The Android TV PC-on-a-stick market has become quite crowded over the last several months.
Muddying the waters even more is the fact that many of the devices share very similar names even though they are sold by different companies. Case in point? The new Zealz GK802 which turned up this past week.
The name is confusingly close to the MK802 which we have highlighted here on TG Daily several times in the past. The two devices even appear somewhat similar, but biast different hardware under the skin. Indeed, the MK802 is loaded with a Rockchip RK30666 ARM Cortex-A9 dual core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB of integrated storage and sells for $72.
On the other hand, the Zealz GK802 TV stick is powered by a 1.2 GHz Freescale i.MX6 quad-core processor paired with a Vivante GC2000 GPU. The GK802 is also loaded with has 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage, integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a USB 2.0 host port, micro-USB port for power and a microSD card slot for storage expansion.
The GK802 carries a price of $99 it $30 more expensive than the MK802. Still, the extra storage and quad-core processor may well be worth the additional cash. The GK802 runs Android 4.0 right out-of-the-box, but can be easily updated to Android 4.1 or even 4.2.
It’s probably also worth noting that Freescale offers more documentation than other companies about its processor, opening the door for developers to port alternative operating systems like Ubuntu Linux. Like most PCs-on-a-stick, this device has an HDMI adapter allowing you to plug it directly into your TV.
