BigStar

Best to get a custom build from Advice, JIB, or Invadit. Invadit communicates well in English and has a good rep. They can suggest a parts list, and you can run it by the members here.

Seems the huffing and puffing all boils down to this: The OP used to use the Kbank app on his old Samsung phone. As the Android OS stopped updating, and therefore became a security risk, the Kbank app stopped supporting it, just as Google Chrome stopped supporting Win 7. The OP says he refuses to buy a new phone and foolishly thinks, or pretends he does, that the Kbank app should run under Linux. Whole thing may be another windup by this troll. And the Kbank app will of course not run under an Android emulator--not all Android apps do, anyway--as it's not tied to a specific device (phone, w/ registered number), hence absurdly insecure. In short, on desktops, you do online banking through browsers, not dedicated apps. A browser is an app, too.

But what if you didn't need "both," whatever that means, and the 4x cheaper box did all you wanted--stream and play media files--indefinitely even without future Android releases? And with the savings you could, over the next 20 years, buy 3 more of the latest boxes, latest OS and updates, better hardware--rather than being stuck with an obsolete Windows box you didn't need in the first place? Well, duh. No brainer. 🙂 No, B1400 is sufficient for a "decent" Android box. If you don't need "all," then it's foolish to waste money better spent elsewhere. Android program updates continue to support older versions of the Android OS, same as Windows programs still support older Windows versions. And the older program may not even need updating. 🙂 Besides, over 20 years one can just buy 3 more updated Android boxes while you're still huffing that old mini PC. Dunno what you're banging on about. Buffering w/ "decent" Android boxes is minimal and depends, just as with your beloved mini PC, on the speed and reliability of your internet connection and the servers accessed. No buffereing w/ local media files, of course. I never restart my Android box. It merely suspends, and instantly wakes up, on demand, using about 4-6 watts when on.🙂 But you probably power off and then boot up your clunky mini PC daily. Which makes no sense, as you could merely run two Android boxes for the purpose. What about your editing Word documents on your mini PC? Photoshop?🤣 Stuff a Windows box is really useful for? We ain't hearing anything about the Windows-specific uses. ANF Posters love to spend other posters' money. May we then give you our bank account numbers by PM so that you can deposit the laughable amount in our accounts? Why not? Could IF, who cares? But the OP requested an Android box, a request you've ignored in favor of a superflous, irrelevant solution. I have an old laptop lying around, useful when I travel, but my Android box is perfect for its purpose. But he surely knows Kodi does natively, not to mention similar media programs. I know that well, but I still much prefer an inexpensive Android box connected to my TV. Or TVs, as I use an HDMI cable splitter for display on two TVs. But now he's found out yet is happy with his Android boxes, just as I am. Go figure. 😉 A quick search on Lazada will debunk that nonsense. At a glance I see boxes from B309 up to B7000 and more, with a larger number falling into the B900 range. OP's happy with B1000 boxes. I have one of the latter myself and it's been quite OK for 2 years already, after a bit of initial configuration. Right now the TOX is looking good for a current purchase--in the mid range, as I noted. They aren't competitive, valuewise, for the narrow particular purpose the OP specified. The "more" isn't needed, so no point in wasting money. I wonder how many times you need to hear that before you can exit your usual bickering loop? But then endlessly argued its superiority, when it's actually NOT superior for the OP's particular purpose. YAWN.

So, just more proof that Ignorance tends to encourage rather than inhibit the production of hot air on the forum. As for health, go ahead and share all those numbers from your latest lipid panel. You free of meds? I'll be glad to match.

