By 
We all have been tired waiting for Xiaomi Mi TV to show up any sign of launching in India and not every Android TV comes light in your pocket but like it said the Entertainment never stop and that’s where the Mi Box come to rescue – a small, black box offering a full Android TV experience, 4K HDR video and a Voice Control Remote for just $69
India does lack of streaming device until the recent launch Amazon Fire TV showed up, the Mi Box TV is not only famous in mainland China but also in United States when it was launched in U.S previous year. Mi Box allows you to access your favorite streaming apps including Netflix, HBO, Showtime, Youtube and more directly on the big screen. You can also enjoy live TV channels such as ESPN, Disney, CBS and CNN all without a cable subscription via Sling TV. People are saving ton of money on their cable subscription, as such users say –
I felt like someone removed the weight off my shoulders when I cancelled my cable service for $250 per month. I replaced it with a high speed internet access package for $69 per month (235 mb/sec), a Sling TV subscription for $40 per month for all the channels, and a one time cost of $70 for each Mi Box. I love it! I bought three Mi Boxes for my three TVs and love the fact I can watch on my TV, my phone, and my computer so long as only three are active at any one time (Sling TV restriction not a MiBox restriction) said by Djvoice (Walmart.com)
In The Box – You’ll find the Mi Box, Remote Control, U.S based Power Plug, Warranty Cards, Manuals, and AAA battery’s
Hardware
The Mi Box is powered by a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU that’s coupled with a Mali 450 GPU and 2GB of RAM. It bears 8GB of built-in storage which can be expanded via USB. It supports the HDR10 and HDMI 2.0a specifications, as well as Dolby Digital Plus and DTS Surround Sound. It can stream 4K video at 60 frames per second and runs on Android 6.0 but it can be updated to Android Nougat.
As per the slots, there aren’t many to be found, there is an HDMI port, a headphone jack, a power adapter port and a single USB 2.0 port. A circular base keeps the light gadget from slipping around, with a barcode and regulatory labels inside. A red power indicator is given inside the 3.5mm jack which is optical audio output in real which enhanced your headphone experience
Remote
You’ll hardly find any useless button on the Mi Box remote which is a pretty good thing. Surprisingly there is a power button on it because very few or I’ll say none of the streaming devices have a power button including Amazon Fire TV which also doesn’t have it, you might want to turn it off when you are not in a mood of watching anything.
Performance
My experience with Mi Box Tv is very pleasant. The Mi Box TV is capable of streaming 4K/HDR standard at a lower price point than rivals like Roku’s 4K-ready ($80-$100) and also the high-end NVIDIA Shield ($200) in the use. I didn’t test on 4K & nor I have Ultra HD TV but it said to have some glitches in playing 4K HDR while it plays like a charm in Full HD as per 4K streaming eat up all your data but in Full HD also you need a minimum of 4MBps of speed to browse youtube without buffering.
The Voice Remote control comes very handy as it’s easy to Voice Command “Leonardo DiCaprio’s” with just a press of a button on the remote instead of writing on Google search. You can also ask “What the weather?” not only this you can also launch apps, change channels, search the web, go to some TV shows and movies directly and more.
The Mi Box won’t disappoint you in gaming it can play Games smoothly I have tested it with the Asphalt 8 and it played like a charm (check in Video) and also you can add external game controllers for fluent gaming experience and Keyboard too just like I did
Software
It looks like Mi Box is only Xiaomi device which comes with pure Android not MIUI on it and that’s the best part of it the plane Android runs very Smooth and all the apps fire up pretty quickly. Android TV still doesn’t offer a massive collection of apps, but all of the mainstays are here in Mi Box recommends column — Netflix, Hulu, Fox Sports, ESPN, Sling TV, Vudu, Pandora, CBS, Showtime, HBO Go, Plex, VLC…… to be honest I didn’t find some of the apps pre-installed on it but that’s not the issue you can install it from Google Play anytime, with Google Android you’ll find Google’s own media services, including YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV and Google Play Music.
Well, I recommend you some of the apps to download with it like KODI is a must app for Video Streaming, EZ File Explorer and Sideload Launcher that will help to reload the Apk files app. Well, you can play video on the Home screen at the background too while you search or browse for App or any Information. The Mi Box also helps you cast the photo album, music playlist and videos from your phone, laptop or tablet with Google Cast on the big TV.
Final Verdict
The only downside of Mi Box is its limited 8GB Storage and with the ton of apps on Google Play store, you need at least 16GB of Minimum storage Duh! And instead of the power cord, there should be Mini-USB cord. The good thing about its design which is very sleek and handy you can travel anywhere with it and never miss out any shows. If you don’t want to shed hefty money on Android Smart TV you can buy your favorite budget TV and add up Xiaomi Mi Box to make it expensive Android Smart TV and experience all the Video Streaming Apps & shows without any interruption that too for just $69 (Rs 4,500)
As per the competitors, Apple TV doesn’t yet support 4K, and Roku’s options are more expensive, Nexus Player has been discontinued While NVIDIA Shield Android TV are bit on expensive side as per Google Chromecast Ultra is a close competition but then it doesn’t have Remote control and the Amazon Fire TV is pretty good but then it doesn’t give you plane Android Experience like Mi Box.
Xiaomi is sweetening the deal with free kinds of stuff like – free access to three months of Pandora premium music, a $5 VUDU movies credit, one month free of CBS All Access, and most impressively, $50 of credit for Sling TV – all total $76. Xiaomi Mi Box here is a win-win deal for you without paying much you get so much.
