00:00What's happening everyone. I hope you are having a great day and welcome back to the channel.
00:05So in the early days of Android boxes people used to ask questions such as is it truly DDR3
00:13or DDR4 RAM and whether you are actually getting the right size of RAM. Is its CPU and GPU truly
00:20as advertised? What is its true bluetooth version and whether its android version is truly what they
00:26say it is? Well today's video is somewhat controversial and some manufacturers and sellers
00:32may not like this topic. But if you use android boxes for as long as I have you know there's
00:38always a gray area when it comes to verifying a boxes through hardware specs. This topic is going
00:44to be an eye opener but I believe it's necessary to improve the quality of the models being handed out
00:50to consumers and to fact check countless models being featured on various websites,
00:56social media and video sharing platforms. So today's video is going to be a giveaway of a special app I
01:02built tailored for android boxes to provide in-depth and sometimes hidden features about your box's true
01:09system and hardware information and if you are getting exactly what you are paying for. So this is
01:15my first release and there are going to be updates as a new hardware releases. I built this app with
01:21the
01:21help of AI tools and what it found changes how we look at our boxes hardware specs going forward.
01:26So don't go anywhere because you don't want to miss this.
01:44And welcome back. So I would like to introduce my custom system and hardware information app called
01:52TV box specs. It's targeted at android boxes but you can literally use it on any android device whether
01:59mobile, tablet or android desktop computer. So let me explain why we need this app and what's at the
02:06core of the whole problem. When you install either 64 or CPU-Z or any hardware info app, those apps
02:15can
02:15only read what the operating system tells it. It cannot look inside the chipset directly. And what device
02:23preferences or the app is reading is a text file. Literally a plain text file on the firmware
02:28called build.prop. This file contains entries like row.board.platform, row.product.model, row.chipname.
02:40And here's the thing. The manufacturer writes every single one of these values. There is no verification.
02:47There are no checks. They can write anything they want. A box with a two year old Amlogic S905X2
02:54chipset can declare itself as S905X4. Ada64 will read it, display it, and you will believe it.
03:03Unfortunately, if you try to access this build.prop file using any file explorer or root explorer,
03:11you cannot view it. The file opens but you cannot view it. Not even on rooted boxes, mobile phones,
03:17or development boards. But I want to be fair. Not every manufacturer does this. Some of them are indeed
03:24honest. And some have to be in order to get their Google certification. But not all of them are.
03:31That's why I had to build something that could tell or indicate that something is not right or adding up.
03:37So its core design principle is, if it cannot read from the hardware source, it does not display a value,
03:45status mode, model, version, or support. It tells you what cannot be accessed or what is being blocked.
03:52Here's what I mean. Instead of trusting the build.prop text file for the SOC name,
03:58the app reads the kernel's own hardware line from the proc forward slash CPU info that is set when the
04:05kernel is compiled, not a text file that a marketing team can edit. For example, these CPU frequencies are
04:13reading directly from the hardware registers at system slash devices slash system slash CPU and it's live
04:22every second. You can watch the clock change in real time as the CPU steps up and steps down.
04:28So currently I have the app running on an Android development board created by Kadas called the Kadas
04:35H2. If you look here these temperature readings are real sensor readings because you cannot fake a thermal
04:42sensor. If this box is running hot you are going to see it right here. So if the app cannot
04:48get a reading
04:48then that's a red flag that the manufacturer may be hiding something or most likely the box overheats.
04:56The app also gives you temperature threshold levels if you don't understand how to interpret the
05:01temperature levels. Now I have it connected to a Google certified model that some people claim to be the
05:09best model in the world. And as you can see they have blocked access to the temperature sensor and I
05:16wonder why.
05:20Here's another Android box this time from Ugoos. This is their latest AM9 model and here it shows its
05:28temperature sensor readings.
05:32The app provides advanced GPU detection instead of trusting a system property the manufacturer
05:38the manufacturer sets. The app reads the GPU's own hardware ID from the Marley kernel driver.
05:45And if the manufacturer provides enough access it would give you even down to its GPU speed in megahertz.
05:52If the app cannot detect any GPU information then there is some cause for concern.
05:58So as much as the app can detect and reveal a lot of additional information,
06:03there are things this app or any app still cannot verify. For example, the box's RAM.
06:10The total RAM figure comes from the kernel. And on some boxes the kernel is configured to report a
06:16higher number than the RAM chips that are physically soldered on the board.
06:21I have seen 2GB boxes report 4GB. And the only way to truly verify its RAM is to open the
06:28box and read the chip
06:29markings which can void your warranty which is no surprise. The model name and manufacturer still
06:35comes from the build.prop file. The app still shows them, but you should always cross reference
06:40with what the board actually exposes. The point of knowing what can be faked is just as important
06:46as knowing what cannot. Let me tell you why I care about this situation so much. In the good old
06:54days,
06:54Android boxes used to perform better, last longer, and we used to see real improvements when new hardware
07:01was released. Nowadays we are seeing models being released claiming to have new hardware but performing
07:08worse than previous models. The market is declining because of some of these bad players who are only
07:14interested in making quick sales with cheap inferior hardware under the guise of new hardware.
07:21And for the manufacturers who are doing the right thing, the ones who are shipping what they claim
07:26and providing high quality products, they are the ones who are being undercut by competitors who lie.
07:31That's not fair to them either. This is not about sales. It's not about views. This is about the fact
07:38that when you buy a box you deserve to get what you paid for. So I'm not going to go
07:44through every single
07:45feature of the app because you will literally see it featured in every one of my videos going forward.
07:51So we have plenty of time to explore all of its features. Also I'm giving it away for free so
07:58you
07:58will have enough time to explore all of its features for yourself. There are no configurations and it's
08:04pretty straightforward. So if you are a manufacturer watching this video, and I know some of you do,
08:11I want to speak to you constructively. Please know that I'm not your enemy. I have reviewed literally
08:18hundreds of your boxes. I've even recommended many of your products to my audience. I want to keep
08:24doing that. But I will not be a tool for misleading the people who trust in this channel. If your
08:31box
08:31ships what it claims, this app will confirm it and that's a good thing for you. Use it because it
08:37will
08:37also be posted on my TV box ranking chart. If your box does not ship all the claims,
08:43that is also going to become visible. Not through my opinion, but through hardware registers and driver
08:49nodes that do not consult with your marketing department. So take note of that. So as mentioned,
08:56my TV box specs app is free. I built it for this channel and for this community. The link is
09:02in the
09:02description. If you get a new Android box, run it, compare what the manufacturer claims with what the
09:09hardware actually reports, and share it in the comments. I am building this into my review process
09:15going forward. Every box that comes through this channel, gets put through TV box specs before I
09:21form an opinion about it. Because at the end of the day we all want to see new and better
09:26performing
09:27Android boxes being released. So let's help the community and look forward to those updates.
09:32So thanks for taking the time to watch this video. Don't forget to like and subscribe to the channel.
09:37Stay connected and see you in the next one.
09:59See you in the next one.
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