"Kodi box" is a common term for Android media boxes because they're most often used primarily just to run Kodi. But you could call your mini PC your Kodi box if you wished. The OP clearly specified he was only looking for suggestions about the Android ones. Android ones. Got that yet? This'll suffice as a link; thanks, @bkk6060: Moving on: Like you merely updated your old WinXP machine to run Win 10? But you said you just got a new machine. WOT??? Someday your beloved mini PC will suffer the same fate, one way or the other. Hardware & software die, become obsolete, evolve. OP didn't say it was the version of Android that got too old, you see. False assumption. Not much is relative to what's wanted and needed for a particular purpose, in this case merely to stream and play media files. Paying 4x more for useless features is--too much. Nor did anyone suggest the cheapest option. Android media boxes have a range of price/quality ratios, and mid-range or above is what's been suggested here. No, as it would be irrelevant and off-topic. I don't share the obsession with mini PCs we have around here. But the OP has expressed no need or desire to expand that particular purpose. Nor would longevity necessarily be an issue. Say each Android box lasted 5 years. Buying 3 more then, w/ the latest features, means he's good for 20 years. And your mini PC? And you, in 20 years? Simple, really, yet perpetually lost on--you.

Both. Now the shrewdest of our ANF Life Coaches have always promoted that short but happy life ending with a smile on one's face during a bonk. Longer life merely means a longer time suffering in the bedsit. Healthy lifestyle = stress. We all know of The Guys: The Guys I know some guys who seemed healthy but have already died. As opposed to our guarantor, The Relative: The Relative A relative of mine did nothing special and lived to 95. Oh, I will too. It's me genes. What's ignored by our Medicated Lifestyle proponents is that chasing after docs, meds, hospitals, insurance, paying medical bills, carrying around a belly, suffering premature physical and mental decline, pain controlled by medication. When you think about it, the quality achieved becomes rather doubtful . . .

Eminently fair. FreeBSD, for example, derived from Unix, has an infinitesimal market share. It doesn't run on phones. But iOS is also derived from Unix and runs banking apps just fine. I detect true craziness here, but not on the part of the banks. Android is a Linux variant and also runs banking apps. Linux is not a fork or a derivative of Unix. Most if not all banks have apps for Android. On the desktop, the banks offer online banking via web browsers, regardless of OS. So you may login to your bank's online banking facility using Firefox or Chromium running under FreeBSD, if you wish.

I guess if you are healthy, the rational goal would be to remain healthy as long as possible. But that's likely a minority opinion. Most of our members here seem to be proponents of the Medicated Lifestyle.

What about, "it's 5 o'clock somewhere."

Nah, you just made that up. But it's repeating a myth strongly held among the members of our peanut gallery who never go into McDonald's or Starbucks. In all the many years I've been a regular customer of Starbucks, I've never seen anyone take a selfie there. Nor have you. Fact is, Thais and tourists like Starbucks for the same reasons Americans or even Brits (despite all the hostility from our penny-pinching bush league Brits on this forum) like Starbucks. Starbucks targets 100 more UK stores following strong outlet and sales growth

But you see, @NowNow, I remember when they had NO website even before the new supermarket was built, duh. I also remember when the new Friendship wasn't there and when it opened. Now it did get some buzz at the time in the Pattaya Mail. By contrast, I haven't seen any in there about the new Best, but I no longer read the Pattaya Mail cover-to-cover, just the headlines from their RSS feed. It's just a fact that they once had no website, and it's good that they did come up with one and are capable of change. Guess you'll have to suck it up. Nothing shocking here. It's actually you claiming to know best what Best should be doing, based on your own impressive Authority. Me, I think Best knows best what's best for Best, it's their money on the line, and none of your assertions yet prove otherwise. Got it now? You may live in hope. Those are issues NOW, and you've now agreed with me that, since the new Best is only just starting, they'll probably improve. But they're not really the BIG issues you imagine that require them to have a coffee shop in front. If they have the products at an attractive price, customers--Pattaya customers, this ain't Honolulu or Tokyo--will seek them out, shop, and buy, they don't care. You remind me of how people 50 years ago couldn't imagine how a basic warehouse w/ boxes stacked high on shelves, little display, and little customer service could possibly compete with conventional full-service retailers. 🙂 So we'll just need to disagree on the coffee shop out front and other marketing gimmicks at present, sorry. I've noted that if they feel the need for any gimmicks, they're capable of implementing them.

