2024 TOX4 Android 13 64bit TV Box Is Finally Here

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What’s happening everyone I hope you are having  a great day, my name is Nick and today I have   a very special Android TV box release. This is the TOX4 Android 13 TV Box. It’s   their latest 2024 release running  on the Rockchip RK3528 chipset.  TOX boxes have the same features as the Ugoos  models, so let’s see how it does on this chipset.  My review begins right after this. So am back, and let’s take   a look at what’s in the box. You have the new TOX4, you get one   infrared remote and am a little disappointed that  they did not include a wireless Bluetooth model. 

You get one HDMI cable, a 5V 2A  DC power supply, and a manual.  So the design of the model has not changed. It has  a black plastic ship with ventilation holes both   at the top and below for maximum ventilation. For Connecting ports it has one HDMI port, one   ethernet LAN, and its 5V two arms  USB type C power delivery port. 

To decide it has one USB 3.0, another  2.0, and a microSD card slot reader.  At the front you have an LED  display and a power light,  and to its base has four antiskid rubber feet,  a reset button, with lots of ventilation holes.  So the bootup feature a simple TOX  animation then you are presented   with the option of two launchers. A TOX launcher which is designed   to be navigated with its direction pad  and is ideal for the included IR remote.  And if you prefer to navigate with  a wireless air mouse, PC mouse,   or mini touchpad keyboard the quickstep  launcher will be your likely option as it   provides mobile phone like features such as long  click the menu pop-ups, drag-and-drop shortcuts,   custom wallpapers, split screen feature, etc. Even though both launchers are different you have  

access to a navigation bar, a new app dock,  and a full status bar with system controls.  The navigation bar’s recent apps feature works  perfectly and it also features split-screen.  The app dock can hold a maximum of four shortcuts  by simply dragging and dropping, and the entire   navigation bar automatically hides when playing  a video or app that requires full-screen. 

You also have the option to change your  wallpaper or you can also use a live wallpaper.  For basic system information under its about  section it shows here that its operating   system is Android 13, and its firmware was  compiled using the Android TV OS SDK. However,   if you navigate to the Google Play Store  you will see that it’s the mobile version,   so this firmware is what I term a hybrid firmware. This is his current firmware build information  

and you have access to developer options. Once I connected to my Internet I was prompted   with my very first firmware update.  In similar fashion to Ugoos models,   TOX models receive regular firmware updates. Once completed and the system was rebooted I   was prompted with yet again another update. What makes TOX boxes stand out from the rest   is their unique firmware features. There are  lots of people who believe Android boxes are   only for watching movies, but what they do not  know is that you can do so much more with the   box once it has the right features. So I will just take a moment to  

highlight these unique features before  I move on to its live demonstrations,   to show you why TOX in my opinion is one of  the best in the industry only second to Ugoos.  For display, you have 4K 60 Hz resolution. It  also features HDR, however, the auto-adaptive   HDR feature is enabled by default, and to  disable HDR if your TV does not support it,   there is an option under format selection  that I will show you in just a moment.  You have up to 12 bit color mode  for those who have high-end TVs.  There is a feature called frame buffer size I  recommend you set it to 1080p. It will increase  

the sharpness and detail of your display.  However if you set it to 2160p it will be   too high and even though the display will look  even better, it will start to throttle resulting   in poor mouse cursor and direction pad navigation. If you have a vertical display or monitor rotated   to vertical portrait mode which is very popular  these days for watching tik-tok, Instagram, reels,   and YouTube shorts. You can change the boxes  orientation to fixed vertical portrait mode,   reverse portrait mode, and reverse landscape mode. You can also set the orientation policy from fixed   orientation to free-form orientation to change  automatically based on the requirement of the app.  

Someone once asked what is the purpose of screen  rotation well now you know. Just another one of   the handy ways you can apply an Android box. You can change the size of the text on the   launcher this can come in handy if your  display is small or at a distance off   from where It’s being viewed you can increase  the size of the text making it easier to read.  A feature easily overlooked but used by many  is auto framerate switching when playing videos   that have different frame rates this ensures  that the videos please seamlessly without you   having to manually adjust each time you  play a different video type or format. 

Under video format selection here you can  enable or disable HDR or HLG depending   on what features your TV have. Also, it shows  Below here that the box does not support Dolby   Vision or HDR10+. videos with these two missing  formats may play, but the audio will not process.  Under input and devices is where  you will find your HDMI CEC options.  It has Mouse pointer options which can control the  right-click mouse function as the back function,   and you can also enable left-click to  function as a touchscreen function. 

