Google’s I/O 2016 revealed plenty of interesting stuff from an improved assistant, Google Home, new Android Wear and much greater VR support for Android N. But that’s not all.
Chinese mobile internet company Xiaomi also had something to show off at the annual conference.
Meet the Xiaomi Mi Box, a sleek and elegant set-top-box that is powered by Android TV 6.0. While Xiaomi isn’t a stranger to set-top-boxes, this marks the company’s first Android TV-powered device and will be available to consumers in the US and other global markets.
The Mi Box is capable of streaming 4K UHD video at 60 frames per second with support for the latest HDR10 standard (to be enabled from Android N onwards) and an updated HDMI 2.0a specification. In terms of hardware, the Mi Box is packing a quad-core ARM Cortex A53 CPU, 2GB of GDDR3 RAM and 8GB of eMMC flash.
You will also be able to speak to the Mi Box via a Bluetooth remote control that supports voice search and commands much like you would be able to with Apple TV. With this voice command feature, you can directly access any and all content that is readily available in Android TV’s extensive libraries including Google Play for Android.
What’s more, the Mi Box will have support for Google Cast so that you can easily cast content from your mobile device to your TV. With this support, it’s likely that the Mi Box will also be able to integrate with Google Home.
For those who want a proper gaming experience, there is the Mi Game Controller that has the looks of a PlayStation 4 controller but has a button layout that is similar to an Xbox controller. It will not only work with the Mi Box but also any Android device.
For now, there is no word on pricing and availability, but Xiaomi says that those details will be revealed soon.
