Anker Launches Android TV Dongle At Nearly Twice the Price & Without Key Features of Chromecast With Google TV
The marketplace for Android TV boxes is widening. Anker has released their own streaming device — dubbed the Nebula 4K Streaming Dongle — running Android TV 10, initially noted by 9to5Google.
The new device has near identical specs with Walmart's onn. 4K Android device as well as others, all of them based on Google’s design for the current version of the Google TV with Chromecast.
The larger issue with the new Anker device is its price — at $89.99, it is nearly twice the price of the Google TV model, and three times that of the Walmart onn. device.
Anker’s Nebula 4K Streaming Dongle is a small box with an HDMI cable that does not hang from the TV set as opposed to Google’s Chromecast with Google TV.
The layout of the included Android TV remote is identical to the remote included with Walmart’s onn. device, with the only difference being that among the dedicated buttons is one for Disney+ on the Anker device as opposed to one for HBO Max on the Onn device. Opening the box, you’ll find the remote, an HDMI cable, a USB cable, a power adapter, and batteries.
The new device reportedly uses the same Amlogic S905Y2 CPU and ARM Mali-G31 MP2 GPU as the Walmart device uses. The Walmart onn. device has a quad-core 1.8GHz clock speed. However, according to AFTVNews, Nebula describes its 4K Streaming Dongle as having a CPU that is up to 2GHz.
The device supports 4K at 60fps and HDR10, however, there is no support for HDR10+ or Dolby Vision, which is available on the Chromecast for Google TV. Likewise, there is support for H.265, H.264, and VP9 video decoding, but not AV1. The dongle comes with 2GB of memory and 8GB of internal storage — just as the Walmart model does.
So who is this streaming box for? Who knows. If you’re looking for a good Androit TV streaming box, save your money and choose a Google TV with Chromecast or Walmart onn. instead.