Tanix TX5 Max Amlogic S905X2 Alice UX Android 8.1 4K TV Box Review

Tanix TX5 Max Amlogic S905X2 Alice UX TV Box Review

Today we have Tanix one of the the top rated TV box manufacturers releasing their latest product the Tanix TX5 Max Amlogic S905X2 Alice UX TV box. This is another box running on the Amlogic S905X2 CPU and the ARM Mali G31 GPU, but Tanix is doing it differently in this model. Unlike other models Tanix used their Alice UX user interface which delivers a really cool launcher and great optimization.

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Aliexpress – Tanix TX5 MAx

Geekbuying – http://shrsl.com/1h8mk

Hardware Specifications

  • CPU: Amlogic S905X2 Cortex A53 Quad Core 1.8GHz
  • GPU: Mali-G31 
  • RAM: 4GB DDR4
  • RAM Type: DDR4
  • ROM: 32GB
  • WiFi – 2.4Ghz + 5.8Ghz
  • Bluetooth – 4.2

 

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IO Ports

  • 1 HDMI
  • 1 USB 2.0
  • 1 USB 3.0
  • 1 RJ45 Ethernet LAN
  • 1 Optical Audio
  • 1 Micro SD card reader
  • 1 External antenna

Tanix_TX5_Max_Ports_rear Tanix_TX5_Max_Ports_side

Alice UX Interface

The Alice UX interface is what separates this box from the others. The Alice UX interface provides some great features like vertical main menu, recently used apps popup vertical bar, The ability to change the main buttons on the launcher, and multiple ways to add shortcuts. If you use the infrared remote to navigate the launcher you get a very nice animation and the menu button on the remote has some additional features that you cannot get with a PC mouse. However, if you have an air mouse with a menu button then you have all the features. When using an air mouse to navigate the launcher the animation is different. You now have mouse over feature and easier navigation of Alice UX.

Tanix_TX5_Max_Alice_UX

Operating System Environment

The Tanix TX5 Max runs on Android 8.1 operating system. The OS is rooted which allows you install any app you like from the Google Play Store of side-load any app in APK format. The box comes with DRM Google Widevine level 3 and no HDCP encryption. This means that Netflix will play in standard quality, so say that means 480p, some say 720p. Without Google Widevine level 1 (LV1) and some from of HDCP encryption to prevent piracy Netflix cannot show in HD or 4K quality.

The Tanix TX5 Max comes with special apps like Airscreen which anyone can download from the Google play store, and gives you Miracast, Airplay, Google Cast and DNLA for casting mobile devices to your TV. It comes with TV center which is Kodi 17 build but you can uninstall that version and and install Kodi 18 directly from the Google Play store. The Kodi addons installer installs a few addons but you will have to install the best ones yourself. It comes with YouTube Android TV version that allows you to play YouTube videos in 4K quality.

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Entertainment Features

Android TV boxes are all about entertainment you can watch movies, use social media apps, play personal video files, and play Android games. In my test of its entertainment features I started with Netflix. The version of Netflix that comes pre-install on the box works fine, however as indicated earlier due to the low level of Google Widevine Netflix only shows in standard quality. I played some 4K video samples of various formats and some played pretty well even the difficult jellyfish video at 400Mbps bit-rate. However some of the samples also had some difficulty. I played some Android games and the TX5 Max handled the gaming very well on the Mali G31 GPU that has been doing well so far for 2019.

APks Gear_Club Tanix_TX5_Max_keymapping Tanix_TX5_Max_miracast

Benchmarks

  • Antutu – 56105
  • Geekbench4 – 685 Single-Core   2002 Multi-core
  • 3D Mark – Ice storm extreme – 4788
  • 3D Mark – Sling Shot – 484
  • RAM Copy – 3493 MB/s
  • ROM Speed – 118 MB/s Read   67 MB/s write
  • WiFi Speed – Max speed on 2.4GHz / 5Ghz / LAN

Tanix_TX5_Max_Aantutu Tanix_TX5_Max_Geekbench_4

 

Closing Thoughts

What could I say about Tanix TX5 Max, it’s another TV box built in the Amlogic S905X2 chip-set and it has good performance consistent with other boxes using this same chip-set. To say that it is better than other boxes in its class, I would say no, it’s got the same performance as its counterparts. What it has that’s different is its Alice UX interface that exclusive to the Tanix brand and delivers a better user experience that some of the boxes using the generic launchers. Alice UX, and the developers of A95X has the best launchers on the market. If I had to recommend some improvement I would say include a navigation bar and notifications bar into Alice UX.  

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