Performance
The Beelink GT-King is powered by the new Amlogic S922X chipset, which contains 4 cores of Cortex A73 clocked at 1.8GHz , 2 cores of Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.9GHz, and a beefy Mali-G52MP6 GPU clocked at 846MHz. There's also 4GB LPDDR4 RAM under the hood to handle multi-tasking.
In Antutu V7 benchmark test, the GT-King scored an impressive 125,479, putting it in way ahead of almost all the other TV boxes we have tested. It didn't fall far behind the mighty Nvidia Shield TV.
In Geekbench 4 CPU test, the GT-King notched 1,447 in single-core, and 4,065 in multi-core.
In the PCMark 8 Work 2.0 test, the GT-King snatched 5,334, which is on par with the scores of many mid-range smartphones, easily blowing most of the other TV boxes out of the water.
In the more graphics-focused 3DMark test, the GT-King scored in 1,576 Slingshot, second only to the Nvidia Shield TV.
The Ice Storm Unlimited returned the King with a score of 22511.
The GT-King may still not be able to compete with flagship Android smartphones and tablets in terms of processing power, but it has very few competitions in the world of Android TV boxes. Probably the only thing that offers more horsepower than the GT-King is the Nvidia Shield TV, but that is more marketed as a gaming console rather than a TV box.
As for the real-world performance, the GT-King is more than capable of handling normal day-to-day TV box tasks. Even when the HDMI output was set at 4K, we still experienced almost no hiccups, lags or delays.
I played many video clips of different formats in Kodi, MX Player and Beelink's very own Movie Player, the King never struggled with anything we threw at it. Only with one video did I notice some synchronization problems between the visuals and sound.
Streaming 1080P in the YouTube app and 2K videos in the YouTube TV app was extremely smooth, but when playing the 4K Costa Rica Video in YouTube TV, there were some stutters in the beginning. We also streamed many 4K online videos in Chrome as well, and experienced almost no lags at all. Unfortunately, although the GT-King supports Widevine L1, you still won't be able to stream HD videos on Netflix and Amazon Videos. Many reviewers report that the maximum resolution for Netflix videos on the King is only 540P, since Netflix is not available in the country that I am living in, this is not a problem for me personally, but I know it can be a deal breaker for those devoted Netflix fans.
However, the GT-King is by no means just a streaming box. It has more than enough power for most of the graphic-intense games you can find in Google Play Store. I tested Asphalt Extreme, Real Racing 3, Snowboard Party and World of Tennis, all of them ran smoothly at maximum settings. A joystick is highly recommended if you want to fully enjoy gaming on the GT-King,
Browsing on the GT-King is also a joyful experience, image-heavy webpages load extremely fast in Chrome, and you won?t experience any lags switching from one page to another.
The device is obviously designed for entertainment, as all TV boxes are, but it's not impossible to use it for some lightweight productivity tasks and social networking. With a mouse, a keyboard and the right apps, it is easy to write Emails and even edit some documents on the King.
Connectivity
The GT-King offers a slew of connectivity options. It supports 2.4GHz/5GHz dual band Wi-Fi. Although without an exposed antenna, the GT-King still has solid reception, it could pick up more Wi-Fi hotspots than the ABOX A1 and Remix IO when the three boxes were placed right at the same spot. The Gigabit Ethernet jack can also come in handy when you want more stable connection via a network cable. There's also Bluetooth 4.1 on board to take care of local data transfer and connecting with audio and input devices. I connected the GT-King with the Vifa Helsinki speaker and they worked fine together. If Bluetooth audio transfer doesn't offer satisfying sound, the SPDIF port and 3.5mm RJ45 both support direct wired connection with most soundbars and speakers.
The HDMI 2.1 port on the GT-King can output videos up to 4K@75fps, and should support most TV sets, monitors and projectors. The 3 USB ports support external USB storages of up to 4TB. The Micro SD card slot had no problem reading my 128GB Samsung card.
Verdict
I liked my experience with the GT-King very much. For only $106, the TV box has a lot going for it. It is beautifully designed, very well built, and offers amazing streaming performance. Also, the gaming experience is pretty decent, as nothing in Google Play is really too demanding for the GT-King. There are some minor compromises, as you won't get Netflix and Amazon Videos in HD, but besides that, you won't find much to complain about it.
The Nvidia Shield TV is still a more capable device overall, but it does require you to reach deeper into your pocket. For those who wants more performance and functionalities than what an average TV box could offer but have issues with the price tag on the Shield TV, the GT-King is a decent alternative.