As a background for my review I reviewed the previous version of Tronsmart (Vega S89) rating it 3 star ok "Capable device which needs a little more refinement". I am happy to report that the new version made those refinements and I am quite pleased with it.
✅ Set up was very easy. All I had to do is plug in power and connect HDMI cable to my TV. When I selected HDMI output on my TV display it was operational. All I had to do is turn on WI FI and connect.
✅ Tronsmart Draco 6.5"W x 6.5"L x 1.125"H in size.
✅ The screen display is 1080P and it rendered beautifully on my TV.
✅ Tronsmart Draco is running 4.4.2 (KitKat) Android operating system. I have tried a large number of apps that I normally use and have not found any that did not work.
Some of the applications I have tried YouTube, Netflix, Pandora, TuneInRadio, SpeedTest, AccuWeather, Browser, Play Store. All operated smoothly and quickly, I did not run into any problems. My video includes a couple of snippets from different apps such as YouTube, Netflix, and Pandora.
✅ Tronsmart Draco has Ethernet connection built into the unit. I tested both WI FI and Ethernet (the TV is in the room without direct Ethernet connection and I am using Powerline AV Ethernet Adapter Kit). Both worked well.
✅ I ran OOKLA load test to test network speed and it showed impressive performance. The speeds I get in the TV room are as good as I get with my phone when measured in the same room (this room is on a different floor from the main router). By comparison, Vega Tronsmart did significantly worse compared to my phone. So this functionality was greatly improved in this version.
Speedtest using WI FI connection:
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Tronsmart Draco download: 33.01 mbs
Tronsmart Draco upload: 28.75 mbs
For comparison my phone in the same gets similar speeds.
Nexus phone download speed: 35.68 mbs
Nexus phone upload speed: 29.94 mbs
✅ Tronsmart Draco provides straight Android interface, no custom shell layer. This is what I prefer. One of the thing I did not like in the Tronsmart Vega was its custom UI which took extra effort to remove (a firmware update which allowed to change the custom UI to the standard Google UI).
Is Draco perfect? No. I have a couple of quips.
❌ I found the joystick style remote that came with the Tronsmart Draco cumbersome to use. To enter anything on a keyboard you had to use it as joystick and scroll through the keyboard like a grid. Selecting items on the screen was difficult, more difficult in some application than others. After 10 or 15 minutes of frustrated usage, I switched to an air mouse (my own) which includes a full keyboard on side and a mouse pointer which you can use by pointing at the TV screen. I also tested that a regular keyboard/mouse and that combo work well also. Tronsmart Draco has two USB ports built into it, I am using one of them for my air mouse. This unit really should ship with an air mouse, I can't see any user having a good experience with a joystick control if they are used to a touch screen on their phone or tablet. This is a major quip.
❌ No on/off button on a device. To power it off I need to remove the power cord. Not something I have to do often, but any computer occasionally gets wedged and needs to be recycled now and then. This is a minor quip.
So what is the bottom line? This is a very capable device. After replacing the joystick remote with my own air mouse I am very pleased with it and it has been working flawlessly for several weeks of daily use.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.
Ali Julia review ★★★★★
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