Tianle TL869 Android Streaming Media Stick/Mini PC (Old Version)

Having owned a few cheapo tablets I went into this with low expectations, but figured what the heck. I must say I'm pretty impressed with the performance of this device. A couple of tablets I bought wouldn't even play Angry Birds without stuttering and freezing, this worked very smoothly. Only complaint is there's no on screen menu for stuff like volume and screen zoom, but surely there's an app for that. I'm a software developer and was pretty surprised to find there's some ROM support out there that's fully compatible with the device's SoC. I bought 2 of these, one for my son's 13th birthday and one for my wife to tinker with. I'll probably end up customizing both of them quite a bit with a trimmed down ROM and a few usability tweaks and apps. Also, the device produces a lot of heat, get some of those stick-on heatsinks (meant for video cards), stick em on and keep a small fan on it, I guarantee it'll live a MUCH longer life. The heat will degrade the solder joints on the NAND chip and pretty much everything else, keep it cool and it'll last longer! If you can find something better for the money, I would be very surprised.UPDATE: Of the 2 I bought, both are working great. I do HIGHLY recommend gluing small GPU heatsinks to it, though. The one I haven't given that treatment to yet runs very hot, it's getting the heatsinks today. I continue to be blown away by the bang for the buck this product provides. The dual core CPU and Mali-400 are definitely capable of running lots of games popular with the kids, (haven't tried any racing games, no gyros), and there's plenty of software solutions to provide soft buttons (home, back, volume, pinch zoom) for functionality that you won't get without a touchscreen. People have said they have issues with XBMC, install SPMC instead and be enlightened! Paired with item #B00F8WFEZQ (Sienoc HDMI female to VGA female adapter) you can use it with any old computer monitor without issues. Hooked it up to an old monitor and an old set of computer speakers with subwoofer, the kids have been watching movies and playing Minecraft nonstop. They've managed just fine with just the mouse, but the USB host has had no problem recognizing any device I've hooked up to it, including a few different PS3-style USB gamepads and an XBOX360 controller (with USB cable spliced and taped on). I also have a USB hub with PS2, Gamecube, and XBOX connectors, haven't tried that yet but I don't imagine it'll work properly, it barely works under Windows. The stock launcher leaves a lot to be desired but seems responsive enough, though there's plenty of launchers available on the store. Don't pass up an amazing deal, get one of these.

This is a perfect device to convert your home TV into a smart TV. Rather I would say it converts your TV into a full HD android TV (which is far better than just a "smart" TV). I could install all the apps I wanted from Play store and all apps are working very well. You can plug your flash drive/external HDD to watch movies etc stored on the device. I only need a wireless mouse to control the interface and it's very easy to use (including on-screen typing). If you want better typing experience then you can find wireless keyboard+touchpad devices for less than $15 on amazon. Youtube, Netflix, Games (Angry Birds etc) - everything works perfect. So far I've used it for continuous 3 to 4 hours and it didn't hang or restart nor did I notice any lag. It gets somewhat hot but I hope it doesn't affect it in long run.For travelers - This is the perfect device if you are travelling and staying at hotels where you don't find smart TVs. All video streaming apps work very well even when using hotel's free Wifi (which doesn't have great speed). I recommend using apps like 'Booster WiFi' etc to get better Wifi connectivity in such cases. Based on the experience so far - a good device at a very reasonable price.

This is listed as a streaming media device, but it doesn't seem capable of streaming anything. It took three hours to download the Netflix app (which is just over 12mb) and of course nothing would play for more than a few moments between ten-minute bouts of buffering. The picture quality (on netflix) was also extremely low. Aside from the inability to stream, the device worked fairly well and setup was simple. I just can't imagine what use something like this is with such horrible wi-fi capability.

At first I got one, then I got 2 more. About a year or so ago, I got a MK80? android stick. It sucked. Connection issues, and it would over heat, and shut down. In between time, I got an roku, to fill in the gap for the living room Netflix, and Hulu player. And that thing went out later on as well... So I was searching for something, new, something alternative, and I came across this little gem. I ordered one, and I had no problems setting it up. Ran Fine, NO wifi Issues, and we run a RII back-lit mini keyboard on it with out a hitch. I let it run for 3 days straight, and it didn't get hot (get warm, but for us its nothing major), and the thing performed well. So, I decided to order 2 more. One for the kid's room, attached to a Logitech touch pad keyboard, and one for me to play with. I hooked mine up to an old 19 in. monitor, and use it for programing, and just for fun. Reminds me of an Apple IIgs, in a way, with how it runs, and plays. The ONLY thing I could say that's "bad" about it, is the fact that it only has 1 usb port. I attached a powered 4 port hub, and it runs on it flawlessly. When I'm not using it, I run it as a "kiosk", with a video loop of a fish aquarium. Looks nice. All in all, I give it 5 stars, because it's been the best little android stick I've come across, especially for the price. I have had NO issues with any of them. They service its purpose, and is a little fun too. I recommend this to anyone, who is looking' for an alternative to the Roku, or are tired of junk Mk Sticks. For this price, it's not a bad little toy either.

As usual, the wifi connection is the achiless heel of these sticks. this one is more than good enough to be a youtube-for-dumb-tv device if the router is nearby. Yes, it loses the date/time if power is out. No, there aren't any decent ROMs but it is rootable. There is a recovery mode (some magic switch/key combination I forget now), and ADB does exist. With an adblocker and a different launcher, you may not run into too many issues for media viewing. Anything taxing -- computationally or graphically -- there are too many cheap tablets around for that.