Autumn Bumper Harvest from Gearbest

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Review of the Beelink GT1 from Gearbest

Hello guys,

This time i'm gonna present you one of the most elegant Android TV Boxes i've seen so far which you can get from Gearbest by visiting the Official Gearbest Product Page

It comes from Beelink, a very well known Chinese Android Mini PC manufacturer and it is called the Beelink GT1

Now it may look beautiful but does it have what it takes to compete with it's rivals in the Android TV Box market?  Let' s find out




In the Box
It comes in a very nice black box with the Beelink logo and the moto ''Create a Simple Lifestyle'' written on it with silver letters and the back of the box we see the device's basic specs which i'll analyze later

Opening the box we get
  • The Beelink GT1 itself
  • A User's Manual
  • An HDMI Cable
  • The AC Adapter rated at 5V 2A
  • An IR Remote Controller
So we see the basic package for almost all android tv boxes , nothing more, nothing less






Looks, Ports, & Build Quality
The Beelink GT1 is very very elegant and it looks like a very high quality product

The top part looks like glass but i think it's plastic, i'm not sure though. It has a very nice pattern with dots and the Beelink logo which seems to be printed beneath the glass



The bottom part is made from a rubbery plastic and we can see the device's rating which is 5V 2A

On the left side we have the MicroSD Card Slot as well as a USB 2.0 Port


On the back we have the remaining ports which are
  • An SPDIF Optical Audio Output
  • The Ethernet Port
  • The HDMI Output
  • Another USB 2.0 Port
  • And the DC Input
Looking at the front we only see the white operation LED which is not distracting for the eyes and it looks good


Overall the build quality is excellent and you will be very pleased by the device's appearance as it will perfectly fit next to your TV



Software
Beelink has installed the very well known to us Mediabox Launcher which is basic and very easy to use with the included IR Remote


There is the main page where we see some tiles which include, Kodi, Goole Play Store, Browser, File Explorer, Settings, Favourites, a Task Manager and an App Drawer, on the other two pages you can add any app shortcut you like and access it with ease



Going into the settings we see that the device is running Android 6.0.1 and we also have some very good features like HDMI Frame Rate Adaptation which gives us a more cinematic feel when watching movies and HDR display




Personally i prefer to use a third party launcher like NOVA Launcher because it is closer to the stock Android and you can use your favourite live wallpaper as a background as well as add widgets and mess with the launcher's settings



Browsing the internet on this device is quite a smooth experience as well as watching videos on Youtube and having multiple apps open at the same time




Specs
The Beelink GT1 is a quite powerful mini pc featuring
  • An Octa Core Amlogic S912 CPU running at 2 Ghz max
  • A Mali T820 GPU
  • 2 GB of DDR3 Ram
  • 16 GB of internal storage
  • Android 6.0.1
The device also features a temperature sensor which helps you monitor the CPU temperature at all times and know if your mini pc has thermal issues. A very handy feature that most Android tv boxes lack





Benchmarks
To show you the device's performance i ran some benchmarks and got these results













The scores were a bit higher than most Adnroid TV Boxes i've reviewd before and this shows that the Beelink GT1 is indeed more powerful than its competition

During the test the tv box got a little hot to the touch but it's nothing to worry about because the temperature didn't reach at dangerous levels


Kodi & Video Playback
Before i go into Kodi ran the usual Antutu Video Tester and the results were pretty good





Kodi is preinstalled and you get excellent performance and very smooth video playback
As you can see the CPU isn't strained at all which means that you more than enough power to run it




I was also surprised that the GT1 can playback H.265 files through Kodi. It is the first TV Box i' ve tried so far that managed to do this without using an external player



Now all the test videos i tried playbacked excellent from an external HDD without the need for an extra power supply









Wifi Reception
The WiFi reception is excellent and you will get great speeds with no disconnections and slow connectivity



Gaming
Gaming on the Beelink GT1 is great and the device is very versatile because you can play Android games from the Google Play Store, other platform games through emulators or even stream your PC games through the moonlight app and play them on your TV
















The best part is that it natively supports external USB gamepads so it's like having a very tiny yet powerful gaming console in your living room

Conclusion
The Beelink GT1 is an excellent Android Mini PC and an all around performer

So if you want a beautiful and stylish TV Box which couples as an excellent media player, a gaming console and an Android Desktop then the GT1 is for you

Personally i didn't experience any issues with this device

The only thing that bothered me a little was the fact that in order to plug in the external HDD or even a USB 3.0 hub, i had to power off the device, connect the hub or the HDD and then switch it back on because when i tried to connect them while the GT1 was on it was switching off

But when i connected an XBox 360 Gamepad through usb or a USB flash drive, the tv box remained on

That was a little bizarre and it might be a deal breaker for some but i didn't mind because i ususally connect everything before i switch on my device


Pros
  • Looks
  • Performance
  • Build Quality
  • Price
  • Size
  • External USB Gamepad Support
  • HDR mode
  • HDMI Framerate Adaptation
  • Excellent WiFi reception
  • Excellent video playback
  • Smooth Kodi Operation
  • Great Gaming Experience

Cons
  • Only 2 USB 2.0 Ports
  • You have to connect an external HDD or a USB Hub before you power on the device
  • Could be a little bit hot during intensive tasks
To order visit
The Official Gearbest Product Page


Watch my Video Review
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