Router or TV box? JCG Hacker H1 Smart Home Gateway Review

To be honest, when JCG Hacker H1 first came out, we didn’t understand the concept of “smart home gateway” it was positioned as, let alone what it could do. However, with the general trend of smart homes and the Internet of Everything in the future, the product can position itself as a “gateway”, which must have its unique features. This also makes our review of JCG Hacker H1 particularly meaningful.

Familiar exterior design

The host of JCG Hacker H1 adopts a vertical design, and the cylindrical shape is larger than the average water cup. If this placement reminds you of the standard version of Xiaomi router, don't be surprised, because in fact, the shadow of Xiaomi router can also be found in other design elements of JCG Hacker H1 body.

The JCG Hacker H1 host is all black, and the upper part is made of metal shell material, but both the shell itself and the logo are relatively simple, which cannot improve the overall grade of the device.

The lower part of the machine uses a design similar to a heat dissipation grille, but a closer look reveals that these grilles do not provide ventilation and are merely decorative on the body. The only visible heat dissipation channel of the device is at the bottom of the machine.

The interfaces of JCG Hacker H1 are arranged vertically on the other side of the corresponding position of the body logo. The 1+2 network cable interface and WPS wireless docking point show that the product has the function of a wireless router. In addition, JCG Hacker H1 is also equipped with 3 USB interfaces and 1 HDMI high-definition output port. Undoubtedly, this is a common interface configuration for TV box products.

JCG Hacker H1 also comes with a remote control as standard. The button layout is similar to that of general Android smart TV products. The biggest highlight is the addition of an independent mouse mode button. The key travel of all buttons is relatively hard, so that in our subsequent use, we always found that we did not press the buttons hard enough and mistakenly thought that the remote control was faulty.

Router + TV Box

Judging from the interface of the device, JCG Hacker H1 undoubtedly integrates a router and a TV box into one. So, what is its actual usage effect?

First of all, as a home router, in terms of parameters, JCG Hacker H1 adopts MediaTek's dual-core three-chip solution, supports dual-band Wi-Fi and 802.11ac standards. According to relevant sources, this choice of internal components is to meet the needs of Apple users as much as possible. Apple's latest iPhone 6 smartphone has taken the lead in supporting the 802.11 standard, and in the future, Apple's Apple TV may also adopt a similar configuration.

Connect JCG Hacker H1 to the network via an Ethernet cable, and you can view the Ethernet option in the system settings. It should be noted that JCG Hacker H1 is positioned as a router and does not directly support wireless connections such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

As for the router's Internet password and other related settings, you need to access the designated website through a mobile phone or other device to complete it, but the setting interface is relatively simple and the functions are not as rich as those of the smart routers on the market.

Secondly, if we look at it from the perspective of a TV box or smart TV product, we should focus on examining the software interaction design of JCG Hacker H1.

The JCG Hacker H1 system is developed based on Android 4.4.2. The built-in Allwinner A31S processor is not very powerful, but it is basically sufficient for TV devices.

The system interface basically maintains the native Android style. For non-touch screen TV devices, it is not very convenient to control with the remote control.

Fortunately, JCG Hacker H1 comes pre-installed with a lot of TV version apps. Just check in on an app and the feeling of using a smart TV will come back. From actual use, the experience of these software is still acceptable.

In addition, JCG Hacker H1 can directly read files from external USB storage devices and directly install third-party APK files.

In the game project, which is also the content emphasized by JCG Hacker H1 this time, the focus of the product is the "Fun Bucket" application. Intuitively, the "Fun Bucket" is an Apple App Store displayed on a TV screen. Users need to scan the corresponding QR code through their iPhone or other iOS devices to download and install the game to the mobile device, and then use the AirPlay function to project the game screen to the TV screen for display. At this time, the mobile device is equivalent to the game controller, and similar to Apple TV, it can also display the game screen in split screen like playing "Real Racing 3" through Apple TV. To be precise, the "Fun Bucket" uses an App to realize the game function of Apple TV on smart TV products based on the Android system.

Summarize:

Router + TV box, this is the direct impression that JCG Hacker H1 gives us in terms of usage functions, and it is also the initial form of the "smart home gateway" concept it proposed that we can see.

In the future smart home environment, JCG Hacker H1, which appears as a "smart home gateway", adopts an "all-in-one" product concept, hoping to integrate multiple devices such as routers, TV boxes and even living room interactive game consoles into one product. Although at this stage, the JCG Hacker H1 engineering machine in our hands is still like a "semi-finished product" and there are still many aspects that need to be improved, it has already given us a new idea for the development of smart hardware. Perhaps in the future formal mass-produced products, it will give users a better user experience.

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.