We’re already after testing, so today, we would like to show you the UGOOS AM7 review. As you know UGOOS AM7 is the first Android TV Box in the UGOOS portfolio powered by the latest Amlogic S905X4 SoC supporting 4K AV1 decoding. Also check out the MECOOL KM6 Classic S905X4 review.
Is it worth buying S905X4 UGOOS AM7? we encourage you to read our impressions, which you will find in our UGOOS AM7 review.
[tie_index]Availability and price[/tie_index]
Table of contents
Availability and price
I want to say thanks to the UGOOS company (Ugoos Industrial Co., Ltd.) for sending us a UGOOS AM7 to review.
Now UGOOS AM7 Android TV Box is available for $167.13 (Official UGOOS store) at Aliexpress.
[tie_index]Product details[/tie_index]
UGOOS AM7 Review: Product details
UGOOS AM7 Specification
- CPU – Amlogic S905X4 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A55 CPU
- GPU – ARM-G31 MP2 GPU, OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.1 and OpenCL 2.0 support
- Memory – 4GB DDR4 RAM
- OS – Android 11
- Storage – 32GB eMMC
- Video Output – HDMI 2.1 supports maximum 4K@60fps
- Video CODEC
- AV1 Codec Support
- VP9 Profile-2 up to 4Kx2K@60fps H.265 HEVCMP-10@L5.1 up to 4K*2K@60fps
- H.264 AVC HP@L5.1 up to4K*2K@60fps
- H264 MVC up to1080P@60fps
- MPEG-4 ASP@L5 up to 1080P@60fps (ISO-14496)
- WMV/VC-1 5P/MP/AP up to 1080P@60fps
- AVS-P16(AVS+)/AVS-P2 jiZhun Profile up to 1080P@60fps etc.
- Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, optical S/PDIF, HDMI digital audio
- Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 2T2R 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax Wi-Fi + BT 5.0 Module
- USB – 3x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB Type-C (OTG) port for data transfer only
- Misc – Power button & LED, Kensington lock ready, IR receiver, reset pinhole
- Power Supply – DC 5V/3A
- Dimensions – 117*117*18.5mm
- Weight – 300g
The box included everything that you need to get started:
- UGOOS AM7 TV Box
- Power Adapter
- HDMI Cable
- 2x external antenna
- Bluetooth Remote Control (UR01-BLE)
- User Manual
The following video from our YouTube channel where you can take a look at more UGOOS AM7 details and bundled accessories.
[tie_index]First impressions, settings, overview of features[/tie_index]
UGOOS AM7 First impressions, settings, overview of features
This time UGOOS’s TV Box psoaid a white plastic housing. This is not the first TV Box with a white housing, you could see one in MECOOL KM2 before. In addition, the top cover and the sides are covered with a transparent casing layer. The top cover features the well-known LED backlit logo.
The left side has two external antennas and a power button. The right are: AV OUT port, optical S / PDIF port, 3x USB 3.0. On the rear panel are DC jack, Gigabit RJ45 Ethernet port, HDMI 2.1, USB 2.0, and USB / OTG Type-C port. That’s right that the TV Box does not have a TF card slot. For some it is a minus, others do not mind. In our opinion, 4 USB ports make up for that.
At the bottom of the device, there are four rubber pads to prevent shifting, reset and update hole, spaces for better ventilation, and information about the serial number and MAC address. TV Box comes with Bluetooth Voice remote control (UR01-BLE). Recognition of voice commands via Google Assistant works without major problems, while the air mouse feature does not work very well. Below pictures.
UGOOS AM7 First Impressions
On the UGOOS AM7 home screen (ugoos launcher3) we can set the applications as on the smartphone’s wallpaper. Besides, on the main screen we can also display the status bar /or not (option available in settings). OTA updates work without a problem. After launching, we were able to download the latest firmware version 1.0.1.
Everything worked stable and very quickly without delays. TV Box support DLNA and Miracast. We had no problem with Ethernet and WiFi connection to the router and to the Internet. Wifi 2×2 MIMO works really fast. Ethernet: Download – 920Mbps Upload – 293Mbps, WiFi: Download – 228Mbps Upload – 225Mbps. In addition to Bluetooth remote control, we used a standard keyboard and a gamepad from iPega called iPega PG-9076.
TV Box supports Youtube 4K HDR (2160p). Netflix up to 540p. Prime Video up to 1080p. We also installed the latest available Kodi 19.1 “Matrix” Of course, you can play in games (Beach Buggy Racing, Riptide GP2, Asphalt 8, and 9: Legends, PUBG Mobile ect.) without a problem. You can also run Geforce NOW. Below some screenshots.
UGOOS AM7 Overview Settings
Although the previously known UGOOS settings are added to the AM7 TV Box, unfortunately not all of them. We mainly ran out of Samba server. In addition, we lacked the separation of UGOOS Settings in Device Preferences. As it was in UGOOS AM6 (all UGOOS settings in one place). As you will see later, you can easily give ROOT acces (via Magisk). Besides, by setting the Hardware Monitor, we can display and monitor the current state of hardware. Also Auto Frame Rate settings are available.
