How many Armlogic S912 octa-core processor packed TV boxes you know. I can count on fingers. We have managed to get our hands on some of them including the Nexbox A1, Enybox X2, Beelink GT1, and YUNDOO Y2. As you see this processor is very popular and used by many manufacturers. Honestly, I don’t know whether this SoC is used on devices from other categories, but those TV boxes that come with it showcase a great performance, especially it refers to boxes used as game consoles. Today we have found out another great TV box equipped with this processor, but as many users claim the CPU is not the only advantage of the YOKA KB2.
YOKA KB2 Build Quality
The first thing I came to my mind when I unboxed the YOKA KB2 was a question ‘Why the manufacturer has depicted it in white/grey with light blue shades making it look like a cartoon device?’ Actually, the YOKA KB2 looks differently and comes in a regular design that is much more attractive rather the one we see in advertising pictures.
This TV box comes in metallic light grey color with black outlines. The overall design seems standard for such category boxes. Thus the manufacturer has made decision concerning only the color option. The upper part of the device carries only the brand name – Yoka TV and I think this is a right decision not to put the model name, because almost all Yoka TV boxes come with great features. Plus, it’s clever step to promote the brand itself. The company has played a little with it- when the box is turned off the logo is red, and when it’s turned on, it becomes blue.
The back side has decorated holes for hot air removal. And there are also four ‘legs’ made of rubber to make the box stand a bit higher from the stand surface promoting better ventilation. The front side comes with the model name, KB2, a small LED screen with blue and red notification light, and a power button. The opposite side own only a port for wireless antenna. The Gigabit Ethernet RJ45, optical S/PDIF, AV, HDMI and DC 5V ports are located on the left side. There is also a small hole for resetting. The right side comes with two USB 2.0 ports and a TF card slot for memory expansion.
The Yoka KB2 comes with a plastic housing, but the back is made of metal. Metal materials get hotter when charging, so I don’t think it’s a good decision in this sense. (It gets up to 45 Celsius, as seen on the photo above)Anyway, we can say Yoka TV hasn’t come up with something unique, as the Yoka KB2 offers the same design we have seen on the Mecool BB2. Probably, the only difference is the color range.
The Yoka KB2 comes with dimensions of 13.00 x 10.90 x 2.40 cm and weighs 206 grams.
YOKA KB2 Hardware
If you do a little research, you will find that most of TV boxes come with a 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory. Plus, they are powered with a dual-core processor running at 1.5GHz. If you run an outdated versions of Kodi and Android, these specs can be enough. But if you want to use the updated versions of these software, you should look for more powerful TV boxes. Moreover, a weak specs list limits users with a 1080p display and WiFi speed of only 2.4GHz. As you guess, all the abovementioned hardware features can cause a slow performance, an overheating and other issues.
As for the KB2, it has been built for speed on the latest hardware, memory and internal storage. This TV box is packed with an Amlogic S912 octa-core 64 bit processor running up to 2.0 GHz and paired with a 2GB of RAM, 32GB eMMC ROM, and a Mali T820 GPU running up to 750MHz. The latter is capable of providing a 4K video playback at 60fps.
When it comes to benchmarks, we see different results. The processor has been tested itself and it showed the following results:
| Amlogic S905 | Amlogic S912 | Ratio | |
| CPU* | Quad core Cortex A53 @ 1.536 GHz | Quad core Cortex A53 @ 1.536 GHz + Quad core Cortex A53 @ 1.0 GHz |
|
| GPU | Penta-core ARM Mali-450MP | ARM Mali-T820MP3 | |
| Antutu 6.x | |||
| Overall | 38,032 | 41,303 | 1.09 |
| 3D (1920×1080) | 3,979 | 8,782 | 2.21 |
| UX | 15,690 | 14,902 | 0.95 |
| CPU | 13,458 | 13,418 | 1.00 |
| RAM | 4,905 | 4,201 | 0.86 |
| Vellamo 3.x | |||
| Metal | 1,235 | 1,052 | 0.85 |
| Multicore | 1,589 | 1,422** | 0.89 |
| Browser | 2,157 | 2,758 | 1.28 |
| 3DMark – Ice Storm Extreme v1.2 | |||
| Total score | 4,327 | 5,752 | 1.33 |
| Graphics score | 3,698 | 5,304 | 1.43 |
| Physics score | 10,689 | 8,163 | 0.76 |
But when the YOKA KB2 was tested on Antutu, it scored only 29323 points. I understand that these two results can differ from each other, but there is a huge difference, which makes me think of why the manufacturer wasn’t able to provide better performance with this outstanding processor.
Moreover, in GeekBench test it got 637 points for single-core score and 2713 points for multi-core score.
As for connectivity options, the YOKA KB2 has dual band 2.4 + 5GHz WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. Moreover, it comes with an Ethernet LAN speed of 10 to 1000 Mbps.
YOKA KB2 Software
The YOKA KB2 runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow that brings a couple of new features to the table. Of course, not all features are compatible with TV boxes, but there are still a few specs making TV boxes operate in a better way. For example, this version of Google’s mobile operating system gives an ability to adopt the USB Type-C connectivity option (unfortunately, YOKA doesn’t use this opportunity for the KB2, and you won’t find such a port on the box). Android 6.0 also allows users to turn the external storage into an internal storage. Plus, thanks to this version of Android you will get a System UI tuner, clear permissions system, and better app management.
YOKA TV has installed its latest user interface alongside with latest version of Kodi, v. 17.1 Krypton. It comes with a new design and completely changed layout. Users can access the context menu from the main menu shortcuts and widgets. The add-ons can include a screenshot preview. Thus users can identify it before installing. The improvements spread on music player and game controllers as well.
Conclusion
The YOKA KB2 is thought to be one of the most powerful TV boxes available in the market, and it’s difficult not to agree with this statement. But it’s also clear the manufacturer doesn’t use all the power the hardware and software are capable to provide. Anyway, the YOKA KB2 is priced a bit lower than its twin brother, the MeCool BB2. You can get your hands on the YOKA KB2 for only $66, while its sibling is available for $70.
