If you’re not familiar with the XiaoMi brand, it’s a relatively young company that has been making a name for itself by churning out quality phones with its own Android-based OS at affordable prices. They’re most notable phone right now is the 4.3″ quad core XiaoMi Phone 2 that sells for just $310. In an intriguing move that will allow them to expand beyond just cellphones, XiaoMi has announced the $64 XiaoMi MiBox, an Android internet TV box with remote that will allow you to turn even your fat and outdated CRT TV set at home into a Smart TV that can play Android apps and games, as well as let you access the internet.
The XiaoMi MiBox Android set top box will only be available for the Chinese market for now, and at the moment the company will only be offering it on a limited release. Of course, there’s no stopping XiaoMi from eventually reaching out to other territories, which they already do with their phones. The XiaoMi MiBox is exciting because LCD and LED TVs have become quite affordable over the past few years, with 32″ LCD models from reliable brands like Toshiba and Smart hitting the Php13k mark and LED models hitting about Php18k. However, internet and app-enabled Smart TVs are much more prohibitive, with the cheapest 32″ models being in the Php20k+ range. Android TV boxes like the MiBox make a lot of sense for people who simply want to add Smart TV capabilities to their existing TVs or simply just want to save on costs by getting a cheap LCD or LED TV and just hook it up to an inexpensive Android Internet TV box.
Source: TheNextWeb