Probably, but last time I visited, I didn't notice any. You should know. Exactly my point and the reason they don't need any coffee shop out front and good smells wafting out. And they'll probably have English (or Russian, ha ha) on the website as they ramp up. Meanwhile, Google translate will do. It's a better website than I expected. Having online ordering now is remarkable progress and may slow foot traffic to an extent, except for the booze. Best has almost always had good prices on that, too. Now try Foodland's online ordering. 🙂 Try Google translate on Foodland's posted notice. WOT???

OK, I guess you can't go to the pricelist directly. The Lifecare homepage is here: http://lifecare.siam2web.com/ But you're right, I did misread the post, sorry. The lab definitely doesn't offer EEG.

OK, but then new bigger branch didn't exist, just as the new bigger Best didn't. Close enuff? 🙂 I do, because I went into the new Friendship not long after it opened. Took time to ramp up, too. Now in your favor it did have the benches and even a small table or two right outside for a monger to enjoy a cheap beer & snack. Similarly, Best had the seating area around the big tree in the back. But times have changed.

And the OP then elaborated, in his post, on what kind of Kodi box he wants. Study this carefully: Had an S, was happy, but now it's too old. Wants newer ones like that. Wants, quite specifically, Android ones Got that now? Repeat: Android ones. Just reading a topic heading is too simple-minded and leads to misinterpretation, like yours, and the usual repeat loop. No one suggested the cheapest option. A made-up straw man. No one has said, suggested, or even implied any such thing. That's merely another straw man argument repeated over and over and over. Your option is off-topic. OP wants an Android box (like the old S) for a particular purpose. You haven't suggested a box better for that particular purpose, but merely a different kind of box, different OS, at 4 times the cost with a lot of features superfluous for the particular purpose. And the OP has rightly rejected that irrelevant suggestion, while you're trapped in the same loop. All your off-topic time-wasting posts should be removed, IMO. But if one merely wants Android to fulfill a narrow particular purpose, one would hardly want or need to waste money on a Windows box and fool around with an emulator. Better just to spend the difference on a PC upgrade. Or just hookers and blow and call it day.

They didn't move because they didn't even exist. But Friendship is set back from Pattaya Thai and has never needed any cafe up front to draw customers. Best is probably busier now than Friendship when it first opened because it has a pre-existing customer base. In the past, potential customers would avoid Best because of the lack of parking. It's been just in the past week or so that Best began to look fully open rather than under construction.

Lifecare Lab, B350: http://lifecare.siam2web.com/?cid=1209619 Some package promotions include one. Little interpretation, however, kind of pass/fail. I got one as part of a health promotion at Phyathai Sriricha Hsp, and it was quite thorough w/ analysis.

Does Friendship offer same? Best's old customers will continue to shop at Best. That now includes a lot of Russians and far fewer Germans than in the heyday of Naklua Rd. For newer arrivals, word spreads quickly w/i the community. They don't mind a bit that the liquor is now right up front, though before it was immediately to the left of the main entrance. There's a lot more parking now than before. Best hasn't been particularly cheap in many years, but it probably beats Tops up the street and Foodland, the latter requiring one go into T21. So my guess is that it'll do OK w/o the need for marketing gimmicks. If they feel a need for the latter, they're capable of meeting it.

