I just (invested, spent, wasted…depending on which one of my family asks) $80 on an open box Ugoos. Should be here Saturday or Sunday. It looks like it’s very similar to the am9 pro except for the amount of RAM and the metal case.
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I have one. It’s a good box and AOSP, not certified…in other words will work great for iptv, stremio, kodi etc.
After you get everything set up, let us know what you think!
What @TP-Ryan said. I’ve looked at that box several times, pls let us know what you think.
I’m interested also Elginherd… Not retired …yet…3 more months !! But have been looking at options as the ONN has yet to make it to Florida and my Firestick is ticking me off.
J
I had a chance to get it up and running, but not enough time to play with it a lot. Although it was sold as ‘open box’ it arrived as if it was brand new. The set up wizard was pretty much automated…the remote pairing was no hassle at all. However, the device was 3 or 4 firmware updates behind. So while I was getting other things done I had to click the ‘update now’ while I got my duties done.
Eventually the default ‘Launcher 3’ popped up. This is where I got introduced to what an air mouse was & how it functions. My wife was asking me why the hell is was randomly waving my arm around. I got Downloader installed after I got it under control, went to the Toolbox and got Kodi, Nuvio, and Stremio along with TizenTube. One thing that I noticed was how fast apks were installed, I don’t think that it was my imagination.
Later, I fooled around with ULauncher vs Launcher 3. Adding favorites to ULauncher is easy. But, unless I’m missing something I can only simultaneously view about 5 of them on the ‘favorite’ window. All of the apps icons get strung along one line across the screen, so scrolling right hides apps.
Adding apps to the Launcher 3 home screen takes a little touch and practice with the air mouse. BUT, all the apps that I need are right there, kind of similar to the Wolf Launcher.
I don’t think that I’m going to bother with a 3rd party launcher on this x5m. I’m in the minority here, but all I want in a launcher is no ads and a clean look at what I want. I much prefer Wolf to Projectivy.
I expected more friction in getting this operating, based on previous experience with another stock Android box. If I had previous experience with an air mouse, this device would’ve been easier to get up and running than one of the certified devices.
I haven’t had a chance to really sit and watch TV yet, tweak the settings or A/B it with the ONN 4K Pro yet. I will say that it seems just as easy to operate and the video right out of the box looks good in my so-far limited viewing. Tomorrow is going to be another busy day, but Thursday I should be able to dig in some more.
Appreciate you following up on this! And glad to hear everything seems to be going well out of the box
Just wait. There’s always a new and improved version waiting or about to come out. It always happens.
I didn’t get a great chance to play with the Ugoos yesterday because some local weather knocked the internet out in our neighborhood. This morning I did a little.
A few things that I found out, and I’ll start with the negative. Apparently my preferred Jellyfin client, Wholphin, isn’t available via the Playstore. In addition the stock JF client is clunky to RW or FW. I’ll look for Wholphin in the alternative stores when I get a chance. It’s a little more polished.
Next, it does ship with a little bloatware, though nowhere near a Stick or one of the Google boxes. UPlayer, Total Commander, FileBrowser, and Media Center are IMO the offenders out of the box. I’ll have to look into AirScreen & Miracast, which seems like they might be useful.
I did try ULauncher again, but I still can’t figure out how to display more than a top row. Making the icons smaller does allow a few more apps to show, but I still prefer the default Launcher3.
The picture quality is really good regardless of the source. I can’t tell the difference between an upscaled 1080p or a 4k source on my less than high end Sceptre 55" 4K TV. I haven’t the chance to do a true A/B test with our $50 ONN Pro yet. But so far I am impressed. That said, I could justify paying $20-25 more for the X5M than the ONN Pro. Just having a clean launcher at the get-go is worth a few dollars. I don’t think that I’d pay the price for new ($120-130?). Neither my eyes or my present equipment would justify paying double.
I figured out my Jellyfin issue. The Android TV version works. I had the Android device (phone or tablet) installed.
I’m gonna give Moonfin a try, another JF client.
Wolf launcher works great on all Ugoos devices. I easily installed it along with live wallpapers on both my AM9s and they work without a hitch.
I’m in the minority here regarding wallpaper on my launcher. I don’t want eye candy at all. We used Projectivy for a little while and, no matter how I grouped things, my wife and I both wanted to get back to Wolf with the stuff we used on top of the table.
Launcher3 makes that possible and makes everything very convenient as soon as the device boots up.
I’m in the minority here regarding wallpaper on my launcher. I don’t want eye candy at all. We used Projectivy for a little while and, no matter how I grouped things, my wife and I both wanted to get back to Wolf with the stuff we used on top of the table.
Count me in. Plain and simple,no clutter.
Me as well. Simple daily used apps and nothing else. Not on device home screen long enough to see any wallpaper and certainly don’t have it running when not in use. Even back in the early Win doze days I never used a screensaver or wallpaper.
That’s all i got room for 
I am projectivity or Nova till I die. But I really do like Wolf. :>
Just to update my experiences with the x5M after using it for about a month & a half as the daily driver… The video quality appears to be a little better than the ONN 4k Pro to both of us when A/B’ed.
The unit runs cool despite of the plastic case even after being used for 8-10 hours straight. The ONN Pro feels warm on the bottom after it’s been on for awhile.
The BT connection with our sound bar, which is now 4-5 years old, is reliable with the Ugoos, which is not the case with our two more modern ONN Pro & Plus. The ONNs do much better with the close-to-new Tribit small speakers. The Ugoos does very well with them also.
The Ugoos remote is generally great. It’s nice not having those annoying quick access buttons to services that we don’t use. However, occasionally the Ugoos doesn’t respond to the normal up/down & left/right on the ring. In that case on the Launcher3 page, I either have to use the Air Mouse to select my app or use the power button to turn the Ugoos off & then on…kind of annoying.
Both the ONN Pro & the x5M do a great job of playing media off of a thumb drive or off an external SSD drive. I use Kodi as the player.
Wholfin apparently isn’t compatible with devices that run off of AOSP, which is a minor irritation. Thankfully, both the Jellyfin & Moonfin clients work. Wholfin is, IMO, a much better clientthan the official Jellyfin client. Moonfin is not particularly better than JF.
In short, I’m very happy with the Ugoos. I’m also happy that I only paid $80 for it. It’s nice to have 2 middle-of-the road devices vs having cheapies everywhere. But, I wouldn’t pay $130 for the Ugoos. It’s not remarkably superior to the ONN Pro that I paid $50 for about a year ago.
Adding one more thing to my likes of the Ugoos…It’s great having a stock launcher that doesn’t kill with ads & suggestions. Ugoos’ Launcher3 is clean and whatever app is called for opens up very quickly.