Xiaomi’s latest smartphone releases have shown us that the company is continually working on expanding its line of products to more unique and interesting designs, yet still keeping the mantra of making products affordable for the masses. Xiaomi’s first big US effort is also underway, and it launched the Mi Box, an Android TV powered 4K media streamer, back in early October on the shelves of Walmart nationwide. As usual you can also purchase this straight from Xiaomi’s website, and as a product intended for the US you can expect full Google Play Store support out of the box without any extra configuration.
Much like most Android TV boxes at this point, the Xiaomi Mi Box runs the version of Android TV based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, with an update to Android 7.0 Nougat likely in the works. Inside sits a quad-core ARM Cortex A-53 CPU, 2GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage with the ability to expand that storage via a standard USB Flash drive. This doesn’t just act as a place to dump files though, the Mi Box actually supports Android’s brilliant Adoptable Storage solution, which formats the stick in a way so that the system treats it exactly the same as the rest of the internal memory, meaning you could easily and quickly add up to 256GB of extra storage without any hassle.
In addition to that you’ll be getting true 4K resolution streaming with HDR video support, so you can take full advantage of that brand new TV you just nabbed on Black Friday. Google’s Android TV ecosystem is chock full of apps and games to play on the big screen, and the Mi Box even includes full Google Cast support, or Chromecast as Google is rebranding it back to now. This means that you can not only run apps and games straight from the Mi Box itself, but you can also cast your favorite content onto the box as if it were a regular Chromecast, including all the great social functions Chromecast offers. With all this it’s hard to believe Xiaomi is selling the Mi Box for $69 and even includes $76 of free offers, meaning this is one incredibly difficult bargain to overlook this year. Check out the review video below and our full written review as well, and grab one of these at your local Walmart or online at Xiaomi’s website!