Mi TV Stick: Xiaomi puts Android TV in an HDMI dongle

Xiaomi has just teased its upcoming Mi TV Stick during its Redmi Note 9 online event for Germany. This is an HDMI dongle that would support Android TV along with Google Assistant.

Xiaomi has not revealed its hardware specs and capabilities just yet but we can see that the remote is similar to what you get with a Xiaomi Mi Box. You get your usual D-pad in a simplified layout along with dedicated buttons for Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. There’s also a Google Assistant button at the top which means you can give voice commands via the built-in microphone.

Although the full details are not revealed yet, the Mi TV Stick is already listed on Gearbest with a price tag of USD 79.99 (about RM350). It is quite pricey for a stick but we think the price might just be a placeholder.

According to the description, it runs on Android 9.0 and has an Amlogic S905 Y2 Cortex A53 CPU with ARM Mali-G31 MP2 GPU. It is listed with 4K HDR playback up to 60fps with DTS-HD and Dolby Stereo Sound support.

The stick is equipped with 2GB of DDR4 RAM and 8GB of eMMC storage. It isn’t clear if the stick offers storage expansion but it may come with a microSD card slot or a full-size USB-port at the other end of the stick.

Google Chromecast with Android TV

Apart from Xiaomi, it appears that Google is also planning to release a newer Chromecast Ultra that will be based on Android TV. The device which has the codename “sabrina” is said to support 4K HDR content and will support both Bluetooth and WiFi. Similar to the Mi TV Stick, the device would come with a remote that has a mic and dedicated Google Assistant button. The new Chromecast device is expected to be announced during Google I/O which has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[ SOURCE 2 ]