2013-04-03, 19:37
(This post was last modified: 2013-04-03, 20:00 by reallybigabe.)
Initial Impression... I ordered this on the 30th, only paid a couple of bucks for shipping, and UPS pulled into my driveway behind me yesterday. FAST. That's to a suburb outside Toronto.
Unboxing:
Solid device. A bit wider than I imagined from the pictures (MTF).
The box (like the images) indicate that there is a 'Motion RCU' remote within, and there is NOT. A little miffed. I rechecked the website, and the writing indicates its a plain remote, but the pictures say otherwise.
The AE is just a 'push-in' type. There's no screw or snap, but it seems snug enough for awhile. I don't foresee the greatest longetivity out of it though, especially if you have it extended. It seems like there is a fair bit of outwards pressure on it.
It came with a fair bit of stuff, you can find other reviews of the contents.
First Use:
Hardware
Basically, hardware is nice. It's all solidly built, but the remote has a bit of a flea-market feel when it comes to button feedback. It's a fairly solid click, vice todays modern soft buttons. Considering the arrows are used extensively, it actually makes for a fairly loud viewing experience, especially for someone not watching what you're doing and just hearing a lot of clicking. It's still minor.
Also, like I said, its a little wider than you would guess from the photos, so rather than the sleek idea of just plugging it into the back of my TV and running the IR extension cable, I had to use the included HDMI cable to extend it. I couldn't physically fit it, and another HDMI cable side by side. My TV has 2 at the back and 2 on the side, and I'm not making my TV look like it has a penis. Especially with a colour-changing light on the fishtank next to it, everytime I notice it turn yellow I'm going to laugh with my inner 10-year old for a few minutes.
Software
It came up with a nice 10' interface 'Setup wizard'. Fairly easy, and anything that needed configuring jumped out into the standard Vanilla android screen for said portion (i.e. wifi etc) HOWEVER, the remote and keyboard are a very clunky combination. It's what actually ended my use of it last night. The basic wizard finishes, and then drops out into a vanilla android home screen. The USB didn't recognize the mouse that I just pulled out of my TF700 Transformer and trying to type unbroadcasted SSIDs and WPA passphrases was a schmozzle.
Also, the wallpaper seemed quite grainy, even set at 1080p on both my 42" 240hz LCD and 50" LED. The Android resolution said 1280x720, but the TV said the input was 1080p. Not sure, but I'd stick with the android resolution. It wasn't nearly as nice as my TF700/MHL cable. Angry birds looked sharper with the two side-by-side... however, 1 is a Tegra 3 and the other is a.... who knows.
Another qualm with the software was that it was... for lack of a better term... very asian-y. Things like this just make me cringe on my gadgets. "Some sentence I can't remember.this is a new sentence." It probably won't bug other people, and I know I don't type properly but I hate reading poorly edited documents, especially on a large screen. It reminds me of 14-year olds on BBS systems.
I had a hell of a time getting a decent wifi connection and it's directly above my Access Point (10 feet, max). It would work great browsing (despite typing with the remote being about as easy as herding cats), but the FW update it downloaded took about half an hour. I have solid realistic 80Mbps (100 from my provider minus overhead and wifi) so unless it was a 20GB file thats a crappy speed.
Lastly, at install I said I was in Canada. Then I loaded my precious Play store account with tons of content and purchases on it, and am stuck at .... "Server Error: Retry". With no idea on how to fix it. I've tried clearing cache, wiping apps and reinstalling, disabling system apps, enabling system apps, and again, this is with a constant "Click Click Click Clickclickclick" on a crap-ass OnScreen Keyboard. I'm torqued. Will try a full software-system-reset tonight. I need my Play Store.
Playback:
Nil. Apparently there are fixes from some smart dudes out there, but my jump drive with some 720mkv files on it was very choppy. It has MxPlayer installed, and that played it great, but XBMC did not use Mplayer out of the box. If I just wanted the android OS to play videos, I'd have stuck with my tab. I want integration, or at least a 10' interface. I'm sure I'll find some launchers etc, but whatever backdoor weirdness they've got, its borked my Play Store so I can't try anything new yet.
Overall Impression: So-So.
I've still spent a lot less time dicking around than it took to get the atv working, but it's also nowhere near polished out of the box. I'm not quite ready to return it though, the tinkerer in me is determined. I understand early adoption, but this is definitely still a first-gen beta product. Don't recommend it to grandma or uncle lester just yet.
If anyone wants to point any fixes or workarounds out, let me know. If I find any, I'll return.
