Nokia Streaming Box 8000 review

After announcing the TVs and stream boxes for the Indian market through Flipkart, Nokia expanded that brand partnering business to Europe too. StreamView is a young Austrian company responsible for bringing Nokia TVs and Android TV box to the European market. Both products are a bit different than the ones launched for the Indian market, and Streamview was super kind to send us a Nokia StreamBox 800 for a test. Some might say that stream boxes are a useless product in an age of smart Android TVs, but this product is usually coming with a more powerful chipset found in nowadays smart TVs and can prolong the life of your older good quality TV, as well as enrich the LCD TV that doesn’t come with smart features. 

Basic specifications of Nokia StreamBox 8000

• Name: Nokia Streaming Box 8000
• Model: 8000 FTA
• Dimensions: 112x112x24 mm
• Mass: 250 g
• Processor: Amlogic S905X3, Quad-Core Cortex-A55
• GPU: ARM Mali-G31 MP2
• Memory: DDR3 2GB / 8GB internal
• Connections: Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, BT 4.2, HDMI,USB-A 3.0 (5 V, max. 900mA), Digital audio (optical), AV (3.5 mm), USB-C (5 V, max. 1 A), Ethernet LAN, DC IN (12 V, 1 A)
• Features: Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Store, Google Assistant, Chromecast built-in, USB multimedia
• Video and audio: 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Digital Plus
• OS: Android 10
• Price: 100€

Plus

• Design and build quality
• Connections
• Stable Wi-Fi
• Android 10

Minus

• 4GB internal storage

Unboxing

The box of Nokia Streamview has a similar design to all the other boxes of Nokia products where the product is nicely presented on the front part together with the Nokia logo. At the back, you’ll find some use case scenarios, and on the sides, you’ll find all the important technical details (right side) and some most important streaming products that Streambox is featuring (left side).

Once you raise the top cover, you see the Streambox presented in a nice plastic bag with a matte finish, which could be wrapped a bit better, like on smartphones. Anyway, when you raise the cradle where the device is kept, you’ll find a backlit remote controller, a meter-long HDMI cable, two AAA batteries, and a wall charger.

 

The design and build quality

Nokia Streaming Box 8000 is featuring a minimalistic design with clean simple lines of the box. The square-shaped box is made out of a few millimeter-thick polycarbonate with a matte finish on larger surfaces and a shiny finish on its sides. The sides are transparent enough so you can see the notification light in front of the device, and a bit of internals if you direct a bright lite into it. The Nokia logo is dominating the front surface, and on the bottom part, you’ll find a rubber stand that will keep the box in place on shiny or ruff surfaces. 

The front and left sides are clean, but on the right side you’ll find a USB-A 3.0 port for plugging in an external memory, and on the back, you’ll find all the other ports. Going from left to right, there are ports for power, LAN cable, HDMI, AV Out, Audio Out for a light cable, and a USB-C port for external SSD disc or other kinds of storage.

 

Usability

Nokia Streaming Box 8000 is coming with an Android 10 out of the box which is something that might be the best-selling point of this TV box. I was using for years a Xiaomi Mi Box S with Android 9 and plugging in a Nokia TV box was a relief. Not that Mi Box S is bad, but Android 9 on TV boxes became slow for everyday use. 

Also, the hardware is a bit fresher and so far, it runs rather well on Android 10. It is using the Amlogic S905X3 which has four Cortex-A55 cores and an ARM Mali-G31 MP2 GPU unit. Stream Box also has 2 DDR3 RAM and 8 GB of eMMC internal memory, which could be larger, but since this is a streaming box, most apps will work well. If you do start to download movies if, for example, you are using Popcorn, then 16GB would be welcomed. The problem here is that if you plug in an external memory, some apps won’t recognize it as system memory.

The USB-C jack can be used also as a power connection in case you forget to take the wall charger. The Streaming Box charger has a 12W output, but the box worked well on a classic 10W smartphone charger. I managed to power it through a 20000 mAh power bank, but I don’t know why anyone would do that. Maybe you can do that if you don’t have a spare wall plug.

The Streamingbox connects to your home or office internet over Wi-Fi, and it supports 2.4GHz and 5 GHz bands, which means the connection will be fast and stable. It can also be connected to the internet via LAN cable, which is a nice addition. There is also a BT 4.2, which means you’ll be able to connect wireless headphones, Nokia Power Earbuds, or even a wireless game controller so you can play some simple games. You can also connect an older or professional audio accessory over the 3.5 mm jack.

The Nokia TV box also comes with Chromecast built-in which means you can stream the content of your Android mobile phone or tablet more easily on a large screen, which is great for watching photos and videos.

The sound quality of the streamed content is going to be reproduced in high quality since the Box supports Dolby Audio, so you can even listen to good quality music if you pair the Box with a BT speaker.

The box supports a screen resolution up to 4K, but if you have older TVs then it will work also well with lower resolutions.

The remote is pretty large, and it is coming with all the preprogrammed buttons for smart features like Hey Google Assistant, YouTube, Prime Video, Netflix, and even Google Play. There is also the number keypad, but you won’t be able to use it for your TV. The reason for it being there is because StreamView is using the same remote for its Streaming Box and Nokia TVs.

The remote might be a bit large, but it is backlit, so you’ll have no trouble finding the right button at night. Also, when you grab it, your thumb will be on the center buttons which are the ones you’ll be using the most to control the TV. It is good to mention that the remote has a microphone built-in so you can use the Google Assistant with just a click of a designated button. It would be cool if the remote could be programmed to run TV so you could have just one remote for TV and Streaming Box, but that would probably affect the price of the product.

 

First setup

To start the Streaming Box you just need to plug it in the power source, and off you go. You’ll get greeted by a Nokia logo and after it, nice music will start while you input your existing google account, connect the device to Wi-Fi and maybe do the initial software update. Everything can last up to 10 to 15 minutes, but you do it just once.

You get a standard Android TV UI, which means that you have preinstalled Google apps like Youtube, Youtube Music, and some other apps like prime video, Netflix, Disney+, Google Play, and so on. You can also install apk of some other useful apps like Popcorn, Stremio, or Mobdro for watching the latest movies, TV shows, and live TV. Also, you can install Google Chrome, plug in a keyboard (or get yourself a BT one), and surf the web. Since the TV Box is running Android 10, web browsing is nicer, and content can be opened easily.

The content of the starting screen can be changed from the settings, and that is pretty much all you need to know about the Android TV UI. 

When you press the power button, you put the Streaming Box to sleep, but to restart it, you need to do it through the settings. I never needed to restart the Box, but it would be useful to add a quick restart on the remote.

 

Final thoughts

Nokia Streaming Box 8000 is a product that came from a Brand Partner program Nokia is doing, and I have to say that StreamView did a good job. The Streaming Box is nicely designed, comes with an Android 10, fresher hardware specs, and numerous ports and streaming features. Because of all the specs and features, the price is relatively high, but for €100 you get a well-rounded product that is worthy of a Nokia logo. During the testing period, I couldn’t find a flaw, except maybe a 4 GB internal memory, which might be small for apps that require a bit more free space in the internal memory. But 4GB internal memory isn’t a problem for running streaming apps like Netflix, Stremio, and others.

Nokia Streaming Box is ideal for all the folks that would like to test the Android-based Smart TV features on their current smart TV or their older trusty large-screen TV.

Big thanks to StreamView for sending us a review unit. Check out StreamingView pages where you can also buy Nokia StreamingBox, but only if you live in EU.