This year’s Google I/O conference has seen many surprises, be it from Google’s announcement of bringing messaging app Allo to video calling app Duo – another surprise entry in the event was Mi Box from Xiaomi. The Chinese mobile giant has unveiled a new Android TV-powered 4K set-top box, and you will soon be able to buy its streaming video box.
Xiaomi has used Google’s developer conference to launch the Mi Box set-top box, which comes with a 4K Ultra HD Android TV box and, more surprisingly, will be available in the US market soon – expanding their global footprint.
The Xiaomi Mi Box is equipped with an ARM Cortex-A53 quad-core processor supported by 2GB of RAM together with Mali-450 graphics. Xiaomi has also equipped the system with 8GB of built-in storage together with support for both Dolby Digital Plus and DTS surround sound.
The system is also fitted with a USB port that can be used to expand the onboard storage even further when required, and the system is equipped with both Bluetooth and support for wireless 802.11ac connectivity.
There are only a number of Android-powered TV boxes available in the market – the well know being Nexus Player. If you are a gaming fan, then it could probably be your favorite device since Mi Box is compatible with Mi Game Game Controller that you can buy separately.
On the connectivity part, Mi Box comes with Wi-Fi, includes the 5GHz band for quick HDMI video streaming, and the box can handle 7.1-surround sound, so it should be a fairly capable media streamer. The remote is powered by a pair of AAA batteries and includes a microphone for voice searches.
The Mi Box, which will pack with Android Marshmallow, has more in common with the Nexus Player than any other implementation of Android TV. It features picture-in-picture support, APIs for live video recording, and playback of High Dynamic Range content.