July 30, 2014

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Scott Webster

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Scott has been running AndroidGuys since 2007 and loves nothing more than reading up on the latest smartphone rumors. His other mobile efforts can be found on AndroidAtlas (CNET) where he covers Google's mobile platform.

WISE TIVI offers three Android-powered Smart TV options

wise_tivi_box

So you want to put a Smart TV in your living room but don’t feel like spending hundreds or thousands of dollars. What to do? Maybe you start with WISE TIVI and one of their three affordable Android-powered options.With prices that start at $59.99 we’re willing to enhance our current set with a little bit of Ice Cream Sandwich Jelly Bean.

 

Depending on what form factor you prefer, or how permanent you expect the unit to be, there are three distinct form factors. On the low end is the $59.99 WISE TIVI BOX, a small Roku-like box that comes with a remote. Moving up the ladder a bit is the PORTABLE device, a $79.99 HDMI-connected flash drive with Android under the hood. If you plan to keep things in place for the longer term, you might be interested in  the $89.99 CAMERA model. At the root, each of these offers a similar experience in that it adds Android features to your existing television.

For what it’s worth, the WISE website indicates these come with Ice Cream Sandwich, however the email we received (and twitter) tell us it’s a 4.2 Jelly Bean experience.

UPDATE: We received confirmation that it is indeed and Android 4.3 experience and that DLNA support has been integrated into the recent builds.  On top of that, there is also Google Play support in the WISE TIVI experience.

WISE TIVI DETAILS:

  • Android 4.0
  • Dual Core ARM Cortex A9 1.6GHz
  • Quad-core ARM Mali-400 MP, supports OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 and OpenVG 1.1
  • DDRIII 1GB DDR3
  • Nand Flash 4GB (up to 16GB)
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Input/Output
    • RGB ,
    • micro USB (DC port) ,
    • USB HOST(USB 2.0 ),
    • TF card slot (Support 1GB/2GB/4GB/8GB/16GB)

While these don’t look to come with access to the Google Play store, we’re willing to give one of these devices a shot. We’re sure developers would love to tinker with something along these lines, and the more savvy users can get around the minor obstacles. Full Google Play support in the WISE TIVI means we can forget about saving up that extra money for a Google TV experience.

If you’re interested in picking one of these up, you can pre-order each model now. Note that all pre-orders also include free shipping.