Mi Box S and Mi TV stick – make your TV smart
The two Xiaomi devices have Android TV 8 (upgradable to 9) and they work perfectly. Mi TV Box S is the first device launched and it works very good. The second one (Mi TV stick) is launched recently and it’s a bit weaker from performance point of view (it has only 1GB RAM compared with Mi Box S which has 2GB RAM).
We tested both devices and you can tell the difference between them.
A pro for the second TV box (Mi TV stick) is that you can power it from the TV’s USB port and you can plug it in directly the HDMI, so we get rid of one extra cable. A con is that it works slower than Mi Box S (which requires to use a power outlet).
Testing both devices, I decided to keep Mi Box S as I chose a faster OS and a 4k resolution.
The price difference between the 2 devices is around 20$. Mi Box S 4k costs around 65$ and Mi TV stick costs around 45$.
Mi Box S and Mi TV stick comparison
Xiaomi Mi TV Stick – This TV box is shipped with a charger, voice assistant remote control and user guide manual. The price of this device is pretty cheap for what it has to offer. It’s main pros are the voice assistant remote control and in-built Chromecast.
The design of this media player allows us to install it on the back of the TV set, without needing to connect it to a separate power source (it’s powered from the USB port) so it’s completely invisible to the user.
Here are some specifications of this device:
| Resolution | Full HD |
| Internal memory | 8 GB |
| Chipset | ARM |
| CPU | CPU: Quad-Core Cortex-A53 GPU: ARM Mali-450 |
| RAM | 1 GB |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth Wi-Fi |
| OS | Android |
| Connectors | Micro USB HDMI |
| Apps | Netflix, Youtube, HBO GO, Google Play, Spotify, Twitch, Amazon Prime etc |
| Audio formats | MP3 AAC FLAC OGG |
| Video formats | RM MOV VOB AVI MKV TS MP4 |
| Wireless | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac |
| Package content | 1 x remote control, media player, charger |
| Colour | Black |
Xiaomi Mi Box S 4k
Xiaomi Mi Box S 4k is better from specifications point of view but it’s more difficult to carry and it’s dependable to an external power source. The installation is also not the best (contraire to the previously described device) and it needs to be installed next to the TV set (it can be installed on the back of the TV but it needs some adjustments).
The main pros for this device are the voice commands via the remote control, integrated Chromecast and, most of all, 4k resolution. Besides the device, we also receive a remote control, charger, HDMI cable and user guide.
Mi Box S and Mi TV stick – make your TV smart
It has a nice design and it’s much smaller than other TV boxes.
This model can also be used for voice commands (Google Assistant).
Here are a few specifications:
| Resolution | 4K |
| Internal memory | 8 GB |
| Chipset | ARM |
| Core number | 4 |
| CPU | Cortex A53 |
| RAM | 2 GB |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, usb |
| OS | Android |
| Connectors | USB 2.0 HDMI |
| Image format | BMP GIF JPEG TIFF |
| Audio format | WMA AAC FLAC WAV OGG APE AMR |
| Video format | 3GP DivX H.264 H.265 M4V MKV MP4 MPEG2 MPEG4 RM RMVB VC-1 VOB WMV |
| Wireless | 802.11 b/g/n/ac |
| Package content | 1 x User guide 1 x Remote control 1 x power cable 1 x media player |
| Colour | Black |
It’s worth mentioning that both devices can be control using Google Home. For this, we need to pair it with a Google Home room so it can be controlled by Google Assistant.
Xiaomi Mi Box S and Mi TV Stick price
Here are the approximate prices of the two devices:
-Xiaomi Mi Box S – 65$
-Xiaomi Mi TV Stick – 45$
