PROBOX2 Air Plus Review

By
Jayce Ooi
-
Last modified on

Introduction
Yeah… PROBOX2 Air got upgraded. It is loaded with much powerful Amlogic S912 processor. More RAM and storage for you and me – 3GB DDR4 and 32GB eMMC. And equipped with Gigabit Ethernet too on top of Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11 B/G/N/AC Wi-Fi. Yup, meet the bigger brother – PROBOX2 Air Plus. As usual, it also support optional Remote+ control with air mouse and gaming mode. How does it perform? Read on to find out…

Special Thanks
This review is possible thanks to below companies. Be sure to check them out too…

Features

  • Ultra-Powerful Processing Power
  • Powerful Decoding Performance
  • HDR Image Enhancement Processing
  • Network & WIFI
  • Fast Flash Memory + Adoptable Storage
  • PROBOX2 APEX UI Launcher

Package Content
PROBOX2 Air Plus share lot of similarity with it smaller peer – PROBOX2 Air. Getting the same package contents as well. What you will get? PROBOX2 Air Plus, remote control, HDMI cable, power adaptor, removable antenna and user manual. My power adaptor is UK version, you can select US, AU and EU plug too. The infrared remote unit is normal one without air mouse ability. But comes with 4 extra shortcuts like media, music, web and app. By the way, PROBOX2 Remote+ (optional) is included if you purchased package with it. Do take your time to read PROBOX2 Remote+ Review to understand more.

Build Quality & Design
Build quality and design are basically the same as previous version. Yup, solid build quality is what you will get. And small in size as well to ease carry around. At front, you can find a blue LED light indicator. The external antenna is located on the right. And micro SD slot and USB 2.0 port on the left. More input/output like optical, HDMI, RJ45, another USB 2.0 port and DC input at the back. Finally, the bottom of the box is rubberized to provide stability.

Specifications

  • CPU: Amlogic S912 Octa core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU up to 2 GHz
  • GPU: ARM Mali-T820MP3 GPU up to 750MHz
  • Memory / Storage: 3GB DDR4 / 32GB eMMC
  • Wireless Connectivity: 802.11ac Dual Band WIFI (2.4Ghz / 5.8Ghz), Bluetooth 4.0
  • OS: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
  • Video Output: HDMI 2.0b, up to 4K*2K @ 60fps, Support HDR, HDMI-CEC, HDCP 2.2
  • Audio Output: Via HDMI 2.0b, optical SPDIF (5.1CH, 7.1CH)
  • Power: DC 5V 2A adapter (CE, FCC, CCC Certified)
  • Peripheral Interface: RJ-45 Ethernet Port (10/100/1000Mbps), USB 2.0 Port x 2, OTG Port, TF Card
  • Reader, IR Sensor (Remote included)
  • Supported Video Format: UHD 4K 60fps HW decoding, supports multiple formats including H.265 10-bit, H.264 & VP9 DAT/MPEG/MPE/MPG/TS/TP/VOB/ISO/AVI/MP4/MOV/3GP/ FLV/MKV/M2TS/MTS/M4V/ WMV/ASF/RM/RMVB
  • Supported Audio Format: MP2/MP3/WMA/OGG/FLAC/APE/AAC/WAV/OGA/ALAC Programmable with 7.1/5.1 down-mixing
  • Packing Included: PROBOX2 Air Plus, Power Adapter, IR Remote, Dual-Band Antenna, HDMI Cable, User Manual
  • Dimensions / Weight: 99mm * 107.5mm * 16.3mm / 190g

Software
PROBOX2 Air Plus is powered by Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and support OTA firmware update. And come with few pre-installed applications like Qodi 16.1, AirDroid, Fishing Joy, Happy Cast, Miracast, Netflix, and YouTube. Wait, why Qodi instead of Kodi? No worry, most of the Android TV boxes can’t bundle along Kodi anymore due to trademark issue. It performs the same as Kodi just different in naming. You can remove it anytime with this guide from PROBOX2 Forum and install latest Kodi version from Play Store.

As usual, PROBOX2 APEX UI Launcher and EX Launcher come pre-loaded. You can select either one of them as your default launcher. Both of their shortcuts are customize-able and easy to use. Or install 3rd party one as you like.

Benchmark
Amlogic S912 octa-core CPU and ARM Mali-T820MP3 GPU in PROBOX2 Air Plus is a beast compare to previous S905X. Great improvement especially in 3D games department. Does its 3GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage make any different in daily use? How about the newly added Gigabit Ethernet performance? Let’s find out…

AnTuTu Benchmark with 40k score is pretty much align with my other S912 boxes. As you can see, 3D is much better than the previous Penta Core Mali MP-450 GPU.

PROBOX2 Air Plus has better internal storage speed with 64 MB/s read and 30 MB/s write. External hard drive test is limited by USB 2.0 port as usual. And it has very fast RAM indeed.

Yup, better 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme score thanks to ARM Mali-T820MP3 GPU. Fast paced 3D games like Asphalt Xtreme and Unkilled are playing very smooth here. No Geekbench 4 benchmark this round too due to compatibility issue between PROBOX2 and Geekbench server.

It is able to get connected at 433 Mbps on 5GHz AC and 72 Mbps on 2.4GHz on Wi-Fi. Getting transfer rates 220 Mbits/sec on 5GHz and 50 Mbits/sec on 2.4GHz from iPerf3 test. 883 Mbits/sec from Gigabit Ethernet as you can see. 4K Ultra HD contents are able to playback through AC connection no doubt. However, wireless range is on average side. You need to place it close to your router to get maximum output. As for Bluetooth, it is great. Easily exceeds 10m Bluetooth range in straight sight line and up to 7m with obstacles.

Performance Result
PROBOX2 Air Plus takes around 35 seconds to boot up. Shut down is instant. As for video playback with Kodi, 4K Ultra HD 10-bit 3840 x 2160 HEVC 60fps videos are playing smoothly here (including h.264 or h.265 codec). 4K Jellyfish 140Mbps video can be played through wireless flawlessly. As usual, it support lot of audio codec like Dolby True HD, DTS HD-MA and other more. Everything is working great with exception of auto frame rate switching is not working. And no DRMs support.

On the other hands, multi-tasking is working perfectly. 3GB of RAM is more than enough for all the applications and games. No issue on switching between multiple apps/games like Asphalt 8, Unkilled, Rayman Adventures, Xenowerk, Zen Pinball, Google Chrome, YouTube, Kodi and none of them get killed by system. And it is great to use it as game console as well with Remote+. Enjoy all your favourite games then.

Yes, PROBOX2 Air Plus comes with root access. Just install SuperSU app and you are ready to use all the applications like AdAway that require root access. Miracast performance is excellent. Smooth video and audio playback are what you will get. No skipping nor distortion at all. My NVIDIA GTX 980 card is still in the hospital. No Moonlight (NVIDIA GameStream) test this round. Will cover it when it’s back in action.

Advantages

  • 4K Ultra HD & H.265 codec support
  • Great wireless & Ethernet performance
  • Smooth multi-tasking with 3GB RAM
  • Plenty of storage with 32GB ROM
  • Solid build quality
  • Pre-rooted
  • Portable

Limitations

  • Average wireless range

Conclusion
No doubt that Air Plus is another solid Android TV box from PROBOX2. Future-proof with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. As usual, it is great for movie, 3D games and daily usage. Don’t forget the great multi-tasking too. Interested? Do visit PROBOX2 Website for more information. Buy yours at Amazon. And with Remote+ here.

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