Review of the Sunvell T95U - PRO

[convict]

Hello everyone,

This time i'm gonna review a beautiful Android TV Box from Sunvell

I got it from Gearbest, it's the first Android TV Box i' m reviewing from this company and i hope it will prove to be good

So enough talking and let's cut to the chase




In the Box

The TV Box comes in a medium sized package with some of the device's best features written on the top right corner with golden letters

Opening the box we get

• The Sunvell T95U - Pro itself
• The AC Adapter rated at 5V 2A
• The HDMI Cable
• An IR Remote Controller
• A User's Manual

Pretty basic package i must say but you will be rewarded by the device's looks which we'll see right now



Looks & Ports

The Sunvell T95U-Pro is perhaps one of the most beautiful Android TV Boxes you' ll ever see

It has an aluminum construction with a metallic red colour and the Sunvell logo printed on the top with white letters

On the front there is the Power On/Off button and a glowing blue clock along with a blue power led and connection indicators



On the left side we have a USB 2.0 Port as well as a MicroSD Slot



On the right side we have nothing



On the back we find the remaining ports which are, an SPDIF Optical Audio Output, an AV Output, the HDMI Output, the Ethernet Port, a second USB 2.0 port and the DC input





If we flip the device upside down we have nothing

I have to mention that the device's bottom doesn't touch the ground because the TV Box's edges are longer than it's whole body making it look very stylish and unique

It's build quality is very very good and it has a very premium and matte feel on the hand giving you the prception that it is an expensive device, something that isn't true because in reality it's very budget friendly


Software
Software-wise Sunvell has equipped the T95U-Pro with many cool features such as the Smart TV Box launcher which is consisted by tiles for Kodi, Browser, Music, Video, Google Play Store, Settings, a Task Killer and an App Drawer



Also on the bottom of the screen we have a favourites bar where we can add the apps we like and use the most



Opening the settings we can see that the device has the HDR display option which is perfect for watching movies with better dynamic range as well as the HDMI self-adaptation which matches the framerate of a movie with the framerate of your tv giving you a more cinematic feel









Android 6.0.1 is running on the system and to my surprise an amazing app is preinstalled



This app is called Showbox and gives you the ability to watch movies and tv shows super easy with the press of a button



I am really impressed by this app and since i've discovered it i use it a lot and i' m sure that you' ll use it too

Hardware & Specs

The Sunvell T95U-Pro is a powerful device featuring

• An Octa Core 64 bit Amlogic S912 CPU running at 2.0 Ghz Max
• A Mali-T820 MP3 GPU
• 16 GB of Internal Storage
• 2 GB of DDR3 Ram
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 5G WiFi

Pretty good specs considering it's price point i must say

Wifi Reception

Although the device has an aluminum construction which is known to block wireless signals, the WiFi reception is more than excellent and i haven't experienced the slightest issue so far




Benchmarks

I ran some Benchmarks to show you the device's performance

The results where not as impressive as i expected them to be but real-life performance is excellent proving that benchmarks don't always show the truth














Kodi & Video Playback
Before we get into Kodi i ran the usual Antutu Video Tester and the results i got where similar with the previous Android TV Boxes i' ve reviewed before giving me playback problems to only 3 from the 30 video formats this app is testing









Now on to Kodi

It runs excellent with no issues at all and all the videos i tried played great except from a 4k 60 fps .mp4 and a 1080p h.264 .mov file which were somewhat choppy












Gaming

You will be thrilled to know that the Sunvell T95U-Pro natively supports external USB Gamepads

This means that you can play all your favourite games using for example an Xbox 360 controller and since the device is running Android you can not only play Android games downloaded from the Google Play Store but you can play other platform games using emulators as well













This gives you the advantage of having a very wide variety of titles waiting for you and your friends to spend many hours with this device

Conclusion
I personally like this device and i haven't found any issues with it

That being said, many people complain about some problems they face with Amlogic S912 devices, but from my personal experience i haven't had any kind of these problems with the Sunvell T95U-Pro nor with the Beelink GT1 i reviewed some time ago

I can only recommend this product to you because it left me with positive thoughts and i really liked it's performance and build quality

I hope you liked my review and as always for more unboxings, reviews and tutorials, subscribe share and follow me

Thanks and see you on my next videos


Pros

• Great build Quality
• Looks
• Price
• Very good Performance
• Very good media capabilities
• Excellent h.265 and 4k video playback
• No heat issues
• Excellent wifi reception
• Android 6.0.1
• 5G wifi

Cons

• Only 2 USB 2.0 ports

Watch my Video Review
Review English
Review Greek

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[Yemble]

The T95U is most definitely a cut above all other Android TV boxes when it comes to design and construction. That big slab of red aluminium shouts "heak sink" to me and exhudes quality. The specs are outstanding and with such a low price it represents exceptional VFM.

But this box is not perfect. I've had mine for a couple of weeks and have discovered the following issues:

1) LED is too bright and cannot be switched off
2) KODI is v16 and comes fully loaded with all sorts of rubbish
3) Box comes pre-installed with a buch of apps, some of which are bloatware. None of these apps can be de-installed. If you attempt to de-install them, they will magically re-appear like a pheonix from the ashes!
4) The SU binary cannot be updated from the SuperUser app!
5) Box could do with some rubber feet
6) The remote is cr@p, so you have to buy a remote keypad like the Rii i8+
7) Android taskbar controls are limited compared to some other boxes and there is no power off function through the GUI (I installed an app to do this)
8) Recovery is mysterious, certainly not TWRP - I don't trust it
9) Too much of the OS is hidden away - this is not rooted Android in the true sense
10) Zero (and I mean zero) official support of any kind - you are completely reliant on third party resources, such as FreakTab. This IS the Wild West !!!
11) Cable on the mains adapter is too short to be practical (< 1m)

On the plus side, KODI can be un-installed and then re-installed from PlayStore as v17 Beta 6. Playback is perfect running 7.1 with direct passthrough into my Denon X2000 AVR.

It is unclear whether, or not, OTA works with this device. The only update so far has been posted in FreakTab and required installing from USB (microSD method did not work for me, although that might have been due to the 64Gb card formatted as exFAT).