Xiaomi based in China has announced that it is working closely with Google to soon launch Mi Box in the US — its new 4K set-top box powered by Android TV. Mi Box will launch first in the US, with other global markets to follow. Details about its availability and pricing will be announced soon. Xiaomi alims that it has sold over 10 million smart TVs and set-top boxes in China since 2013.
Hugo Barra, Vice President, Xiaomi Global said: “This is a significant milestone for Xiaomi and I am really excited to be working closely with Google to bring such a great product to our fans in the US. I believe US consumers will truly enjoy the Android TV experience on Mi Box, which brings stunning 4K HDR video and a wide variety of content to your living room.”
Mi Box is a sleek device and comes with a rich library of content with thousands of movies, shows and games from Google Play, YouTube and other apps.
Mi Box supports 4K UHD video content playback at 60 frames per second, for the sharpest image quality and smoothest video playback. In addition, Mi Box supports the latest HDR10 standard (to be enabled from Android N onwards) and the updated HDMI 2.0a specification. With supported content being made available by leading content providers such as YouTube, Netflix, Vudu and FandangoNOW, high dynamic range (HDR) TV technology promises improvements in color and contrast, delivering a significant leap in picture quality, as stated by Xiaomi.
Mi Box is packed with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU and Mali 450 GPU, 2GB DDR3 RAM and 8GB eMMC flash. The additional storage an be added in this device via USB. Mi Box also delivers rich and vibrant audio with Dolby Digital Plus and DTS Surround Sound, creating a cinema-like experience.
Mi Box ships with the official YouTube app, which offers a wide range of support for 4K and HDR content for a great viewing experience. Mi Box will also come with video and music streaming apps that offer special perks, including Sling TV, Pandora, Vudu, and more to be announced.
Mi Box comes with a Bluetooth remote control that supports voice search and commands. Users can simply speak into the remote to search for content by description. Users can also change channels, go directly to a TV show or movie, do Web searches, and launch apps by just speaking into the remote. The Bluetooth remote can also be used as a controller for the huge catalog of games that work on Android TV. For those who want a console-style gaming experience, Mi Game Controller, which supports Mi Box and any Android device, will also be available separately.
The Bluetooth remote can also be used as a controller for the huge catalog of games that work on Android TV. For those who want a console-style gaming experience, Mi Game Controller, which supports Mi Box and any Android device, will also be available separately.
At the annual Google I/O 2016 conference keynote, Google VP Clay Bavor also announced that Xiaomi will be one of Google’s first Android partners to commit to making Daydream-ready devices in collaboration with Google. Daydream is Google’s platform for high performance mobile VR, built on top of Android N.
