Chinese technology major Xiaomi announced the new Android TV OS powered Mi Box set-top box at the ongoing Google I/O 2016 event in Mountain View, California.
"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," Hugo Barra, vice president, Xiaomi Global, said in a statement.
Besides the 4K video streaming capability, Xiaomi's new Mi Box supports latest HDR10 standard (to be enabled from Android N onwards), the updated HDMI 2.0a specification, high dynamic range (HDR) TV technology, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS surround sound. With these features, users will be able to experience rich media content with high picture quality from YouTube, Netflix, Vudu and FandangoNOW, the company claims.
Xiaomi's Mi Box is equipped with ARM-based Cortex-A53 quad-core System-on-Chip (SoC), Mali 450 graphics engine, 2GB RAM and 8GB eMMC flash storage. It also comes with a Bluetooth-based remote, which can take voice commands. Users can talk to the remote to change the channel or browse internet via commands. For instance, users can ask for Leonardo Di Caprio movies or find the name of the actor who played a particular character in a movie.
The company has announced that Mi Box will be initially made available in the United States, making it Xiaomi's first ever device to debut in the country.
The Mi Box's actual availability and price details are expected to be announced soon.
Watch this space for updates.
