Originally published at: Ugoos SK1 Android Box Review 128GB Storage & 8GB RAM
The Ugoos SK1 Android Box is a powerful streaming device that some have touted as the best NVIDIA SHIELD Pro alternative. This Ugoos SK1 review will provide everything you need to know about this popular streamer prior to buying. I purchased the SK1 from the AliExpress Website toward the beginning of January, 2025. It arrived…
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Many thanks for your honest review. A number of us here at Troypoint have bought the SK 1 and really like the relatively seamless fast booting and downloading of apps and services. We agree this premium device is not for everyone, but for those who want a premium device with outstanding streaming performance along with the enhanced ability to customize your device with open source apps of your choosing, the SK1 is hard to beat. As an option for those who are married to the Android TV operating system and have a limited budget, the Onn 4K Pro has excellent quality and performance at a rock bottom price point.
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I would say I don’t think Ugoos will update the OS to 64bit to run 64bit apps even though it has a 64bit cpu like many other streaming devices out there.
There is no real advantage for it on a streaming device because the apps on streaming devices don’t need large amounts of ram and you don’t need a more complex OS for just streaming but for gaming then yes.
I am not sure what the advantages are with 8gb of RAM for streaming apps either.
I know LPAE allows the operating system to access more RAM but streaming apps don’t use much RAM and I can see it being helpful for some resource hungry games or multitasking but if you just use the device for streaming then I don’t see any advantages.
I do prefer AOSP and have always bought devices running it.
You have more freedom and have access to more settings.
Also the bigger playstore advantages.
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I thought the AOSP (standard android not android tv) was a little weird when I got my first box with it, but now I have many boxes with it and I actually like it better.
I am a Netflix subscriber. You can just have a stick, cube, or an Onn for Netflix and boxes like this for other content and IPTV.
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This box is great! As the review says…you shouldn’t get caught up on the fact that Netflix and others don’t work on this. If you’re following troypoint why in the heck are you paying for those streaming services in the first place? Not much difference between Android TV and basic Android except for the Play store. I personally like the app store this comes with, it has my favorite apps that Android TV doesn’t have.
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This maybe a silly question, so forgive me if it seems so, but this old man is still learning. So the SK1 has 8GBs of RAM, yet only has a 32 bit OS… I must be missing a part of the puzzle as my research shows that 32bit apps are only capable of using 4GBs of RAM. So how does having 8GBs of RAM help? Is this so that we can run multiple apps at the same time? If so why would you? Thanks for any positive insights and>>>>
An Android 32bit os can use something called large physical address extension
LPAE which allows the processor
to access physical memory above the standard 32-bit 4gb of RAM.
So if you were multitasking or playing memory hungry game, LPAE and 8gb of RAM would help with those tasks.
For general streaming iptv VOD there would be no real time benefit.
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You make a good point. I had it from before I knew about Troypoint, but now I am going to drop it.
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Ahhhh. That makes sense. I suspected it had something to do with multi tasking. LPAE is the piece of the puzzle I needed. Tx @Avid08 Off to research some more about LPAE. Have a good weekend.
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Everyday is a School day not matter your age. Enjoy the rest of your weekend also.
Edit
I also think it will probably help with having apps running in the background while using other apps.
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I would love to see Troy do a set up on this box for us. I ordered one Feb 1st. Looks like it got caught up in the tariff pool . Says its in the destination airport. Delivery March 1st, lol.
I was thinking that if a firmware update by AmLogic enables 8 GBs of RAM and 64 bit processing, that that would help with 8K media in the future when that becomes more common. Right now, just about everything is streamed in 1080p with some 4k sources and there are very few apps with 64 bit support, so this is moot. However, at some point down the road it would be nice to be able to further future proof the SK1 for that eventuality.
The SK1 Amlogic cpu is 64bit so it can be used in a 64 bit OS and is capable of using large amounts of RAM.
The manufacturers know that there is nothing to gain on a streaming device using a 64 bit OS.
As for 8k content, I don’t see it becoming mainstream because when tested most people couldn’t tell the difference between 4k and 8k.
The human eye can only see so much detail.
Also the cost outweighs the gains.
I can’t see Ugoos updating the OS to 64bit on the SK1 tbh.
They may use a 64bit OS on later devices if they had to but for streaming devices 32bit works fine.
You are no doubt correct. However if anyone has a super huge screen (100 inches plus), you might be able to detect a slight difference between 4k and 8k
From my research it seems that in order to effectively display 8K a device would need 32GBs of RAM. So I can’t see the SK1 going the 8K route. @Avid08 knows more about that then I would. So if that’s incorrect please chime in.
Everything @Avid08 says is correct and this is just my observation with ram above 4gb on an android device is that it helps the device under a heavy load and in pulling iptv coms. Sometime back I was monitoring my ram/cpu and noticed the ram usage spike during playback but nothing visually was impacted and everything worked as it should whereas (maybe) a 4gb device might have sputtered at the spike time. imho
You may get away with some 8k resolution content on SK1 depending on a lower frame rate and bitrate.
I doubt it would handle 60fps.
YouTube has 8k content but I think you need an 8k display to be able to change your Ugoos device to 8k resolution.
UR02 remote received update this morning to 3761378373
Have you noticed any changes?
Hey @PapaS how did you receive the update notice. I don’t have any updates, pending or otherwise.