Earlier this year we saw Xiaomi partnering with Google to make a standalone device which could convert your TV into an Android TV. The Mi Box seemed to have potential however it never saw a release date, until now. The Chinese giant has finally made Mi Box official which will be heading first to the US with a price of just $69.
This is Xiaomi’s first ever product for the US which first made its appearance earlier this year. While Android TV hasn’t picked up as much as Google’s own Chromecast, it is still quite an intuitive platform. And for those who are concerned, Google Cast as well as Voice Search has been integrated into the Mi Box.
So you can sit back on a comfy couch and cast almost anything from your smartphone to your TV via the Mi Box. You can also do a quick voice search by speaking into the bundled remote, to get results from TV, movies, games and more. Of course you get recommendations and a variety of content including access to the Google Play Store and the plethora of apps.
According to Xiaomi, the Mi Box is powered by a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU and Mali 450 GPU along with 2GB DDR3 RAM and 8GB eMMC flash. It supports 4K and HDR (High Dynamic Range) with support for 60 frames per second and Dolby Digital Plus and DTS Surround Sound, making it a pretty capable set top box in its range.
Currently India only has Sony selling Android TV based television sets which start at about Rs 50,000, which is quite a price. We are assuming that Xiaomi will take its time if it ever plans to bring the Mi Box to India considering the fact that Android TV not very popular here.