Our posters continue to delude themselves that the OP, and others, want to run Windows on their Android boxes or run Android on Windows boxes that cost 4 times the price of an Android box. Here's the topic: That is, a simple media box for easily (w/ launcher & remote) streaming and playing media files via Kodi. Period. No mention whatsoever of these needs: - A Windows backup box for my PC. OMG. Now, Alan Kay invented and designed the Dyabook in 1972, and Adam Osborne gave us the laptop in 1981. Laptop. Nor would I want to tie up my media box doing Windows PC tasks. Me, I also have a fast spare PC built from old parts. NO, I don't want to use it as a media box. 😉 - A need for Windows software on the media box - An air mouse and air keyboard (gag) - Fooling around with Windows in general, dealing w/ the Windows interface & updates. No confession in the OP of embarrassing ignorance--that needed righteous correction--that Windows can indeed run Kodi (IF one wants to run Windows) or that other devices can indeed stream or connect to a TV, YES, they can. Happy? Now, I still like and want my little Android media box.

In fairness, a few years ago we had self-designated Authority on Android boxes jumping into these recurring threads, and it turned out he was indeed selling customized Android boxes, at a price. I heard of a similar guy through a member of the Expats club. What they do is configure Kodi settings, install various currently working addons, and set it up to stream boring content the average expat might find of interest. Otherwise, they go thru the box and add/remove apps, and change or configure the launcher. Finally--this kills me--they may add their own branding, via editing a file or two. In short, the kind of stuff a clueless, technically-challenged old retiree barely able to use a newfangled remote control would find helpful and, not knowing the real prices of these boxes, be willing to pay a premium for. They'll also offer tech support. 🙂 I hear that some of the Thai shops in the computer malls do something of the same, rather as they restore cracked images of Windows & software to PCs.

Good find, TOX. Rooted and few apps!

I tend to think, based on a similar case of which I'm aware, that app/file/configuration permissions have a lot to do with this. It's been reported that exFAT gets better treatment. However, I don't see how an average user could deal with all of it. I better withdraw my suggestion for the usual Xiaomi and Mecool. @gargamon's TOX is sounding quite good. I've put it on my list for when my box needs replacement. No, but you brought up a dissimilar product. The OP is asking about Android boxes, not mini-PCs.The goal is to run Kodi. 🙂 I did, on topic, calling it the Benz of the Android boxes. Shields are above my pay grade, but you may read over the site: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/ And compare the touted features w/ your mini-PC. On the 'net are quite a few discussions of mini-PCs vs Shields, in which Shield usually comes out on top, unless you expect it to do what it isn't designed to do. Android is also multitasking. Android boxes are meant primarily for streaming and playing files. I could download torrents on my box, but I wouldn't. I'd prefer to do that, and all the other PC things, on my PC. Like most people? I dunno. We all realize that an Android box isn't a mini-PC. I think most of us (with loud exceptions) aren't disappointed it isn't, esp for the price. Yes, you can run Photoshop on your mini-PC, Word, etc. etc. If you really want to. 🙂 As can Android media boxes, Chromecasts, Firesticks, or just Android TVs. Some years ago we had a noisy member touting his fabulous home theater system and his high-end Android box, whose brand I forget.

In Thai there is.

One issue w/ Android 14 is that of permissions. But you could also just install the free exFAT/NTFS for USB by Paragon from Google Play. Sorted. If this is the HDR issue, it was solved by a firmware update last January you may have missed. @gargamon just bought two good Android boxes for about 1.3k each, so your mini-PC is about 5 times the cost. Your fallback will be that you get a lot more for your 7.5k. True, but I contend that average users, such as me, don't need all that more for humble media file playing and streaming. Android boxes are already designed and set up for the purpose. I don't wanna leave my Windows PC on all night so it can update and demand a reboot or reboot itself. Uses enough power as it is. It sleeps whenever I'm not using it. I control the updates carefully and consciously. In general, I wouldn't want another f***ing Windows box to fool around with and maintain. I could tell a funny story about a Windows laptop suddenly shutting down for an update during a MOST inopportune time. But I won't.🙂 That was a lesson learned, ha ha. I do, too, and have my cheap box wired in. But we have a lot of renters (proud, self-congratulatory renters) and hipsters here who can't or just won't run a cable.

Do these boxes support read/write to external drives formatted as NTFS/exFAT?