Within the introduction to my July 2024 teardown of Walmart’s first-generation onn. Android TV 4K UHD Streaming Device, I also alluded to “a FHD “stick” sibling” that was also “queued up on the bookshelf to my right for sooner-or-later teardown purposes.” That time is now. Let’s start with a brief review of the differences between “UHD” and “FHD”. The latter delivers a maximum resolution of 1920×1080 pixels (curiously also referred to as “2K” on the Walmart website product page), initially (with ATSC TV, for example) interlaced, and progressive scan nowadays. The former, conversely maxes out at 3840×2160 pixels (the more common “4K”), alternately stated as 4-times 1920×1080 pixels FHD.
So why would you go with a lower-resolution device, versus a higher-resolution alternative? One (slight) difference involves pricing; while the UHD Streaming Device was $19.88 on closeout when I bought it in October 2021, its FHD Streaming Stick sibling was $5 cheaper ($14.88). Size and weight deviations are a more meaningful differentiator. Here’s the UHD Streaming Device again, with dimensions of 4.90” x 4.90” x 0.80” and weighing in at 1.2 lbs.:
And here are some stock shots of the 3.81” x 1.39” x 0.61”, 6.5 oz FHD Streaming Stick, designed to hang off the back of a TV versus sitting on top of it (or its stand, for that matter):
Next up, some “real-life” box shots of the device I’ll be tearing down today:
I’m admittedly easily amused, but as I also mentioned last time, I still giggle whenever I see this:
Next, let’s dive inside:
Underneath the remote control (and a piece of interstitial cardboard), identical appearance-wise to the remote bundled with the UHD Streaming Device (and otherwise as well; the two remotes’ product markings inside their battery compartments exactly match):
is the USB-A to micro-USB power cable, for which I’ll undoubtedly find alternative use for elsewhere in the future:
Underneath the “wall wart” power supply for the streaming stick, as usual accompanied by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny for size comparison purposes, is a set of AAA batteries for the remote control, which I’ll also press into service somewhere else some other time (the “wall wart” as well, for that matter):
And underneath the streaming stick:
is a HDMI male-to-female extender cable useful for when direct access to a TV’s HDMI input (as shown in one of the earlier stock photos) is too tight of a squeeze (again, saved for reuse later):
Now for today’s subject. The topside (I used this term, along with “bottom” and “sides”, loosely because, as I’ve also previously mentioned with other devices of this type, orientation is HDMI plug- and cable-orientation dependent, therefore inconsistent from one TV and broader setup to another) view, with a logo niftily constructed of multiple passive airflow vents, you’ve already seen from the prior “stock” photos:
Even more vents adorn the bottom:
Here’s the HDMI connector end:
The other end’s comparatively bland:
Along one side is the micro-USB power input, with a UPC code below it:
Along the other is an access hole for a reset switch (which you’ll see more clearly shortly), and a product-marking suite:
which is more clearly (and fully) readable once I give the stick a slight tilt:
Time to see what’s inside the case. The micro-USB slot has been a convenient access starting point in the past, as it was again in this instance:
Here’s the now-exposed inside of the bottom of the case, along with the underside of the PCB:
Lifting out the PCB and flipping it over reveals both its topside and the case top insides:
Here are the interiors of both case sides by themselves:
Along with the now-standalone PCB topside:
And PCB underside:
Covering the bottom of the PCB is a sizeable piece of tape:
The top’s a different story. A much smaller piece of tape:
And below it, a more sizeable piece of (presumably) aluminum, I’m guessing both for heat-removal purposes and to provide the assembly with rigidity:
Below that is thermal tape, along with a pad:
While we’re here, let’s get those two Faraday Cages off:
The large square IC at the bottom, previously covered by the thermal pad, is (unsurprisingly) the system SoC, an Amlogic S805Y-B (versus the S905Y2 in the sibling Streaming Device, thereby rationalizing among other things the output-resolution variability between the respective systems containing them). Above it is one (of two total, the other on the other side of the PCB) rectangular-shaped CXMT CXDQ2BFAM-CG 4 Gbit (x16) 1200 MHz DDR4 SDRAM.
Above and to the left of the DRAM is a Realtek RTL8821CS 802.11ac/abgn SDIO WLAN with Bluetooth 4.2 single-chip controller, unsurprising considering its standalone Faraday Cage along with its proximity to PCB-embedded antennae above it and to its right. Along the left edge of the PCB is the reset switch. And in the upper right corner is the micro-USB connector.
Flipping the PCB back over, back to its underside, and removing its Faraday Cage:
At bottom is a Sandisk SDINBDG4-8G industrial (-25°C to 85°C) 8 GByte embedded MMC flash memory module. And above it, toward the middle, is the aforementioned other CXMT CXDQ2BFAM-CG 4 Gbit (x16) 1200 MHz DDR4 SDRAM. Note, by the way, that the earlier dissected Streaming Device had twice the total DRAM capacity in the design as is found here: another reflection of the output-resolution differentiation between them.
See anything else interesting in this design? Let me (and your fellow readers) know in the comments!
—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Vision Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the company’s online newsletter.
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