This keyboard/mouse combination is a great addition for anyone looking for a more customary interface with an Android box, Nvidia Shield, etc.
The keyboard is responsive, consistent, has a good feedback feel and is small enough to keep on the coffee table without looking too geeky. The mouse has adjustable DPI and works great in place of finger swipes on game menus and touch sensitive apps.
Both devices link to the same USB dongle. This is great for Android TV boxes, where USB ports always seem to be at a premium. Heck, even the Nvidia Shield only has two. I haven't tried this combo with windows or MAC but have no reason to think the result would be any different. The devices are plug and play on android.
If you'll be using this combo in the living room, i'd recommend a nice lap desk. Other than that, you can't go wrong with this well-built set for less than the price of a good wireless mouse. Go for it.
If you game in the dark, a lighted keyboard is an absolute must.
This great keyboard from Rii gives you a choice of three lighting colors, all easy on the eyes but great for identifying those less often used keys in a dark room. We all know you're going to spend most of your time with your fingers on the movement buttons and the space bar. This keyboard gives you the advantage of finding keys you're not resting on with just a glance, while keeping your room dark to allow full immersion in your game.
The other advantage of this Rii keyboard is the great feel. It feeds back to your fingers like the mechanical keyboards of old that we all love. That's great not just for gaming, but for those of us who touch-type, it's a feeling we forgot we missed.
You could spend a lot more on a keyboard, but i'm not sure why you would.
Extremely light but very well-built, this versatile controller is well worth a look for Android gamers.
The controller paired easily with my Nvidia Shield and with my BLU R1 HD. Buttons and sticks are very responsive with no more lag than any Bluetooth controller (blame the protocol, not the device). Playing Riptide Renegade and Asphalt 8 was a pleasure. Even platformers like Leo's Fortune were eminently playable with this controller.It charges quickly and holds it's charge. It feels great in the hand, especially if you're more accustomed to an Xbox One controller than to the parallel sticks of a PS4.
The Transport controls are great for video and audio playback and the touchpad is a must for games that support a controller in-game but not for navigating menus.The controller comes well packaged and includes all the accessories you need, including the all important clip for your phone.Overall, a very nice piece of gear for the price.
Amlogic S912H processor, Mali T-820 GPU, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB Storage
"Good things come to those who wait”, my mother used to say. She also said, “If ifs and ands were pots and pans, the world would be a kitchen.” She was full of pithy stuff like that.
But in this case, she was right. The Minix NEO U9-H may not have released back when everybody else was flooding the market with S912 Android boxes, but boy was it worth the wait.
I’ve seen a half dozen or more of those early S912 releases and I’d be hard pressed to tell you any difference among them. They all worked (mostly). They were faster than the last generation of boxes (kinda). They ran Kodi 17 (until it crashed).
But the NEO U9-H from Minix is an example of what happens when you take your time and get it right.
Physically indistinguishable from the NEO U1 (see my review for that S905 beauty, still available), the U9-H packs not just the additional punch of the faster processor, but first class RAM (that means faster installs and launches), Wildvine 1 DRM protection, and Dolby Digital licensing (that means your DD and DTS files are all supported natively in every app).
Antutu benchmarks this box at over 42,000, but that’s just a number. A really good number, but just a number. The real test is in day to day usage and, having lived with this streamer for the better part of 3 days, let me tell you, it flies. Closing and opening apps is no problem. Boot up times are practically non-existent, and navigating menus is instantaneous and effortless. The best devices disappear and let their operation become second nature. That’s what the U9-H does. You forget it’s there.
The box is super stable, a testament to Minix’s philosophy of getting it right, not fast. I have yet to have anything crash on me, even when I get lazy and forget to kill the apps running in the background. Build quality is rock-solid, as with all of their devices.
It’s full of thoughtful little things, like a navigation bar that’s there when you want it, and gone when you don’t. It runs the Android TV version of YouTube as well as the stock android version. That makes the infrared remote much more useful in YouTube. The remote codes are in Logitech’s database, so your harmony remote is easy to program. It’s details like that that set Minix apart.
If you want to bump the experience up another notch, Minix offers the NEO A3 Air Mouse remote. Designed for Minix devices, this ergonomic remote adds gyroscopic air mouse functionality and a full QWERTY keyboard, making an already elegant interface even easier to navigate.
In the price vs. performance world of Android Media Streamers, this is the best you’ll find. Hands down.
