Emtec's $99 GEM Box for micro console fun

With Android boxes all over the place, Emtec is aiming to offer a little more with streaming of GameFly PC games to your TV along with streaming your own PC collection to the big screen. To get you going, its dinky micro console GEM Box comes with Asphalt 8, GT Racing 2 and Wonder Zoo.

On the entertainment front, owners can rent or access music, TV and movies from Google Play, or mirror content from Android or iOS devices. The 88mm-square box comes with a very Xbox-like controller for gaming, an optional remote for media or you can control it with an app.

Inside the compact black and blue box is a quad core 1.5GHz processor, Mali graphics, 1GB of RAM and 16GB stores with SD card support for more. It runs on Android 4.4 Kit Kat, and has WiFi, Bluetooth and Ethernet for comms.

Early reviews are mixed, due to it running on an older Android OS, and not having the grunt for the very latest Android titles. But for $99 with streaming and retro emulators of offer, that's asking a lot compared to a Nvidia Shield at three times the price. Focus on retro and non-touch games, plus streaming and you should get on a lot better with it.

There's also none of the 4K content fun of recent higher-end devices, but that's hardly the point of this. With a decent WiFi signal you can stream games around the home and it would make an ideal kid's console if they're not ready for world of Xbox or PlayStation.