The stick

As mentioned earlier. I picked the MK809III. It is based on RockChip RK3188-T - a Quad Core processor running at 1.4GHz. With 2GB RAM and 8GB flash. This is quite an impressive spec. It also comes with 2 USB ports, one full size and one micro USB. The former is perfect for USB touch interface. The latter is needed for connecting to PC. Which is important for what I am about to do. There is also a micro SD card slot for expanding storage.

Even more impressive is the price is less than $50! There are many variety of RK3188 based device, range from a stick stick to a set-top box. A TV stick is perfect for my project.

The stick does come with some drawbacks. It is known to have weak Wi-Fi. Mostly because it uses a tiny built-in antenna. Cracking open the case reveals the internals. 

Another drawback is that MK809III uses RK3188-T, which is clocked at 1.4GHz instead of 1.6GHz of RK3188. It is not an issue for me. But keep in mind that there are some RK3188 based TV stick that comes with just 1GB of RAM. They should be avoided.

Getting the stick is the easy part. It took a little over a week to ship from China. Hooking it up to TV, it boots up as expected. It has 2 Launchers to choose from. One is designed for big screen and the other is the familiar Android launcher. Since I wanted a giant tablet, I went with the latter for Android experience. 

Google Play Store is already installed. Most apps are visible, meaning Play Store thinks my stick is compatible. Which is a good sign consider how unusual my setup is. However, many games will not play with mouse. Mouse clicks aren't treated as touches. And therefore some games are incompatible. This is one of the things that I need to solve. 

One other issue with these devices is that I don't know who is behind the firmware. Security and privacy concern is an issue. The same applies to custom firmwares that I can download from the internet. It is difficult to rebuild everything from source, even if I can, I cannot prevent any backdoors. So my security measure of choice is to avoid using it for sensitive information. Definition not for logging into banks etc. I created an Google Account just for using it. Another aspect is the network. I have it connect to a router that is reserved for my guests. I am not planning to use it for streaming from my home PCs, so it is not an issue for me.

Basic sanity test involves Wi-Fi, Play Store apps, Bluetooth, HDMI, USB, microSD. All looks good so far. With the basics taken care of. It is time for some hacking!