 "Yodigito FV-1 Android TV Review")
A range of HD Media Players are currently available in the market; the Xtreamer Prodigy, Seagate GoFlex TV Player and the WD TV by Western Digital. Following the trend, Yodigito has launched their HD Media Player called the FV-1 Android TV/ Internet Box, which operates on Google’s Android 2.2 Operating System. The player, manufactured by Flexi View does have a few interesting features as far as functionality is concerned, but is it a worthy buy? Read on to find out.
The top view
Design and Build Quality
Yodigito’s new FV-1 Player looks classy. From the Android logo on the top, to the chipped curve finishing, it surely warrants a place next to your HDTV, as far as looks are concerned. The front panel consists of two USB slots and a power indication LED. The microSD slot resides on the side of the player, while the back panel consists of an HDMI slot, an Ethernet slot, a power port and a USB slot. The player has a glossy finish on the top and might just attract a few fingerprints. The unit as a whole has an impressive build and finish.
The Player and the Remote - Vast differences in Build Quality
We move on to the remote control and things start rolling downhill. The build quality of the remote is poor, the key feedback is quite bad and we ended up pressing the buttons more than once for them to register on the screen. It’s confusing how a company can manage to have such a vast difference in build quality for accessories of a product they built well. They could have definitely done much better while designing the remote control.
Features
The FV-1 does pack a few neat features in its compact box. The player runs on a 1GHZ Samsung Cortex A8 S5PV210 CPU and has a DDR2 512MB RAM with 8GB Flash memory. It is a full blown Android 2.2 device sans the calling features. Users can download apps, browse the Iinternet, log onto social networking sites exactly the way they would on an Android phone. The only difference is that the entire usage has to be carried out via the provided remote control. But the remote control isn’t an ordinary one. It is a motion sensing remote control that gives users a ‘Wii-like’ experience. Also, like any Android phone, this player has a microSD slot that allows expansion up to 32GB, in-built Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity options for connecting external peripherals. The drawbacks are few but may be crucial to some. They include no support for 3D, USB 2.0, poor rendering of 1080p videos and an erratic pattern for discovering HDDs.
SD Card slot supports expansion up to 32GB
User Interface
User Interface is exactly what you would expect from a standard Android device. Multiple home screens, Drop-down notification bar, wallpapers and application settings – all are stock Android features. There are options to customize what to display on the home screen, as well as app shortcuts and widgets. The whole UI is landscape–oriented as compared to the portrait-orientation in phones. This makes sense as the player is to be hooked to a widescreen TV. As it’s the exact Android interface you will find on any Android phone, it doesn’t really disappoint.
Using the virtual keyboard
Performance
While the Android Player does boast of a few sleek features, it’s the performance section that is a big let down. Firstly, operating the player with the provided remote control is a daunting task. Due to the erratic motion sensor, we ended up clicking the wrong option more often than not. It takes great patience to type on the virtual keyboard and hence using it to browse the Internet might just be a headache for most people. That said, once you master the remote control, the whole usage is relatively easy - right from connecting to your Wi-Fi router, downloading apps, to viewing videos from YouTube.
Scaling went awry with some apps
Also, playback for 1080p videos was terrible. We tried a range of HD 1080p videos and every single one of them stuttered. If HD video playback is going to be your primary use for this player (which will definitely be the case for most people), you will definitely be disappointed. We tried downloading a few apps - while those like Angry Birds and Linpack did work properly on the full screen, apps like Scooter Hero and Doodle Jump could not get scaled properly to the screen we were playing it on.
Verdict
The Yodigito FV-1 HD Media Player retails at Rs. 17,954. It’s nothing, but an Android phone in a box. It can run all your Android apps, so you can install RSS feed readers, games, Bittorrent clients and eventually transform your TV into a smart box. But practically, it has too many flaws - from the remote control functionality, to the app scaling problem, to the HD video playback. At that price, we believe it’s definitely not worth your money.
 "Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty")
 "Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched")
 "Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?")
 "Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House")
 "Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty")
 "Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched")
 "Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?")
 "Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House")