It is also worth mentioning that among the pre-installed applications we will also find the UGOOS remote server app, which provides access (via Wifi and Bluetooth) to the features of the TV Box via a smartphone (you need client app). More on the screenshots.
[tie_index]Operating system and components[/tie_index]
UGOOS AM7 Operating system and components
The UGOOS AM7 TV Box runs on the Android 11.0, Kernel version Kernel 5.4.86. The TV Box. As we mentioned earlier, TV Box supports OTA updates. We did the review on the latest v1.0.1 firmware. TV Box is equipped with Amlogic S905X4 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A55 CPU and ARM-G31 MP2 GPU, CPU speed between 100MHz and 2GHz.
Below screenshots from the CPU-Z app, DRM info app, and Root Checker app. As we mentioned, you can enable ROOT Access in settings (Magisk), and we did it.
[tie_index]Performance tests and benchmarks[/tie_index]
UGOOS AM7 Review: Performance tests and benchmarks
For testing, we use the AnTuTu Video Tester 3.0 app and AnTuTu Benchmark v9.1.1, GeekBench 5, 3D Mark, GFXBench, and GPUBench.
[tie_index]UGOOS AM7 Video Tests[/tie_index]
AM7 Video Tests
Video result 951 and five unsupported codec (via Antutu Video Tester 3.0). Playback by Kodi 19.1 runs almost smoothly and stable. Thanks to the pre-installed MoviePlayer, video playback was smoother. UGOOS AM7 TV Box without problem seems to play movies with the resolution of 480p,720p, and 1080p (24fps, 30fps, 60fps) and also 4K (60fps) with various codecs videos such as H.264, H.265, MPEG2, MPEG4, RMVB, and audio – DTS and AC3. Dolby Digital 5.1 passthrough worked fine via HDMI. In addition, the device also supports Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, DTS 5.1, DTS HD Master Audio.
Also, we tested several video formats – AVI, MKV, MP4, ISO (typical formats in which it holds the majority of movies), which also played fine. The tested sample with the AV1 codec also works smoothly.
Video Playback via Kodi 19.1
Typical 1080p | Kodi 19.1 |
MPEG2 / MP2 2.0 – 6.6Mbps | OK |
MPEG4 / MP3 2.0 – 7.6Mbps | OK |
H264 / AAC 2.0 – 7.2Mbps | OK |
VC1 / WMA3 2.0 – 25Mbps | OK |
VP8 / VORBIS 2.0 – 7.8Mbs | OK |
Jellyfish 1080p HEVC 10bit – 90Mbps | OK |
4K Video | |
Sintel – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 24fps | OK |
BBB Sunflower -H264 – 30fps | OK |
BBB Sunflower -H264 – 60fps | OK |
Honey Bees – 96fps | OK |
Skyfall – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 10Mbps | OK |
Puppies Bath – h264/AAC 2.0 | OK |
Cinemartin H265/HEVC | OK |
Tears of steel – 60fps | OK |
HD Club Chimei – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 60Mbps | OK |
Jellyfish 4k uhd HEVC 10bit – 140Mbps | OK |
Jellyfish 4k uhd HEVC 10bit – 200/250/300/400Mbps | Not smooth |
LG Demo – Istanbul 3840×2160 MP4/H264 8bit – 116Mbps | OK |
Sony 4K – Camp HDR MP4/HEVC 10bit – 75.8Mbps | OK |
Demo Samsung 2014 – USA Road Trip TS/HEVC 10bit – 51.4Mbps | OK |
Samsung UHD DUBAI TS/HEVC 10bit – 51Mbps | OK |
H.265/VP9 Video | |
Tears of steel – H265-HVEC / AAC 2.0 – 15Mbps | OK |
Youtube – VP9 / 1080p | No |
VP9 / 4k – Eye of the Storm 4K Ultra HD.webmv | OK |
VP9 / 4k – 10 Incredible 4K (Ultra HD) Videos.webmv | OK |
VP9 / 4k – Australia – Land Down Under in 4K.webmv | OK |
AV1/ 4k – Summer Nature.webm | Not smooth |
AV1 / 4k – Holi Festival.webm | Not smooth |
[tie_index]UGOOS AM7 Benchmarks[/tie_index]
AM7 Benchmarks
S905X4 AM7 TV Box a score of 107688 points in AnTuTu Benchmark v9.1.1. Internal memory benchmarks (via A1SD Bench app): Read 152.31MB/s – Write 76.41MB/s. RAM copy speed was 3449.30MB/s. Below are benchmarks screenshots.
[tie_index]Conclusions[/tie_index]
UGOOS AM7 Conclusions
UGOOS AM7 is another TV Box from UGOOS worth recommending. Works smoothly without problems, plays 4K video also with AV1 codec, and plays streaming video smoothly. In addition, powered by S905X4 SoC supports 4K AV1 decoding, which is currently hot and will certainly remain so for several years. Of course, it also supports the previous codecs, H.265, VP9 etc. However, in our opinion, UGOOS settings should be more visible and full, as in the AM6 TV Box. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a reliable TV Box, with support via OTA updates, as well as supporting AV1 decoding, then the UGOOS AM7 is worth your attention. However, in our opinion, its price should be lower. We recommend an UGOOS AM7 TV Box.
Discussion about this post