Xiaomi unveils affordable Android TV streaming box

The Xiaomi Mi Box is a relatively affordable Android TV box that could find its way into more homes that previous devices because of its price point. Image Xiaomi

Xiaomi is looking to make waves in the Android TV streaming market with the unveiling of their long-awaited and delightfully affordable Xiaomi Mi Box for the U.S. market.

The Mi Box is loaded with Android TV 6.0 and is equipped to handle 4K streaming at 60fps. HDR fans will also be happy to hear that the Mi Box will support HDR10 standard when Android 7.0 Nougat is installed on the streaming player. It will also be priced at $70, reports PCWorld.

Apart from the Android TV box itself, it also comes with a remote that doubles as a mic for voice search. A Mi Game controller could also be added however the said product is not yet available in Xiaomi’s store.

Specifications-wise, the Mi Box is a little underwhelming which would account for its rather low price. It runs on a 2GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and a 750MHz Mail 450 GPU. It also has 2GB of ram and 8GB of eMMC onboard flash storage. Storage is expandable however through a single USB 2.0 port. Wireless connectivity includes 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with dual-band support for 2.4 and 5GHz frequencies. It also has Bluetooth 4.0. A single HDMI 2.0a with HDCP 2.2 support links the box to the TV.

Android TV boxes haven’t exactly been selling like hotcakes but the Mi Box’s price point could get people interested enough to help pick up this ailing market. Otherwise the next best thing is an Apple TV or NVIDIA’s gaming-centric Shield console. Alfred Bayle