RKM MK22 Plus Android TV Box Review

Introduction
Most of the Android TV boxes out there are loaded with latest Amlogic S912 octa-core CPU and ARM Mali-T820MP3 GPU nowadays. Same apply to RKM MK22 Plus by Rikomagic that I have. Being a S912 TV box, rest assures that it is capable to play 4K Ultra HD content through H.265 codec technology. Furthermore, it is loaded with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of ROM. Hey, that’s not common among those boxes. And comes with dual-band Wi-Fi (802.11 B/G/N/AC), Bluetooth 4.0 and Gigabit Ethernet. Powered by Android 6.0 Marshmallow with lot of nice features like Adoptable Storage. How does it perform compare to other S912 boxes? Let’s find out together…

Package Content & Design
There are RKM MK22 Plus, remote control, HDMI cable and power adaptor in the package. No user manual here. Based on Rikomagic website, there should be an e-Manual. But I can’t find it there either. Anyway, it is not hard to use Android TV box if you are familiar with Android operating system already. As for power adaptor, you can select the correct plug for your region (US, EU, UK & AU). Like mine is UK plug. The infrared remote unit is a very simple one. No air mouse support is fine. But it don’t even have mouse pointer which basically make it a useless remote. No problem to use it to do simple navigation but you will face problem when trying to input something.

Build quality is decent with all solid plastic as housing. There is LED light indicator for power status at front (blue for on, red for standby). On the right, you can find USB 2.0 OTG port, micro SD slot and update pin switch.

There are lot of stuffs at back. You can find non-removable antenna, 2 more USB 2.0 ports, optical, AV, HDMI, RJ45 and DC input. 4 anti-skid pads and vents for disperse heat at the bottom. As usual, do refer to all the photos for details.
Software
MK22 Plus is powered by Android 6.0.1 and support OTA firmware update (so far I did not receive any update – using the latest one here). It is loaded with Kodi Media Center – 16.1 stable version. And comes with other applications like Gmail, Superuser and YouTube pre-installed too. Hmm… All of them are part of system applications (except Kodi). You can only disable them but not uninstall unless you have root access. Not to worry much because there are 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage for you. If still not enough, just enable Adoptable Storage that use SD card as internal storage to store applications, data and media.

Above is the launcher that come along with MK22 Plus. You can’t change the big shortcuts. But you do can add your prefer apps at bottom (the smaller shortcut like Kodi). And it also comes with Android tablet alike launcher (you can select the one you want in the settings). 

Get an air mouse? Well, no need. There is an Android application – RemoteIME as the substitution of the simple IR remote.  Basically, you get touch navigation buttons, mouse and keyboard as air mouse replacement. Cool, right?

Benchmark
How does Amlogic S912 octa-core CPU and ARM Mali-T820MP3 GPU inside of RKM MK22 Plus perform? Does its 3GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage make any different in daily use? And how is the wireless and Ethernet performance? Below synthetic benchmarks data should give you some ideas about them.

MK22 Plus has better score in Antutu Benchmark than my other S912 box. Faster 3D performance and better UX.