Uniqueness is not something you often see in many of these android players. Having been using these boxes for so long, when you see something different, it piques your interest. The Zidoo x9 does this on a few fronts. It’s the first. Device I’ve used that runs on an M star processor, it has dual wifi antennas, an LED panel and HDMI In. But do these unique features make it amazing? Zidoo X9 Technical Specs Operating System: Android KitKat 4.4 Chipset: Mstar MSO9180D1R CPU: Quad core ARM Cortex A9 GPU: Octa core ARM Mali-450 GPU Memory: 2GB DDR3 Internal Storage: 8GB eMMC + MicroSD card slot Connectivity: Dual band 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, 10/100 Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.0 Audio/Video Output: HDMI 1.4, SP-DIF, Composite Video Out Video Input: HDMI In Interfaces: 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0 What’s in the box? Zidoo have provided everything you need to get started. Inside the box, you have: 1 x Zidoo X9 box 1 x Instruction Manual 1 x IR remote 1 x 12v 2A power. Adapter 1 x HDMI cable Zidoo X9 Unboxing Zidoo X9 Design The Zidoo X9 has an appealing design. Roughly the size of a 7 inch tablet, the X9 crams all of its internals into a sleek metal case. The choice of metal is a plus, making the device feel more premium as well as doubling as a heat sink. The metal case is finished nicely, with subtly chamfered edges which looks really nice. The front panel is basic: Some small Zidoo branding on the left and a small LCD panel in the centre. I’ve got to say that the LED panel is a cool touch. It’s used to communicate the device status such as boot, in addition to displaying the time during operation. There are few devices that have this, so it’s cool to see it here. On the sides of the unit, one side houses 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 USB3.0 port, some vents and the microSD card slot. It’s great to see USB 3.0 finally make an appearance on a box, as the standard has been around for a while now but few of these media players have adopted it. The remainder of the ports being located at the back. Flanked by two large WiFi antennas, the ports are (from left to right) the power switch, 10/100 Ethernet, Optical Audio, the Reset Button, HDMI In, Composite Video out, HDMI Out and DC In. The dual Wifi antennas are a standout feature again, as many boxes either have a single antenna or place them internally. Unfortunately, they aren’t removable like in devices such as the Probox2 EX. Zidoo X9 Initial Impressions So after unboxing, I put some AAA batteries into the remote and plugged the box in. The LED screen comes to life, displaying “boot” during the Startup sequence. A nice touch. The boot isn’t the fastest I’ve seen, clocking in at 31.04 seconds. Zidoo X9 User Interface and Included Apps I was getting ready to prepare to write about another box using the Mediabox launcher or something based on it but I was pleasantly surprised. Zidoo have really gone all out here, creating an entirely unique user interface they call ZIUI. Few manufacturers do this and the last box that adopted an entirely new UI was theVidOn box, so I have to praise Zidoo for doing something different here. I found the UI quite slick. At startup shows the time and falling icons for a few seconds before all the tiles then quickly snap into a row, ready for your remote. Each tile is distinctly coloured and brandishes a large icon and label, ensuring that everything is easily identifiable. Everything moves very smoothly and is well animated. It comes across as very polished. Customization is minimal however. There are a selection of themes which essentially just change the background to one of 4 preset images. The UI takes a category based approach, breaking apps up into sections such as Games, Online Video, etc. Apps need to be manually assigned to these categories either one at a time or in bulk, which is great. However, it would have been nice if some sort of “auto-categorization” took place. The Zidoo X9 comes pre-installed with a whole bunch of useful applications to get you started. There is a custom fork of Kodi, Clear Manager, Movie Studio and HDMI Recorder. more: http://hometheatrelife.com/zidoo-x9-review/
