Xiaomi Mi Box (International) is one of the recommended TV boxes as it runs the official Android TV OS with support for Netflix and Amazon Prime HD/4K, and normally sells around $60. But Banggood currently has a promotion until July 24, 2018, where it offers the TV box for just $49.99 shipped. Stocks are limited to around 100 units for this promotion however. The device was released in 2016, so a little reminder of the specifications is in order: SoC – Amlogic S905X-H quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDCP 2.2 and CEC support Audio Output – HDMI, optical S/PDIF and 3.5mm audio jack Video Codecs – VP9 Profile-2 & H.265 MP-10 up to 4K @ 60 fps, […]
Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 8″ Tablet Comes with Snapdragon 660 Processor, 4G LTE Connectivity
Android tablets are not as popular as they used to be, and the choice of tablets has come down as a results. However, Xiaomi still keeps on updating their Mi Pad family every year or two years. After NVIDIA based Mi Pad in 2014, Intel based Mi Pad 2 in 2015, and Mediatek powered Mi Pad 3 last year, the Chinese company has now launched Mi Pad 4 with a Qualcomm 660 octa-core processor and an 8″ Full HD display. Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 octa-core Kryo 260 processor @ up to 2.2 GHz (1.8 GHz for the low power cluster), Adreno 512 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 full,Vulkan, DX12, and Hexagon 680 DSP with Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX) System Memory – 3 or 4GB LPDDR4x Storage – 32 or 64 GB eMMC 5.1 flash, micro SD card slot up to […]
Top 10 Best Selling TV Boxes (on GearBest)
I’ve already written articles such as the “Best Android TV boxes in 2018” to help people select a TV box that matches their requirements, but today it will be a little different. GearBest provides a speadsheet with discount and coupons to bloggers and YouTube reviewers (sadly not shareable link here), and this time I noticed they also list the top 10 best sellers in the TV box category. Those may not necessarily the best TV boxes, but at least many other people bought them, and you may get unofficial support via communities such as Freaktab or LibreELEC. Withoutany further delay, here’s the list in no particular order and with prices for reference only as listed in the spreadsheet: Mecool M8S PRO L 4K TV Box (Buy Link) – Amlogic S912, 3GB RAM, 32GB flash, Android 7.1 – $75.99 W95 TV Box (2GB) (Buy Link) – Amlogic S905W, 2GB RAM, 16GB flash, […]
Xiaomi Mi Box Gets Android 8 Oreo Firmware Update
Xiaomi Mi Box US is one of the recommended TV boxes if you want a pure – and official – Android TV experience at an affordable price. However, updates to the latest version of Android has been slow, and until recently the device was running Android TV 6.x (Marshmallow) only, despite Android 8 being released in August 2017, and Nougat a year ealier. But according to reports from reddit users, Xiaomi Mi Box has finally gotten an OTA upgrade to Android 8.x Oreo. Some of the changes include support for Google Assistant, the new Android Oreo launcher for Android TV, and other new features introduce in Marshmallow and Oreo. More geeky users reported Linux has also been updated to version 4.9.54, and Project Treble is installed with should allow for more timely firmware updates in the future, although without seamless upgrade support. The Android Oreo upgrade has been reported in […]
Xiaomi Mi Router 4 is a $60 AC1200 Router with Three Gigabit Ethernet Ports
Xiaomi Mi Router 3 AC1200 router based on Mediatek MT7620A processor was launched in 2016 for just under $40 on online retailers. It had at least one caveat however, since it only supported Fast Ethernet. The company has now launched an upgraded version – Xiaomi Mi Router 4 -, still an AC1200 router, but equipped with a faster Mediatek MT7621A processor, and three Gigabit Ethernet ports. The new router sells for 199 RMB ($31 US) in China, but it’s also found for under $60 including international shipping on sites like Banggood or GearBest. Mi Router 4 (Miwifi 4) specifications: WiSoC – Mediatek MT7621A dual core MIPS processor @ 880MHz System Memory – 128 MB DDR3-1200 Storage – 128 MB SLC NAND Flash Wi-Fi 2.4GHz – 2X2 MIMO up to 300Mbps 5GHz – 2X2 MIMO up to 867 Mbps Wireless Security – WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK encryption, wireless access control (black and white list), […]
Android P Beta Released. What’s New?
Last March, Google released Android P developer preview with new features such as indoor positioning with WiFi RTT, support for display notch, HDR VP9, HEIF image compression, a new API to access two or more camera simultaneously and so on. Google I/O 2018 has just gotten started, and the company announced the release of Android P beta with yet more features, and support for phones from more manufacturers. Some of the most notable features include: Adaptive Battery uses machine learning to prioritize access to system resources for a user’s most commonly run apps, and places each app in four “buckets” ranked from “active” to “rare”. Apps will change buckets over time, and apps not in the “active” bucket will have restrictions for jobs, alarms, network and high-priority Firebase Cloud Messages. App Actions will also use machine learning to show actions for specific apps depending on context. For example highlighting “Taylor Swift” […]
Xiaomi Mi AI Speaker Mini Smart Speaker is Selling for $27 (in China)
Smart speakers are becoming cheaper and cheaper, and in the US and some other countries, Amazon Echo Dot can be purchased for under $50. But Xiaomi has come up with an even cheaper model – for the Chinese market – with their Allwinner R16 based AI Speaker Mini that has just launched for 169 RMB, or about $27, in China. XIaomi Mi AI Speaker Mini specifications: SoC- Allwinner R16 quad core Cortex A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz System Memory / Storage – TBD Speaker 1.5″ 4Ω speaker Frequency Range – 140Hz – 20000Hz Speaker sensitivity – 78dB/m/W Maximum output power – 2W 4x Microphones Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1 with A2DP support Misc – Microphone on/off button, volume buttons, and play/pause button Power Supply – 5V/2A via micro USB port Dimensions – 90 x 90 x 50 mm Weight – ~210 grams The speaker ships with a power […]
Mi MIX 2S Smartphone Launched with Snapdragon 845 SoC, Up to 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage, A.I. Dual Camera
Xiaomi has just unveiled their latest premium with Mi MIX 2S Android smartphone powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor with up to 8GB RAM, up to 256GB storage, a dual camera with artificial intelligence, ARCore technology, wireless charging, and more. Mi MIX 2S specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor with four Kryo 385 performance cores @ 2.8 GHz, four Kryo 385 efficiency cores @ 1.8 GHz, Adreno 630 GPU, Hexagon 685 DSP System Memory + Storage options: 6GB LPDDR4x, 64GB UFS flash 6GB LPDDR4x, 128GB UFS flash 8GB LPDDR4x, 256GB UFS storage Display – 5 .99″ Full HD+ (2160 x 1080 pixels) 18:9 AMOLED display Camera Rear Camera – AI dual camera with 12 MP wide-angle + 12 MP telephoto; DxO score: 101 Front-facing camera – 5MP camera AI features enable Face unlock, ARCore technology Wireless Connectivity Cellular 2x Nano SIM slots 43 global bands: GSM: 2/3/5/8 CDMA 1X/EVDO: […]