During Google's flurry of announcements, Xiaomi quietly unveiled their newest Mi Box S, a 4K Android TV player at an incredibly aggressive price tag. Preorders are already up for an October release, and it'll only cost you $59.99.
It's Android TV, so you pretty much know what to expect, and it ships with Android TV 8.1 Oreo so you're getting the new interface all the latest features like Google Assistant integration and that incredibly convenient Play Next feature.
It still supports casting media to your television like a superpowered Chromecast and can handle 4K HDR content at 60fps. It doesn't appear to support Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos, however, but for that price I don't know how much you can really complain.
Otherwise, you'll find a quad-core CPU with 4K video decoding, 2GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, Bluetooth 4.2, and an HDMI, audio out, and USB 2.0 port.
The remote is learning some new tricks and looks to emulate some of Roku's nifty controls, including a live TV button and a Netflix button for quickly jumping into your favorite video streaming apps. It looks like it has volume control as well, plus a dedicated Google Assistant button and all of your typical Android TV navigation keys.
Xiaomi's older Mi Box launched in 2016 for $79, so they've somehow managed to lower the price on this upgraded box and add in 4K support. All in all, looks like an impressive option, especially for anyone looking for a cheaper NVIDIA Shield alternative.
Preorder: Walmart
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