You have menu button options  that apply special functions   to the menu button on the IR remote as  well as any connected wireless air mouse.  It has a button mapper application to map  buttons on the remote to special functions.  You can change the mode of its  USB ports which comes in extremely   handy for networking with home servers and  other devices to read and transfer files.  Under channels and interface, you can enable or  disable the navigation bar and status bar, and   you can also change the style of the navigation  bar from the new style with the app dock, to the   classic style with the standard navigation bar. You have advanced Hardware monitor options.   These are for hardware enthusiasts who would  like to monitor everything about the box from   CPU temperature, CPU speed, CPU usage, memory  usage, CPU load, and many others parameters. 

It allows you to feature these monitors in  the status bar as well as on a draggable   semitransparent window that appears as an  overlay while gaming or watching video content.  If you install any alternative launcher you can  easily switch between them under home screen tab.  Under animations, you can speed  up the interface by changing the   speed of the animation transition scales. Under power, you have options to control   the LED power light, the LED screen, Screensaver  option, and other power key definition options.  Under storage, you can format external storage to  shared internal storage, and it’s where you can   find your Samba server and client/server features. There are many who frown on root access on their  

Android devices. So it comes not rooted  out-of-the-box. However, there are advanced   users who would like to have root access to  the core filesystems. For this, it comes with   the option to enable the Magix application once  installed and restarted you will gain root access.  Under additional settings, it grants you  access to the default system settings   outside of the Android user interface. And for surround sound audio please note! 

If you connect the box to a TV that does not  support Surround sound audio when you open   the advance audio section under supported  formats it will show that all Surround   sound audio decoders on supported. However if you connect it to a TV,   a soundbar system, or and AV receiver, that  supports Surround sound audio and restart the   box and return to the advance sound settings you  will now see that all Surround sound audio formats   are supported so please take note of that. So that’s quite the list, and it’s the same   unique features you get with Ugoos boxes because  it’s actually manufactured in the same factory.  So let’s look at its system  and hardware information.

So here in AIDA64 it shows that the manufacturer  Rockchip. It comes with 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and 32GB   of eMMc internal storage, with Bluetooth 5.0. Its CPU is the Rockchip RK3528 which is a   quad core cortex A53 processor clocked at 2.0 GHz,  and get this is configured in 64-bit mode, which  

means that it supports 64-bit apps and games. I have openly criticized this CPU for poor   performance and outdated GPU. But here I’m  seeing that TOX is pushing the boundaries   of this chipset with 64-bit architecture and  high CPU clock speeds. So hold your breath   and let’s see how it performs for the rest of is  video but so far it’s looking pretty impressive.  For display this is where I have an issue. Its  powered by the Mali 450 with OpenGL ES 2.0. This  

is an outdated GPU however seeing that TOX is  working some magic with this chipset let’s see   how it performs in the gaming segment. Its network adapter provides dual band   Wi-Fi and it’s an 802.11 AC adapter, but currently  connected to my Wi-Fi 6 AX router without issues.  Its Android version is Android  13 Tiramisu, and it’s not rooted.  Under devices is more concerning as it  shows that it does not have Vulkan support. 

Surprisingly its idle operating temperature  is around 48°C and we will monitor during the   gaming segment to see how high it increases. And  I can already tell you that if you intend gaming   on this box it will require an active cooling fan. And for video and audio decoders we start to see   some caveats where it only has 4K HDR decoders  listed. There is no AV1 decoder or Dolby Vision  

decoder. There are also no surround sound audio  decoders. However not to worry because I have   some good news. Even though it does not  have surround sound audio decoders listed,   it does support all Surround sound audio formats  at the software level as I show you later in the   video. But it does not have the AV1 decoder. And that’s its system and hardware information.  So now that I have gotten all the  Hardware stuff out of the way let’s   now look at its entertainment features. First off, it’s not Google-certified,  

as it only has Google Widevine Level 3 with  no HDCP protection. All this simply means is   that it cannot stream subscription services  such as Netflix, Disney plus, Prime Video,   Max, and others in HD or 4K because it does not  have the required security level from Google,   and its HDMI signal is not encrypted to  protect its outgoing video signal from piracy. As mentioned in the features segment,   out-of-the-box its firmware is not rooted  as shown here by the root checker app.  If you need root access, go to the settings area  Under the superuser section, and enable the Magisk   option. Please take note of the warning. It will require you to restart.  Once rebooted you need to open the app section  and update the Magisk app to the latest version.  

Once that is done you can check with root checker  again and it will show that the box is now rooted. Playing YouTube videos at 4K 2160p at 60 Hz  is not an issue for this box however due to   its UI resolution scale it’s cropped  into a 1080p frame as shown here under   the stats for nerds information. In Ugoos boxes there is an option   to release the frame to its full 4K  resolution which results in the UI   displaying very tiny icons and texts. That  feature is not available on this firmware.  For mobile screen mirroring unfortunately  this box does not come with the official   version of Miracast. As an alternative it   comes with the Airscreen app and this app  is also available on the Google Play Store.  With the Airscreen app you can mirror your mobile  phone using a basic screen casting application   or you can use the Google home app. The quality is not in HD but it is usable.

