Home entertainment brand Mecool is launching a new flagship Google TV box that has excellent specifications and features and the option to expand its storage capabilities, and it’s on sale now for less than £100.
The new gadget is called the Mecool MEon1 4K GTV Streaming Box, and it’s said to support 4K HDR content with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos both on board. The company said it has the ability to upscale regular HD content to “near-4K quality,” making it a very interesting option if you possess a 4K TV.
The device comes with 32 gigabytes of internal storage space, which is twice the minimum requirement for Google TV boxes, and there’s also a microSD slot on the back that allows you to add a memory card of up to 128GB if you need to expand on that.
Mecool said the MEon1 4K GTV Streaming Box offers a choice of Wi-Fi 6 or Ethernet for connecting to the web, and Bluetooth 5.2 enables it to connect to external devices. Out of the box, it runs Google TV based on Android 14, and it's also Netflix 4K-certified. Google Assistant and Google Cast are featured too, and the Play Store enables users to download thousands of other applications if they wish.
There’s an impressive list of supported video codecs, with AV1, VP9, H.264 and H.265 (HEVC) all mentioned, and on the HDR front, it supports HDR10 and HDR10+ as well as Dolby Vision. That’s broad enough support that you can expect to enjoy high quality content from almost any streaming service, so long as you have the TV to take advantage of it.
Inside the MEon1 4K GTV Streaming Box is a quad-core Amlogic S905X5M chipset that’s paired with a Mali G310 V2 GPU. There’s also 2GB of RAM onboard. The ARM Cortex-A55-based chip runs at 2.5 gigahertz, which is much faster than the Google TV Streamer, which runs at just 1.8Ghz.
There’s also a pair of USB 2.0 ports on the back and a single HDMI 2.1 output that enables Variable Refresh Rates and Auto Low-Latency Mode for gaming.
All told, it’s a pretty powerful device and it’s on sale now via the company's website for just £88.67, making it cheaper than the Google TV Streamer, which currently retails for £99.99.
The lower price and the more powerful processor should make it an interesting alternative to Google’s device. The Streamer does have twice as much RAM, however, so it’s probably going to run a bit more smoothly, but on the other hand, it runs an older WiFi specification: 802.11ac. While that won’t matter for a lot of people, there’s also the brand factor – Google is far better known and more “respected” than Mecool, which is probably relatively unknown, if we’re going to be honest.
In addition, the Google TV Streamer has the advantage of being able to interact with smart home gadgets such as Google’s Nest thermostat and other third-party devices, so if you’re into those, it’s an ideal hub for controlling everything.
