Xiaomi announced earlier this year a version of the Mi Box running Android TV OS 6.0 at Google I/O. This version already from them was announced that came out probable for “invading” the US Market! Well, Mi Box seems to be ready for its US launch as the device has just recently cleared FCC certifications.
Xiaomi’s Mi Boxes are very appealing and popular thanks to their affordable price tags and of course the very good specs. This seems to be happening only in China, as internationally the Chinese-oriented software mainly in the Mi Boxes has made them less desirable.
Xiaomi plans fix this problem by replacing Chinese MIUI with Android TV OS 6.0, Google’s very own solution for Android powered set-top boxes. This move give the ability to Mi Box’s to be used easily outside of China and allows English speaking users to use it with little to no difficulty. This was shown off by Sundar Pichai earlier this year, and will definitely be useful in helping Xiaomi pierce the US market.
From what we know, Xiaomi Mi Box is powered by a quad core Cortex-A53 CPU with a Mali 450 GPU and 2GB RAM. The device has 8GB of internal storage, which can be expanded with external hard drives and flash drives of course. It supports 4K video playback, HDR video and voice commands through a bluetooth remote. It comes with Google Cast support, for users to cast photos, videos and screenshots from your smartphone, laptop and computer to the TV.
Mi Box has already received plenty of good words for it’s US upcoming release. This shows that the device is a recipient of the Reddot and Good Design Award. As far we know, is expected to launch propably next month, and will go on sale shortly after. The price will be about $99, since the Chinese original goes for 75$ from third party retailers.