Mecool KM2 Plus Review: An Android TV Box Too “Pretty”

The packaging of Mecool KM2 Plus is very simple: box, power supply, remote control and HDMI cableas shown in the photo above.

Apparently everything is ok, but there are a couple of clarifications to make. The first about the absence of batteries: to operate the remote you will need 2 AAA batteries, not included. The second concerns the HDMI cable, which it really is very short (see photo in the gallery at the end of the review), to the point that it may not be sufficient for many setups, and therefore, in fact, useless.

Last note: total absence of any manual. It’s not a drama for most, indeed for some it will even be a bonus, but it’s still an anomaly.

Inside the Mecool TV box we find a processor as expected Amlogictemplate S905X4a quad-core Cortex-A55 at 2 GHz. RAM is 2GBwhile the internal memory is 16 GBwith almost 12 GB available to the user, in spite of many competitors still stuck at just 8 GB (Google understood?!)

The maximum supported resolution is 4K@60fpswith support Dolby Vision for HDR, e Dolby Atmos for audio, if you have a compatible system.

The further good news is the Netflix certificationwhich means that the famous streaming service works best, with the official app, without the need for any user intervention.

Being a real TV box, and not the classic dongle, there is also a good number of ports scattered on two of its 4 sides: optical output (S/PDIF), 3.5mm audio out, HDMI, Ethernet2 USB-A (one 2.0 and one 3.0) and a reader of microSD. Therefore, connecting external memory and audio devices is therefore very easy, and if the Wi-Fi does not have a good signal, you can use the network port.

The Mecool MK2Plus remote control is small but well balanced and full of buttons, from click well recognizable but not noisy. We find all the classic keys to move around the Android TV interface, including the one dedicated to Assistant; plus we have dedicated buttons for Netflix, Prime Videos, YouTube and also to access the play store.

The latter is the most unusual, but overall we didn’t mind, above all because the automatic app updates are a bit “lazy” to arrive, and a check every now and then never hurts.

Too bad the button for i live channel doesn’t work, and that it doesn’t exist backlight (the latter really a rarity), but overall we had a good time, even if it’s all a bit plasticky / rubbery to the touch.

Mecool KM2 Plus is based on Android TV 11 with May 2022 patch, at the time of publishing this review. No Android TV 12 for now, and with it no frame rate matching. We don’t know if and when the TV box will be updated, which is the great unknown of all third-party models (and it’s not that the “official” ones are very fast: Chromecast with Google TV took forever to pass to Android TV 12!).

However, the interface is the familiar one of Android TV, because more or less independent of the version of the operating system, and as always we like it. The organization of the home in channels customizable is efficient, and i advice on the contents that might interest us they are quite spot on, even if they do not yet select titles from Netflix, because the app is not supported by this service in Italy.

But let’s clarify that Netflix by itself it works without any problems and at the maximum resolution; and like him too Now, Sky’s app recently arrived for all Android TVs, but not always fully compatible. Green light also for all other main services, from Prime Videos to Disney+from Apple TV+ to TIM Visionpassing Plex and Kodi.

On the playful front, given the few titles available for Android TV, which are still years ago, we recommend GeForce Now: NVIDIA’s service is available and working well, and it also has a good number of free contents that you can try.

In general, the responsiveness has always been good, without any hiccups or problems whatsoever in the reproduction of streaming content, but in the reproduction of local content VLC behaved worse than expected, with a score in its internal benchmarks Of 3819 software And 2218 hardware. However, let’s clarify that it is a score relating to the performance of VLC alone (which has not proved to be flawless even in daily use), especially useful for any comparisons with other hardware, rather than as a general index of the device in question.

Another slightly sore point: the paucity of the settings. HDR is managed in an on/off manner: either you disable it, or it will always be active, and any other image controls are absent. On the audio front we have a feature for make the dialogues cleareradjustable on three levels (it works pretty well, but it also depends on the speakers used, and at maximum levels it tends to pump too much high tones in general), and practically nothing else.

In short, there is not much room for maneuver and customization.

Bonus points though for the doors available: they are a boon to expand the available memory or to connect pen drives and external disks in a simple and fast way, much more than you would do with a common dongle. On the other hand, the latter are welcome but not essential functions, especially for those who want a TV box mainly for streaming services (which will easily be the majority).

Finally, excellent impressions on the wifi connectivity: stable and with good signal, more than the average of many dongles on the market. With a good fiber underneath (see photo below) you won’t have any problems, and you can forget about the Ethernet port.

Mecool KM2 Plus has a high price tag: 88$ on the official website, 89 euros on Amazon Italy. With a Chromecast with Google TV now available around 55 euros from Media World and Unieuroand with one Fire TV Stick 4K Max that it costs 65 euros and is often discounted up to almost 50%, it becomes difficult to recommend the Mecool TV box lightly.

It is not so much a matter of quality, but of quality pricecombined with the fact that the Amazon and Google models are logically more likely to be updated over time, as well as the support of large multinationals behind them.

To be competitive Mecool KM2 Plus had to cost halfwhich is all to say, a goal difficult to reach in the short term.