand if you want the android environment they make money in the software vs the hardware sales so they have to support it. If you must buy a no name cheap android device. First google if you can't find its stock firmware very easily. If not..... don't touch the thing.

I paid 40 bucks for it shipped over a year ago. Its android was horrid but throw libreelec on it and its as good as anything with 100mbs ethernet. Its 2.4ghz wifi with internal antenna don't expect anything above 60 mbps. Plus you can't find the stock firmware for it. I never found it
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I received it from Amazon this morning after ordering last night, so that was quick. Seems exactly as expected.

- Software load is Android 6.01 + apps from August 2016, unchanged from the original release, including of course a lot of apps and plugins that no longer work, so cleanup is required.

- 2.4 GHz WiFi is awful, barely functional, just like my last Android media player. It doesn't seem to depend on proximity to the router, so likely a defective implementation affecting all the boxes using the same chipset (upload runs at twice the speed of download!)
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If you have never tried a mibox (xiaomi), you will never understand that this is not a question of hardware but of software. Mibox runs everything i want it to, updates properly and the software is a pleasure to work with.
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superxxxstud wrote: If you have never tried a mibox (xiaomi), you will never understand that this is not a question of hardware but of software. Mibox runs everything i want it to, updates properly and the software is a pleasure to work with.
I think everyone does understand that, but it currently costs $130, which is a different ballpark than these < $50 boxes, even though the performance specs are similar and Xiaomi cheaped out by only including 8 Gbytes of storage and not including an ethernet port.

It means you have a bit more of a struggle fixing bugs and bypassing stuff that just doesn't work with the poorly-tested and unsupported cheap boxes, but once you get the apps you want working, it works well enough. And a bunch of money stays in your pocket that you can use to upgrade next time.
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Exp315 wrote: I received it from Amazon this morning after ordering last night, so that was quick. Seems exactly as expected.

- Software load is Android 6.01 + apps from August 2016, unchanged from the original release, including of course a lot of apps and plugins that no longer work, so cleanup is required.

- 2.4 GHz WiFi is awful, barely functional, just like my last Android media player. It doesn't seem to depend on proximity to the router, so likely a defective implementation affecting all the boxes using the same chipset (upload runs at twice the speed of download!)
If you have a router or wifi extender sitting around, it is best to connect to one. Without one, I have improved my android box wifi significantly with just getting a 6 inch wire soldered to the internal antenna going through a hole drilled on the casing.
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Keny wrote: If you have a router or wifi extender sitting around, it is best to connect to one. Without one, I have improved my android box wifi significantly with just getting a 6 inch wire soldered to the internal antenna going through a hole drilled on the casing.
Good to know, thanks. I normally use powerline or coax ethernet anyway to avoid WiFi interference, but that would be worth trying. I actually have a high-gain external WiFi antenna that connects to a standard threaded antenna socket. I wonder if I could adapt that. I don't know where I could get one of those threaded sockets to install in the case - maybe an old router due to be discarded.

But I honestly wonder if improving the signal it would help the WiFi throughput. The fact that throughput doesn't improve close to the router, and that the upload speed is double the download speed, suggests that there's an implementation bug causing a bottleneck rather than just a poor antenna. FWIW, my previous Android media player with Amlogic 805 chip behaves exactly the same, while my Roku 2 box and Chromecast v1 at the same location stream 1080p without problems on 2.4 GHz WiFi from the same router. And they both have even smaller internal antennas.
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Exp315 wrote: I received it from Amazon this morning after ordering last night, so that was quick. Seems exactly as expected.

- Software load is Android 6.01 + apps from August 2016, unchanged from the original release, including of course a lot of apps and plugins that no longer work, so cleanup is required.

- 2.4 GHz WiFi is awful, barely functional, just like my last Android media player. It doesn't seem to depend on proximity to the router, so likely a defective implementation affecting all the boxes using the same chipset (upload runs at twice the speed of download!)
The problem was mostly the android sdk support. Not an issue with fireos but things were substantially improved with nougat you got proper wifi drivers. The firestick and mibox will do with ac +200 mbps if your router is stable and capable of it. The biggest problem is alot of stock router/modems just don't do wifi well at all. Lots of fast disconnect /reconnects and wifi drop outs.

But any androidbox with no quality control=broken uboots,horrid remotes,poor cooling, improper placement of internal wifi,no shielding, sub par psu and basically asop android with apps...yeah they can be just dam junk.

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