The Noontec A9 is the first Android device we've had in to test, and so the A9 is tested somewhat in isolation. Android power users may have a significantly different experience as they're able to tweak out the system or have insider knowledge of killer applications for the platform. Therefore,
through the eyes of an enthusiastic amateur willing to sit down and puzzle through, here are our conclusions:



As a set-top device, the A9's glossy black finish looks great under a TV with a similar aesthetic, though it is something of a dust magnet. The power LED makes it easy to know whether it is on or off, yet doesn't dazzle when watching images on-screen as some similar devices do. It's disappointing that given the size and weight of the A9 it cannot be mounted to the back of a TV via VESA mounting points; that might be an interesting feature to incorporate into later revisions.

Usability of the Noontec A9 is a little hampered by the choice of OS version, specifically 2.3.1. Even simple functionality such as taking screenshots - which would have been invaluable for this review I might add - was not possible as the feature was only introduced with version 2.3.3 of Gingerbread. Simple navigation for video playback was hampered by the default apps which organise files somewhat idiosyncratically, to the extent that those wishing to play back their own music or videos may need to spend some time organising their libraries.

With usability in mind, the inclusion of the M100 in the overall package, itself £35 separately, makes the device vastly more user friendly; the remote alone does not work well enough for web browsing or other non-media player functionality.

We were worried by the colour banding of still images. We can't disentangle this problem from encoding quality in video, but it remains a possibility that the A9 outputs without sufficient colour depth for true high quality imaging. Hopefully the particular fault is with software which will be solved with firmware updates.

The hardware is generally up to the task, but as with all media players incompatibility for specific media types remains a risk. There appears to be little out-the-box support for Network Addressed Storage, though recent updates continue to build on this functionality and indicate that additional support is in the development pipeline. Our sources say that Noontec plan an Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) firmware update in April, which will hopefully also feature additional improvements across the board.

With the general release of ICS to mobile and tablet devices, it's hoped that more applications will be developed with support for higher resolutions in mind. If so, this would expand the functionality of the A9 and similar devices significantly, though it's important to not buy new hardware or software on the promise of additional features or fixes in the future.

XDA-Developers, a website and forum specifically for Android and Windows Phone enthusiasts, have tinkered with the A9 and already added a couple of custom firmware options to root and tailor the hardware to specific tasks. The tinkering appears to be very much in its infancy at present, but the participation of an ardent community of experts is an interesting selling point if you already perform similar modifications to your mobile phone or router.

High definition video content playback was generally solid with good performance mainly coming from h.264-encoded videos, colour depth issues notwithstanding. Sadly subtitles were not recognised on our sample .mkv using the default player, which makes the A9 unsuitable as a media player for the hard of hearing. The general lack of WMV support except in a relatively limited number of files was disappointing; we were far less concerned by poor .asf support by comparison.

At £109.99, the Noontec A9 brings at lot to the table at the price point. If you're looking specifically for a media player, other options with lower cost and included storage may be a more sensible purchase. As a jack-of-all-trades device however the A9 comes into its own, with significantly lower cost than a budget PC even excluding the lack of storage; you will struggle to find a better priced product which offers the same functionality.

To round off: the choice of an Android OS, expandable USB storage, and wireless keyboard make it an innovative solution for those on a budget looking to get more out of their front-room experience. With the issues raised however, even at the extremely keen price point, we have stop short of recommending the A9 for general use. If they could solve the colour banding issue we would almost certainly have to grant the A9 our Creative award due to the great price and the strength of the underlying idea; a Value award would also likely follow with the implementation of Ice Cream Sandwich.




Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.