Tanix TX3 Mini Plus TV Box Review
This is the Tanix TX3 Mini Plus and this model runs on the Amlogic S905W2 CPU on 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, with AV1 decoding on Android 11 hybrid operating system. It uses Tanix’s proprietary Alice UX interface that is quite different from your standard TV Box launcher. Starting with the Amlogic S905W2 models the adoption of a hybrid firmware with Android 11 TV OS as its base operating system is becoming widely used.
In this model my user experience was better than my previous model where the firmware is more compatible and its special features are working. That is not to say it’s perfect and I did not encounter any issues. For a list of issues arising from using this hybrid firmware can be found to the end of this review. However with that said I am indeed recommend that this box did a pretty fine job in presenting functional and good performance TV Box that play store well on my ranking chart.
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Tanix TX3 Mini Plus Hardware
It runs on 4GB of DDR3 RAM and 32GB of internal storage, and its Bluetooth version is 5.2. It’s CPU which is the Amlogic S905W2 is a quad core ARM Cortex A35 CPU clocked at 1.8 GHz, with support for only 32bit ABIs which means it can only run 32bit apps and games. Its GPU is the Mali G31 with open GL ES version 3.2 support. Its network adapter provides 2.4GHz + 5GHz Wi-Fi support. It’s operating system is Android 11 Red Velvet Cake, and it shows that the box is rooted.
This box does not have Vulkan support, and it idles around 55°C. It has important decoders such as the AV1 decoder, DTS HD, and 4K HDR decoders. However, it does not have DTS-X, DTS-HD MA, Dolby Vision, and Dolby TrueHD
Tanix TX3 Mini Plus Design and I/O Ports
In the box you have your standard contents such as one HDMI cable, one infrared remote, a 5V 2A power adapter, a user manual, and the TV Box unit itself. This model has one HDMI port, one Ethernet LAN, one optical audio, one AV port, and a DC power input jack to the rear. To the side it has one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0, and a microSD card slot. At the top it has the Tanix branding. To the front it has an LED display, and below the box as antiskid rubber pads, a reset pinhole button, and no ventilation holes.
In fact after checking I discovered that the reset button is actually database of the AV port so please take note of that, and the reset hole below the box is a blank.
Movie Streaming Capabilities
This box is not Google certified with the appropriate digital rights to protect premium movie services such as YouTube TV, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon prime video, HBO Max, and Peecock from persons trying to steal by copying their content. Hence even though you can install and access these premium services on this box it will be limited to only basic 480p resolution even though you may have a premium HD or 4K account.
But not everyone can afford or has access these services depending on where they live, and have no other choice but to resort to alternative streaming methods for some form of entertainment. There are lots of free content on the web that you can stream using unofficial apps and add-ons via third-party applications such as the Kodi media player and streaming APKs.
Benchmarking
It has a ram copy speed of 3306 MB/s. Its internal storage has a read speed of 101 MB/s and a write speed of 35 MB/s.
Based on my network of 250 Mbps the 5GHz band achieved maximum speed of my network. Its 2.4 GHz band achieved 34% of my network speed, and its a LAN port which is not a gigabit LAN port achieved 37%.
Its CPU benchmark via the Geekbench 4 app, scored 561 single-core and 1260 multi-core.
The Tanix TX3 Mini+ does not have Vulkan support which means it did not qualify for the slingshot extreme test, and it scored 5374 in the ice storm extreme and 533 in the slingshot.
In the Antutu benchmark it scored 72,276, which saw it placed at position 59 on my top TV Boxes rankings chart.
Pro Feature
- Alice UX LauncherAndroid 11 hybrid firmware
- Root Switch (instant root)
- Amlogic S905W2 CPU 1.8GHz
- 4GB DDR3 / 32GB
- 4K HDR Display
- Dolby Atmos / DTS audio
- Alternative launchers work
- 4K HDR videos play OK
- AV1 Video decoding OK
- Official Version of Miracast
- 5GHz Max bandwidth
- Good Benchmarks
- Custom Wallpapers
- YouTube in 4K HDR
- Good 3D gaming w/keymapping
- Built-in hardware monitor semi-transparent overlay
The included remote is an infrared remote and does not have an air-mouse feature. However, they do provide the option to purchase with a G10 air-mouse if you prefer mouse cursor movement to navigator its launcher.
Cons
- No Dolby vision
- No DRM for Netflix in HD/4K
- No DTS-X/DTS-HD MA/Dolby TrueHD
- No GB LAN
- SD Shared internal not working
- No Screen Rotation
- No Navigation Bar / Status Bar
- No Vulkan support
Final Thoughts
In closing the Tanix TX3 mini plus is a decent TV Box that provides some great firmware features and more than modest hardware performance. I had a great all round experience and the only drawbacks were its DRM support, its missing decoders for certain surround sound formats and the Dolby vision, its missing navigation bar and status bar, and the fact that formatting SD cards to shared internal storage is not working.
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