Mecool Home Plus KA1 TV Box Review
Mecool has been around for many years and they have released quite a number of TV Box models, but their latest Mecool Home Plus KA1 is something truly different. This latest model takes Android streaming and smart home technology to a new level. This remarkable device combines all the features of a certified Android TV box with a Google home far field technology into one device.
The Mecool Home Plus KA1 has features you won’t find on a regular TV box model. Features such as touch controls, dual internal speakers, dual microphones, and more. This device cannot be added to your Google smart home ecosystem under the Google assistant category. And with that you can control various smartphone devices with or without it connected to a display. You can even use it as a shelf or countertop device for playing music and accessing all the Google assistance features.
🛒Buy the Mecool KA1 4GB 32GB here
Mecool Home Plus KA1 hardware
For hardware it’s running on the Amlogic S905X4 CPU which is a quad-core cortex A55 processor clocked at 2.0 GHz configured in 32bit mode. This model comes with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 32GB of internal storage. There is also a 2 GB 16 GB model.
Its GPU is the ARM Mali G31 with a refresh rate of 60hz with open GL ES version 3.2, and it has Vulkan version 1.1 support. It has dual band Wi-Fi 2.4GHz +5 GHz, and it has Bluetooth 5.0 support.
It has dual five Watts internal speakers, dual microphones, and touch control sensors.
There is another model that has a DVB TV tuner built-in for over air digital channels.
Mecool Home Plus KA1 I/O ports
- 1 HDMI 2.o
- 1 USB 3.1
- 1 RJ45 LAN 100Mbps
- 1 Reset
- 1 12V DC Socket
Benchmarks
- Antutu – 99,689
- Geekbench 4 – 838 single-core | 2,345 multicore
- Ice storm extreme – 6,047
- Slingshot – 598
- Slingshot Extreme – 376
- RAM copy speed – 3,401 MB/s
- ROM read speed – 113 MB/s
- ROM write speed – 54 MB/s
- Wi-Fi speed – 5G 100% | 2.4GHz 42% | LAN 36%
Features
- Amlogic S905X4 CPU/Mali G31 GPU
- HDR display with Vulkan support
- LPDDR4 RAM
- T2 TR dual internal or Wi-Fi antennas
- Built-in speakers/dual microphones
- Google assistant/smart home (Hey Google feature)
- Can work without a monitor connected
- Touch controls/volume and the play pause feature
- Bluetooth voice remote with Google assistant
- Android 11 TV OS/Google certified
- Plays premium movie services in HD and 4K ultra HD
- Kodi and streaming APKs play without issues
- YouTube in 4K 2160p with HDR
- 4K HDR videos play smoothly
- Dolby Atmos/Dolby surround/DTS virtualization
- High benchmarks
- 3D gaming performance good on medium graphics
- Bluetooth and Wi-Fi reception very good
- Google Chromecast/screen mirroring
- Netflix in HD 1080p only using modified APK
Cons
- No official Netflix ESN certification for 4K ultra HDOnly one USB port
- Not rooted
- LAN port not a gigabit LAN port
- User manual needs to be updated
- Uses DTS virtualization instead of the actual DTS X and DTS HD-MA. No Dolby TrueHD
Final thoughts
After using the KA1 I’m truly impressed with its performance and integration into your Google smart home system. After trying to similar models running on Alexa and I always to find it difficult to get the media I want especially from YouTube. With this device you simply say hey Google and it will give you search results and the music directly from YouTube without restrictions. When not connected to a display the quality of the audio from its built-in speakers is really good and fills the room with a wonderful audio.
Sadly I had to discover that the user manual was missing a bit of information concerning how to use it smart features and I had to trial and error until I figure it out. However, with that said I highly recommend the KA1 as fun, feature-rich, innovative device for you to purchase.
🛒Buy the Mecool KA1 4GB 32GB here
