All-in-one PC by stefan @ 2014-10-29
The upgrade to the previous XIOS DS is now baptized XIOS XS and features a notably faster dual-core processor at 1.5GHz, 1GB RAM, a dual-core internal GPU at 500Mhz and also 8GB of internal NAND for storing the applications. The box is set to launch a customized XBMC release with an easy to use skin which can be always reverted to default and additional software can be always installed from the Google Play Store.
At first we would like to thank Pivos for offering a sample of their XIOS XS Entertainment Center for testing and reviewing.
“We are a global pioneer in media peripherals and embedded technologies founded by a group of industrial veteran and renowned platform developers in Fremont, California. We set to challenge the curve of our conversation with today’s technology to breathe innovation, performance, creativity and human engineering. With over decades of combined industrial experiences and award winning development team, our company is committed to provide a full line of embedded digital solutions where computing technology joins today’s rich internet contents.”
Rethink Entertainment with the XIOS XS
The XIOS XS is the all-in-one entertainment center allowing you to fully customize your media experience. Easily organize and playback videos, pictures, music, movies, check the weather, and much more.
Make it your very own from apps to menus, shortcuts, wallpapers, colors, and much more to fully customize your experience!
TOFU lets you customize your experience from what goes in the menu bars to various add-ons to get the most of your media center. Select the colors, wallpapers, functions, and you can even let TOFU find the cover art for your own media files. There are endless possibilities and knobs to fine-tune it to just the way you like it.
Command at Your Fingertips
Using the intuitive remote, easily orchestrate your own concert or build your very own box office theater to enjoy what matters to you.
Stunningly Elegant, Yet Powerful
A small footprint, but packs tons of features.
Processor: Cortex Dual-Core A9 1.5GHz
Graphics: Mali Dual-Core 400MHz
Memory: 1GB DDR3
Integrated Storage: 8GB eMMC
Wireless: 802.11 B/G/N (up to 300 Mbps)
Bluetooth: v4.0
Card Reader: microSD (up to 32GB)
USB Ports: 2 x 2.0
Ethernet: 10/100 Mbps
Video: HDMI
Auxiliary Audio: Optical SPDIF
In this article we will concentrate our attention on the latest entertainment center from Pivos, the XIOS XS, which runs on an Android 4.2.2 base and with the help of TOFU, we will be able to playback the multimedia content we have available in our homes. The product is shipped inside a tiny cardboard box, with the product logo on the top cover:
Pivos promises us an “Ultimate Multimedia Experience” when looking on one of the box sides, while on the bottom we have a description of the product main interfaces and also the box contents:
After removing the top packaging layer, we will end up with a dark brown enclosure so let’s dig in more to see what we find out:
On the top, Pivos has placed an introductory guide:
The XIOS XS unit is surrounded by protective material, so it won’t get damaged during transit:
The bottom layer includes the test of the bundle:
What we have here? The manufacturer has included one HDMI cable, one USB cable for charging purposes, one US power adapter and also a remote which fits the color scheme of the main unit:
The power adapter was manufactured by Leader Electronics and is rated on the output as 5V, 2A:
The remote contains the essentials in order to control the XIOS XS, but we are always welcome to use a keyboard/mouse combo:
If we switch the remote on the other side, we will be able to spot the circular battery compartment:
The cover is easy to remove and if the battery wears out, we need to have one CR2025L model handy:
The main unit has the same footprint as the iconBIT Toucan Nano 4K and is fully covered by a rubberized paint:
In the front we have the IR sensor along with the activity LED:
On the right side we have one ventilation grill, the TF card slot and one USB 2.0 port
The left side is similar, but without the TF card slot:
On the back side of the unit, we have an optical audio-out, the LAN port, one HDMI port along with the USB power port:
The bottom is rubberized and also includes the product serial number:
Right after finalizing the initial setup procedure, we will end up with the stylized TOFU interface, which allows us to browse different types of multimedia content like videos, music, photos:
The weather services can be also accessed in a separate menu, as the favorites:
One search tool is also available, along with System details, the applications section and the Internet browser:
If we get a little more in-depth, we will discover that the Video section allows browsing the files, organizing playlists or getting more add-ons for the content:
The video files can be played back from where we left off or straight from the beginning:
We did play back videos from external drive support and they worked without a hitch, sporting the usual XBMC controls:
The audio files can be played back in the same manner and the album art will be also shown, if available:
The photo folders can be nicely shown as small thumbnails and we can also start slideshows:
The Settings section helps us customize most of the system parameters:
The Appearance menu takes care of the Skin, International, File Lists and Screensaver sub-sections:
Inside the Videos menu, we will be able to locate the Library, Playback, File Lists, Subtitles and DVDs sub-sections:
From the Music menu, we can access the Library, Playback and File Lists sub-sections:
File Lists and Slideshow sub-sections are available inside the Picture menu:
The Weather-related options can be customized from the next menu:
The Services menu contains sections like General, UPNP, Webserver, Remote Control, Zeroconf, AirPlay:
Next we have System menu which takes care of the Video Output settings, Audio Output, Input Devices and more:
The Android sub-section allows us to access the default Settings menu:
TV menu follows with other many sub-sections:
The Information menu lets us know some more details about the system:
From the Programs menu, we can access the pre-installed Android installed applications and, of course, access the Google Play Store:
The Browser section will open up the default Android browser:
If we select the TOFU skin instead of the TOFU Blur we have just presented, we will meet up with the regular XBMC interface:
We are dealing with the Amlogic AML8726-MX SoC, which means that the GPU is an 2-core component at 500MHz, while the four Cortex A9 cores operate at 1.51GHz and are accompanied by 1GB of RAM:
The System tab will supply us more information regarding the board type, Android version, kernel, resolution, free memory and so on:
To test out the performances of the Pivos XIOS CS Entertainment Center, we have installed some freeware benchmark apps from the Google Play Store in the internal memory (did not transfer them to a 3rd party microSDHC card, in order not to influence the test results). Afterwards, the applications were ran one-by-one, and we recorded the final scores; the obtained results were also compared with the previously tested systems, in order to spot the performance differences.
About a year ago, Pivos was launching the XIOS DS Android Media Player which had quite modest hardware specifications, but was very well supported by the company for a long time. Recently, the company has launched the upgraded XIOS XS, which features a notably faster (1.51GHz) dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a dual-core internal GPU at 500MHz and also 8GB of internal NAND. The internal memory can be further expanded via the TF card slot, in order to install more application
Upon startup, the TOFU Media Center GUI will immediately load, which is practically a custom XBMC build, and offers a lot of playback options of our multimedia content. Thanks to the Android base, we can install many other applications of our choice, including a different launcher if needed, which gives the product a lot of extra value. When compared to the previous Android box from iconBIT, this one scores lower and does not have as good 3D performance; the manufacturer did not focus on this aspect though but media playback up to Full HD, which the box succeeds to do well. Also, thanks to the lower hardware specifications, the unit is noticeably less costly so we can find it online for just about $99.
When we don’t use an external USB drive to feed content to the unit, we have found that the power seeded by our TV USB port was enough for the XIOS XS to operate, which is great.
We would like to thank again to Pivos for making this review possible!