Diamond Multimedia has been involved in several hardware ventures over the years including multiple audio and video cards in the late '90s although more recently they have been focusing on HD video capture boxes and TV tuner cards. Building on the success of those latter products, the company has released the AMP1000, an Android set-top box that includes a wealth of features that could easily challenge others already on the market.
The device ships with Android 2.3 Gingerbread although we are hearing that upgrades will be available at some point. Bundled with Android is Google's Chrome browser with Flash support as well as the ability to install apps from the Google Play store, a huge boon for the STB.
There's a ton of other content available as well including games, music, photo viewing and ebooks, although I'm not sure how many people would want to use a television screen to read a novel. There's also built-in Wi-Fi connectivity while a Bluetooth option is available for an additional $10. The included 3-in-1 wireless remote works as a keyboard, mouse and a motion control device which should suffice for most situations.
The AMP1000 is available at Newegg, Amazon, Tiger Direct, Microcenter and Fry's Electronics for $129.99. We found the unit on sale for only $109.99 after rebate through Newegg and once you factor in the additional mail-in rebate available on Diamond's Facebook page, you'll be spending well under $100 when it's all said and done.
Unfortunately we have no idea what hardware Diamond is using in the AMP1000 so we can't report on the actual user experience. Reviews are likely to spring up in the coming weeks, however, which will shed some more light on Diamond's latest TV offering.