The smartest thing to come out of Smart-TVs
In the wake of Smart-TVs seeping their way
into the market, many companies I out there have unabashedly tried to emulate
Smart-TV functionalities via cheaper, external means. The Aztech PlayXtreme is
one of those brazen attempts: this little box can essentially bring the Smart
to any un-Smart TV -- which is why it's the smartest things to come out in
recent times.
The PlayXtreme is designed into a smallish
white box, and it's small enough to blend into your typical home theatre setup.
The small stature impressively manages to house quite a lot; at the front, you
get two USB ports along an SD-card slot (plus power button and indicator LEDs),
while the back has an HDMI and Ethernet port each, plus AV connectivity.
Setting it up is simple enough; all it
really needs is for the PlayXtreme to be hooked to the Internet (via Ethernet)
and the TV, and it works from the start. Turning it on takes you to an
effectively simple main menu, and here is where the fun starts.
The PlayXtreme runs on Android 2.3, which
essentially gives you full access to any Android functionality there is. That
means you can surf the web, launch the many preloaded apps, download and
install them (it doesn't support Android Market, but can install .apk files)
and even play Android games. That's right; we flung Angry Birds with it, and it
is glorious.
Outside of its Smart-TV capabilities, the
PlayXtreme doubles up as a media player, too, and you can play them from a USB
storage. The PlayXtreme's pleasant experience owes a lotto its ARM Cortex A9
processor, which keeps things snappy, and its 2.4GHz wireless QWERTY remote
control, which works very well and very responsively. It takes awhile to get
used to it, but the remote can have you typing and launching apps in no time.
As wonderful as it is, it's not without its
flaws. The browser only manages to load mobile versions on most sites, and some
apps will sometimes stutter or crash. Other features, like the multimedia
player, lacks a few more robust functionalities, and we find it odd that the
remote has to take up one USB slot for its receiver.
Aztech PlayXtreme Internet TV Hub
Price $165
Specifications
CPU: ARM Cortex A9 (800MHz)
RAM: 512MB OS: Android 2.3
Video Formats: DAT, MPEG, MV2, VOB,
AVI, MKV, MOV, FLV, 3GP, RMVB
Audio Formats: MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA,
OGG, OGA, FLAC, ALAC, M4A, DTS
Connectivity: 2 x USB2.0, 1 x SD-slot,
Ethernet, HDMI
Others: Wireless QWERTY Remote Control
(2.4GHz)
Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 30mm Weight:
152g
Ratings
Performance 4 stars
Features 5 stars
Design 4 stars
Value 4 stars
