Android TV fans who are looking for a solution in the aftermath of the removal of the Nexus Player are going to love the new Xiaomi Mi Box which was announced last month at Google I/O. The player which hasn’t had an official release date announced, has just popped up on Chinese market place AliExpress, shipping to Australia for just over $120.
The box is capable of 4K media playback and comes with impressive specs (although no hardwired ethernet), that should allow some quite high end media playback as well as gaming. The box is shipping with a remote control only from AliExpress, with no option for a gaming pad which would be required to play some of the Android TV games on the market.
The specs on the box on AliExpress seem to match up with those on the official Xiaomi site, so this is looking pretty legit.
Xiaomi Mi Box official specs, as per their site:
- Quad-core Cortex-A53 2.0GHz
- Mali 450 750MHz GPU – supports 60fps 4K video decoding
- 2GB DDR3 RAM
- 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Dual-band Wi-Fi 2.4GHz/5GHz
- Bluetooth 4.0/3.0
- DTS 2.0+ Digital Out, Dolby Digital Plus – Up to 7.1 pass through (DTS surround sound)
- Ports:
- HDMI: HDMI 2.0a x 1 port (HDCP 2.2) (HDR10)
- USB: USB 2.0 x 1 port – for additional storage
- AV: SPDIF Out / 3.5mm audio output x 1 port
- Power: 1 port
- Bluetooth voice remote
- Optional Mi Game Controller for a console-grade gaming experience.
Shipping from AliExpress is only with a choice of EU or US plug, so you will need an adapter to run it here in Australia – but that’s a pretty easy thing to come by.
Other issues from AliExpress include a fairly extensive shipping turnaround with the AliExpress vendor advising the device will ship from them in 7 business days, but could take up to 45 days to arrive here in Australia using their free shipping methods. A 5-10 Shipping option is available for an additional $36.29 if you absolutely must have it as soon as possible.
If the Xiaomi Mi Box is on your list as a must buy, this may actually be a good option to check out.
you can get a OTT M8S box here in oz for around $70-80 with pretty much the same specs
even cheaper if you want to get one in from China
had one for a while and its great
replaced android with openELEC on it and couldn’t be happier
also have a Nvidia Shield comming in the post 🙂
There’s been rumblings of a new Nexus player, you may want to hold out for that if you are considering this