[gsmtech]

Interesting, will Beelink provide an update to the OS on the Beelink Mini MX111 to Android 6?

I highly doubt it, from what I have seen the Beelink devices get something like 2 - 3 OTA firmware updates when they are first launched then nothing following on from that. MinIMX got 105L, 106L and 107L firmwares nothing after that, they didnt seem to add any kodi specific features. But the good news is from what I've seen is the Android build is pretty stable on the beelink devices. Saying that the early MiniMX devices were not even Beelink branded by'n is a plain device wth MiniMX stamped on the case. the MiniMX III was the first device to appear with beelink branding.

For the best Kodi experience your better off using LibreElec builds, personally I have Android on the NAND and I LibreElec Kszaq build on SD card, so i can choose which OS to boot up into Dual Boot in other words. So again these budget devices might not be for everyone, if your not capable or not willing to do a litttle bit of research and doing a bit of very basic technical work like being able to copy files using SAMBA shares, copying files to SD card etc, then maybe these devices may not be suitable for you. The OpenElec and LibreElec Kodi builds these devices are reliant on a couple of devs who put out their own time and effort to making the builds notably Alex at amlinuxmedia and Kszaq at LibreElec forums, theres also builds appearing on Freaktab which are ported from other manufacturers boxes Minix and Tronsmart for example.

It might even be that your needs are so basic that you can use the Android OS that comes preinstalled on the boxes and install Kodi or the android optimised fork by Koying SPMC directly from Google Play. Kodi is preintstalled on these boxes but it's not the latest version so it's better to install the latest version from Google Play.

Thanks for excellent response.

I have the Beelink Mini MXlll and I am very pleased with the performance. As you suggested I immediately deleted the Kodi it came with and installed from the play store.

Is there a reason why most if not all Android TV box suppliers do not upgrade the Android OS??

Unlike my phone for example which has had two OTA Android OS upgrades with no problems.

A lot of phone manufacturers also dont provide regular updates it's only really the big manufacturers that have the resources that provide the updates, Google, Samsung, Motorola, SONY, LG. Even amongst these Google only provides updates for 18 months, Samsung are really bad at providing updates extremely slow at releasing them and even then tend to bodge things up.

Android TV boxes are made by small companies, they dont have the resources, staff, funding etc, to continually provide software updates. A lot of these manufacturers have already moved onto newer models of devices to sell by the time newer android updates are available, they work on sales in numbers of new devices not ongoing support of older devices. Depends on your usage as well, if you only want to use a device for Kodi and video playback, do newer android versions provide any benefit ? I've already said, the LibreElec versions of Kodi are superior to android so for kodi that is the preferred platform. For gaming and apps you may see benefit with newer android versions, but only if the builds are stable.

This is why when buying a budget device you need to do your research and realise the compromises. There are several manufacturers that sell devices really cheap devices with very poor, unstable software, they do not provide updates, sometimes the android builds they provide are very buggy and unstable. Which is why you should avoid new to market devices like the current Android 6 , S912 and S905x devices, until you know that they are stable. Not all devices are bad, but it takes a reading and research to pick a good one.