My experience with AndroidTV (FreeBox Player Mini)

by moviuro

Hi,

So this is my experience so far with Android TV. I'm a client to French ISP Free and the plan includes a "FreeBox Player Mini", which is a 4k-ready AndroidTV box .

The good:

  • it works!
  • it's Google and I already have a phone and a watch running Android
  • it's a free chromecast
  • Kodi runs great on it!
  • "Regular TV" seems to work. As I really hate TV in general, I must have watched it for ~18 seconds, made sure it worked.

The bad:

  • Google apps suck (YouTube is pretty persistent in enabling captions even though I disable them every. single. time.; Play Music does not have the "Thumbs Up" playlist; the Android TV remote is... better not install it)
  • Android still isn't unified: I have a phone, a watch, a tablet and a TV, all using my Google Account, that sit on the same Network and I can't control the tablet while it's casting from my phone or my watch.

The ??:

  • I don't own a 4k TV, so I can't tell you if it works fine on that ;-) Works on my tiny TV, though

The experience has been rather underwhelming. I was expecting very much of it and am a upset. The really bright side is that Kodi works wonders and I can stream my movies without any issues.

Somehow, I feel like I'm missing on something. What are you using your Android TV for?

PS: I prefer a comment to a downvote ;-)

obnoxisus

Have been using an android tv for a little over 8 months (the Sony Bravia Android Tv). It's got its pros and cons

pros • Chromecast : I usually cast 8tracks or something like it for music, from my phone to the Tv when I'm chilling at home • Chromecast : from my Mac (laptop) to the TV screen via the chrome browser, this even lets me cast the whole screen. Which is awesome when friends are over and you want to show them your awesome vacation pics • Plex : or something similar on your laptop or phone or desktop let's you stream your locally saves movies (on a external HDD as well) to your Tv Sonys default app works fine...but Kodi...nuff said • Kodi : ahh kodi. The best thing ever. Get Exodus and SALTS if you haven't already • android eco system : you can sideload any apps you want. Hey Sideload launcher and it will let yoy open these sideloaded apps. Sideload aordroid and get access to your box's storage

cons • LeanBack : the launcher UI still needs a lot of work. It doesn't feel great when using a the regular remote, but works ok when I plug in a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. • Crashes: kodi and a few other apps freeze up quite regularly, this is more androids fault than the app.

Tl;Dr I actually love android Tv even though it's got some rough edges. IMHO it's definitely an upgrade from plain vanilla (dumb) Tvs

brainwashednomore

wondering which apps are actually 4k capable

JimboLodisC

I use my Shield for Plex, YouTube (casting and through the ATV app), Netflix, Hulu, emulators/gaming and have no complaints so far. It's a smoother experience than my Nexus Player and has twice the storage. I even added a 128GB USB stick to give me more storage. I honestly can't think of anything else I'd want from the device.

GambaKufu

I got my Shield TV on a promo deal to replace a 7 year old Linux PC purely to have something I can run Kodi and Netflix on in 1080p. I've played a couple of games and added a few extras like BBC iPlayer and WWE Network, but that's everything I need a box to do so I'm happy.

Sgt-JimmyRustles

I think you might be the only person I've ever seen here with a freebox mini. You're like, a double rainbow with a Unicorn surfboarding on top of.

Anyways, I don't know what differences you are experiencing with your Freebox Mini vs my Nvidia Shield Android TV outside of the obvious like Shield being far more capable for gaming and having it's own exclusive games and features like gamestreaming from the PC and Nvidia's Games for a monthly fee.