There are two possible reasons you might have ended up here. Either you know what an Android TV box is and want buying advice, or you’ve been told one is a good idea but don’t know what they do. If it’s the latter, I have some bad news: no-one really knows what an Android TV box is – there’s no general definition for these streaming boxes, and it appears that some don’t even run Android TV.
Confused? You should be: the Android TV box market is a confusing place. However, with our guide you can safely navigate your way to the best Android TV box.
What is an Android TV box?
If you don’t know what an Android TV box is, it’s a small set-top box – about the size of an Apple TV – that runs on Google’s Android operating system, or a re-skinned version of it. This means it’s an incredibly flexible device that allows you to stream content to your TV over the internet or from local storage on the device.
These Android TV boxes come in various guises but many of them market themselves as Kodi or XBMC devices. If you decide to brave the wildlands of eBay, you’ll find many devices calling themselves Android TV boxes, claiming to come “unlocked” or preloaded with hundreds of channels and free content. Resist temptation – these devices are technically illegal.
This is where Android TV boxes start to venture into strange legal territory. To get the functionality many of you are hoping for, the easiest route is to purchase one of these legally grey devices. However, the Kodi platform isn’t actually illegal to use – the way you decide to acquire the content to stream could be – and you’re better off buying an off-the-shelf streaming box and installing Kodi onto it yourself if you want to stay on the right side of the law.
The 6 best Android TV Boxes
1. Amazon Fire TV: Flexible, stable and easily available
Price when reviewed: £79.99
Amazon’s Fire TV may not look like an Android device at first glance, but under Amazon’s custom interface beats Google’s operating system. Because it runs on Android, you can easily install Kodi on Amazon Fire TV and sideload any other apps you may want to run.
You can find older, cheaper, models of Amazon Fire TV on eBay or through other retailers but, if you buy from Amazon, you’ll be getting the 2016 model. The difference, besides the price, is the tasty allure of 4K video output. It also boasts a speedier processor and 2GB of RAM to help keep things running smoothly.
2. Nvidia Shield TV: The gamer's choice
Price when reviewed: £169.99
Nvidia’s Shield TV is a beast in the realms of Android TV devices. Powered by Nvidia’s impressive Tegra X1 mobile chip, Shield TV can pump out 4K video content with ease and has more than enough power to deliver some stellar gaming experiences too.
It’s also incredibly flexible, with either 16GB or 500GB built-in storage, a microSD slot for expansion, and a USB 3 port if you’d like to attach an external drive to it. As it runs pure Android TV – as opposed to a version of Android jury-rigged to work on a TV instead of a smartphone – you can easily install Kodi from Google Play and sideload apps and new Kodi builds via the many external media ports.
The only real downside to Nvidia’s device is its price point. As the most expensive device on our list, it’s a hard sell if all you plan on doing is streaming some media to your TV. If you’re also in the market for a games console, however, Shield TV could be the perfect fit.
3. Amazon Fire TV Stick: Tiny, but not without its issues
Price when reviewed: £34.99
If you’re after a discrete Android TV box solution, the Amazon Fire TV Stick is the perfect answer. Working in a similar fashion to Amazon Fire TV, this little HDMI dongle can be loaded up with Kodi and plugged into the back of your TV so you can stream content without a black box sitting under your display.
With portability, however, come functionality sacrifices. Compared to the Fire TV, the Fire TV Stick lacks expandable storage and only comes with 1GB of RAM. This makes it a little trickier to get Kodi running reliably on it – although it is still doable– but it is a great deal cheaper, so the extra hassle could be worth it for you. The Fire TV Stick currently doesn’t output to 4K, although a 4K-compatible Stick is available in the US so it’s likely to come to the UK next year.
4. GEM Box: Pocket-sized Kodi power
Price when reviewed: £94.97
Emtech’s GEM Box is perfect for those who want to play light Android games on a TV or stream PC titles to the big screen. It’s also pretty great to have as a low-cost and compact streaming Android TV box. Not only does it come with Aptoide – an alternative to Google Play – but it also fully supports Kodi and its various builds, so it’s easy to install and access Kodi content is a breeze. It’s only real downside is its somewhat fiddly app interface, as not all Android apps play nice with the GEM Box controller. This is easily solved if you fancy splashing an extra £30 on the optional remote – but you should be fine.
5. Q-Box 4K: Affordable and feature packed Kodi device
Price when reviewed: £58.99
It’s always tricky to recommend Android TV boxes that look a little dodgy and come from relatively obscure manufacturers, but Tonbux’s Q-Box provides a whole heap of features for a reasonable amount of money. While there are no guarantees it comes with the build quality of Amazon, Nvidia or Emtech’s boxes, the Q-Box offers up 4K content, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage, optical audio out, and compatibility with external storage.
To make things even more straightforward, the Q-Box comes preloaded with Netflix, YouTube and Kodi. You can then add new Kodi builds easily and don’t have to worry about the initial Kodi setup process. Not bad, really.
![Image of [2GB/16GB/4K] Q-Box 4K Android TV BOX, Tonbux S905X Quad Core 4K Fully Loaded TV Box Streaming Player Bluetooth Enabled (2GB+16GB){Black friday deal}}](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/411bAvUrALL._SL160_.jpg "Image of [2GB/16GB/4K] Q-Box 4K Android TV BOX, Tonbux S905X Quad Core 4K Fully Loaded TV Box Streaming Player Bluetooth Enabled (2GB+16GB){Black friday deal}}")
6. Matricom G-Box Q2: The made-for-Kodi box, without Kodi
Price when reviewed: £92.99
Despite marketing itself an Android TV box, Matricom’s G-Box Q2 blurb states that it’s actually a “full Android computer” with far more flexibility than its competitors. It doesn’t come preloaded with Kodi like Tonbux’s Q-Box, but seeing as the G-Box Q2 was built with Kodi in mind, Matricom has made it incredibly simple to transfer content and install Kodi builds from external storage.
Matricom has also equipped the G-Box Q2 with enough power to push out 4K video content, and its 16GB of internal storage means it’s great if you plan to stream Kodi content from your PC. If you’d rather keep all your content stored locally, you can plug in a USB 3 storage device or microSD card to expand your storage.
![Image of Matricom G-Box Q² Quad/Octo Core Android TV Box [2GB/16GB/4K]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51yJkwzza3L._SL160_.jpg "Image of Matricom G-Box Q² Quad/Octo Core Android TV Box [2GB/16GB/4K]")