Small size but big surprises: ZTE Nine City "Fans' Stick" review

Speaking of FUN BOX, I believe most domestic players will remember ZTE 9city. Since ZTE 9 launched the gaming TV box FUN BOX in cooperation with NVIDIA last year, ZTE 9city has brought great surprises to people every time it appears.

This time is no exception. On October 12, ZTE The9 and BesTV joined forces to launch an Internet TV box called "Fan Stick" that focuses on live broadcasts of ball games. Now that smart TV boxes are becoming popular in China, can this box for "fans" gain their favor?

Smaller and lighter

To be honest, last year's FUN BOX's compact and exquisite lunch box shape and powerful functions are still fresh in people's memory, and this time the size of the "fan stick" is even more surprising.

It is similar in size to a USB flash drive, and with its distinct red and black colors, it can be recognized at a distance. However, compared to the shape of a "stick", the "fan stick" is smaller and more compact than a lighter, making it easier to carry around.

The external design of the "Fan Stick" is relatively simple. A USB port and a power indicator light are also cleverly designed on the side of the overall frame, which does not appear abrupt. The HDMI connection method can be plug-and-play for most current smart TVs, which is very convenient.

For a relatively small TV box, why does the "fan stick" not directly power the TV through the HDMI interface, but instead connect to an external power source via USB? According to the HDMI protocol, the 5V output current cannot be greater than 50mA. Ordinary HDMI ports are powered by 5V, but the load capacity varies. For compatibility considerations, USB power supply is still used.

Of course, as an external control device, the "Fan Stick" still uses a simple 14-key wireless Bluetooth remote control for user convenience.

In terms of performance, the "Fan Stick" is equipped with an AMLOGIC S805 (quad-core 1.2G-1.5GHz CPU, quad-core Mali450 GPU) processor, 1 GB LPDDR3 memory, 8G flash memory, 1080P output resolution, and uses the Android 4.4 operating system.

I wonder what kind of experience this configuration can bring to users?

The best gift from BesTV to fans

After entering the system, the functions that a smart TV box should have and the "fan stick" are all available, and the ball games, which are the main promotions, also occupy half of the homepage.

Since it is the main event live broadcast, we still have high expectations for the NBA and Premier League, which BesTV is best at.

As the domestic media with the most complete NBA events, BesTV has a very impressive performance in the "Fan Stick", where game status, game videos and NBA news can be found. It also lists each team and detailed team information for fans, making it convenient for users to check the latest situation of their favorite teams.

In terms of live broadcasts and rebroadcasts, users can also choose the games they like to watch. I chose the Pistons and Bulls game to experience this fan artifact. Although the content of the sports events is rich, the picture effect does not reach the 1080P resolution previously announced by the official. This may be a small regret for fans.

Another major ball sport is undoubtedly football. As a powerful league in the world football, the Premier League is famous for its strong confrontation, many goals and fast pace. BesTV, which has purchased the mainland broadcasting rights for the Premier League, has also allowed fans to see many exciting games.

Of course, in the "Fan Stick", BesTV has prepared a wealth of Premier League gifts for fans. In addition to exciting matches, news reports, player analysis, league standings and other hot topics that everyone is concerned about can also be found here.

For live broadcasts, the 299 yuan "Fan Stick" allows users to enjoy 380 Premier League games throughout the year. Fans only need to spend an average of 0.89 yuan to watch a game. Compared with some other channels that charge for watching live games, this price is indeed very low. For those users who love football games, being able to watch games like Manchester United vs. Arsenal in the first place is indeed value for money.

However, the "Fans Stick" still has very high requirements for the network. Under a 20M network, the game will still have some lags. If there is not a good network environment, the user's experience of watching this kind of live broadcast may be greatly reduced.

Although it focuses on football games, it has all the necessary TV functions

In addition to the main sports events, the "Fan Stick" has not forgotten its main job. As a TV box, it has all the functions that a smart TV has.

In the film and television interface, the desktop classification of this "Fans Stick" is much more detailed than the previous FUN BOX. Not only are there columns such as film and television variety shows, but even the financial columns are listed separately to facilitate user selection. In terms of film and television, the most popular TV shows recently are also in the list. Come to think of it, for BesTV, which has rich content, this is nothing.

Video games have become a standard feature of smart TVs, and as a "fan stick" for TV boxes, it is natural that the gaming experience is indispensable. As far as the processor is concerned, AMLOGIC S805 is not born for gaming, which has also resulted in the games in the "fan stick" at this stage being light casual games. However, according to ZTE The9, the first-level classification of game content will be retained in the product, and the proportion of game content will be gradually increased in the future.

For "Fans Stick", which focuses on live sports events, live broadcasts of ball games provide a quick way to introduce subsequent TV sports games, and Zhongjiu may also be making strategic preparations for the next round of TV games.

What is most noteworthy is that the "Fan Stick" without an external input interface can be said to have lost a way to use third-party applications. However, the built-in application store has 500+ free and rich applications that solve this problem.

Is the direction of nine in the distinctive TV box correct?

As the first vertically segmented OTT terminal product under ZTE Nine City's market segmentation strategy, it was originally thought that the content in the "Fans Stick" would cover all sports events, but from the content point of view, sports events and smart TV functions basically account for half each, which is not the complete segmentation mentioned by Zhongjiu.

Nowadays, major video websites are also increasing the number of their exclusive copyrights, and the competition for copyright purchases is becoming increasingly fierce. In such a fierce competition for copyright purchases, in order to achieve differentiated competition, it is necessary to lock in your target audience.

In order to cope with the increasingly homogeneous smart TV field and find development opportunities in it, ZTE The9 has undoubtedly made the right choice to join hands with BesTV. Sports events have always been one of the main contents to cultivate pay TV user habits, and mainland China has unlimited potential. Judging from the national IPTV viewing data, the current pay-on-demand revenue is less than 10% of the total revenue. BesTV's Premier League and NBA broadcasting rights will indeed attract many users.

Although the "Fan Stick" launched by ZTE 9Cities has captured the enthusiasm of fans for watching live events, it has not completely abandoned the TV function in terms of content. It integrates content from different terminals and provides high-quality content online. This not only focuses on fans, but also benefits ordinary users.

The emergence of "Fans' Bat" allows us to see the prototype of ZTE Jiucheng's refined market strategy and how to find the right path in the homogeneous market. Obviously, "Fans' Bat" has helped us find a good direction.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.