CuBox-i4Pro Is A Powerful Personal Computer In A 2 Inch Cube

The CuBox-i is certainly an interesting mini PC. It offers a lot of flexibility since its support for Android and Linux is excellent, and it excels at running Kodi.

At just 2 inches x 2 inches x 2 inches (50.8 mm x 50.8 mm x 50.8 mm) the CuBox is a marvel of engineering. On one side of the cube is a set of ports including the power socket, HDMI, Ethernet and two USB ports. While the rest of the cube is fairly bland except for various labels, logos and LEDs.



CuBox-i specifications 

The CuBox-i comes in two variants, a dual-core version (CuBox-i2eX) and a quad-core version (CuBox-i4Pro). Other than the extra two cores, the i4Pro comes with 2GB of RAM (rather than 1GB) and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth are included by default.

It sports a 4GB micro SD card loaded with Android while also being capable of running Debian Linux. It has been built with a Freescale i.MX6 Quad core System on a Chip (SoC) and features 2GB of RAM (64bit @ 1066Mbps). There is also a Vivante GC2000 graphics processor and a real time clock with backup battery. Although the device can be used as an Android machine, it can also be used as a general purpose Linux host either without or with external storage or you can run the open source media player, XBMC.Price range $120 to $150.

The front face of the gadget features a flush infrared remote control port that is capable of transmitting as well as receiving. The adjacent face consists an optical audio out while the rear face has a power connector, 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet port, a 1080p HDMI 1.4 port that comes with 3D and CEC support, micro SD card slot, upper powered USB port, lower powered USB port, an eSATA II port and finally a micro USB to RS232 port.

According to Network World’s Mark Gibbs, “I ran the CuBox-i4Pro with both Android and Debian and it is fast, responsive, and remarkably easy to use. If you’re looking for a system to drive your next project or drive your home entertainment system the CuBox-i4Pro should be on your evaluation list.
One of the primary uses of the CuBox-i is as a media player. Since the cube supports Android and Linux then there are several different ways to achieve this. For example, you could use Android with an app like Netflix, or you can use Linux with a media player like Kodi (previously called XBMC).

Android 4.4 KitKat

The CuBox-i is compatible with Android and currently runs Android 4.4 KitKat. It is one of the official firmwares that you can download via Ignition. The Android experience is pretty good and for the most part you get the same experience as you would from a smartphone or a tablet, sans the touch screen.

Like the Humming Board, the CuBox-i version of Android includes Google apps, so you get access to the Play Store as well as other Google services like Gmail, G+, YouTube and so on. The performance of the CuBox-i2eX is basically the same as the Humming Board-i2eX. The benchmark scores from the Humming Board-i2eX review apply here, i.e. the CuBox-i2eX scored around 12000 on AnTuTu, and for Epic Citadel you will get frame rates of around 24 to 28 fps. For media playback, the CuBox-i supports accelerated decoding for a large number of video standards including MPEG-4 ASP, XVID, H.264 HP, H.263, and VP8. 

We tested the CuBox-i using YouTube and using Netflix. Both ran without any problems.
The only minor problem with Android on the CuBox-i is that it doesn't recognize flash drives when they are plugged into the USB port. This isn't something that most Android users try with their smartphones, so it isn't surprising that it doesn’t work. The Humming Board-i2eX had the same problem. It is an Android specific issue, as USB drives work fine under Linux and OpenELEC. 

CuBox-i Review by Android Authority