For customizing your launcher besides  the two launchers included with the   firmware you can install any  alternative launcher and they   are compatible with this firmware.  You can also use live wallpapers. So Now for some 4K video playback. In  this test were looking for HDR10 and   HLG. I don’t expect it to play AV1 or  Dolby Vision as there are no decoders.  So this video is encoded with  HDR10 plays without issues.  The AV1 video if you try  to play it nothing happens.  This is a Dolby Vision video but it plays as HLG. 

This is an HDR10 plus video   and it plays with no audio. Official Dolby Vision videos   with Dolby Atmos nothing happens. And here is an official HLG encoded   video and triggers the feature  and plays smoothly without issues.

Next you have its Surround sound audio  capabilities. Remember, the Surround sound   audio feature only activates when it’s connected  to a TV that supports Dolby Atmos and DTS audio,   a soundbar, or AV receiver. Also, it’s  recommended that you use the VLC player   with audio pass-through enabled in the settings  area. If you use the MX player, you will not get   the various Surround formats. So this is a Dolby Atmos.  Dolby Digital Plus. It produces DTS HD Master audio. 

You get a Dolby Surround. It can play Dolby TrueHD.  And DTS X. So even though there are   no surround sound audio decoders listed it can  indeed play all Surround sound audio formats. For 3D gaming its bittersweet because yes  the box is configured in 64-bit mode and its   CPU is clocked at 2.0 GHz but it does not have  Vulkan support and the Mali 450 only supports   up to Open GL ES version 2.0 which restricts  it from a lot of modern high graphics games   on the Play Store, where a lot of apps are  citing that it’s not compatible with the box. 

Even games that do manage to install  you have to run them on the lowest   graphics settings to avoid throttling. During gaming its temperature maintains   around 68°C without a cooling fan  which is pretty good but gaming   is where this box is at its weakest. Now for some benchmarks and where it   ranks on my chart. First the speeds  of its RAM and internal storage. 

Surprisingly it has a RAM copy speed of 4932  MB/s. Its internal storage has a read speed   of 179 MB/s and a write speed of 86 MB/s. The  average RAM copy speed for boxes is around 3600. Next in testing the speed of its dual Wi-Fi  bands and its ethernet LAN port on my 315 Mbps   Internet speed. Its 5 GHz band and its LAN  port achieved the maximum speed of my network,   it also indicates that it’s LAN port is a  gigabit LAN port. Its 2.4 GHz band on the  

other hand achieved around 112 Mbps which in my  opinion is still very good for the 2.4 GHz band. When benchmarking its CPU’s single-core  and multicore performance the Geekbench 5   CPU benchmark registered a score of  149 single-core and 451 multicore.  When I attempted to run the 3DMark graphics  benchmark it didn’t qualify for any of the   benchmark tests as all these tests require Open  GL version 3.0 and the box only has 2.0 support. And in the Antutu benchmark version 8 because   that’s the only version I can get  it to complete, it scored 72,728.  That’s the last of the benchmarks let’s  now see where it places on my chart. So the scores are in, and the TOX4 at the  time of making this video ranks at position   98 based on its Antutu benchmark score  and I give it a 3 out of 5-star rating   which was determined by the lack of  Vulkan support, and the Mali 450 GPU.

To view and to compare boxes on this chart I  placed a link in the description below is video. In summary. I am impressed with the way the managed   to implement all these premium unique features  on this chipset and it’s the best I have seen   squeezing every ounce of power it can provide. But in doing so they could not escape the fact   that its GPU is weak and outdated,  and it showed during the 3D gaming   demonstration and in its benchmarks. However, if you are not interested in  

gaming then for $60 this is an excellent Android  TV box to purchase. You get 4K HDR display,   the box is not slow at all, you get all the unique  firmware features seen in Ugoos models, you got   root access, Android mobile launcher features,  it’s configured in 64-bit mode, and much more.  To top it off they should have  included a Bluetooth air mouse remote. So there you have it this was my review of  the latest TOX4 Android TV box. If you are  

interested you can get on Amazon and on AliExpress  depending on which region you live. See the links   in the description to check it out. If you want the model featured in   this video at a reduced price contact  me directly at tvboxstop@gmail.com and   I’ll be happy to hook you up. Thanks for watching, as usual   give this video the thumbs up support  to this channel if you would like to   receive notifications about open box deals, new  product video releases, or surprise giveaways,   then click the subscribe button and ring  the notifications bell to ensure that you   are notified as soon as they are released. I appreciate you taking the time to which   is video, stay connected and  I’ll see you in the next one

2024-07-30

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