The Mi Pad wasn't Xiaomi's only announcement today. Following the Chinese company's first smart TV from last September, today it has unveiled a slightly larger model with a nice surprise: 4K for just CN¥3,999 or about $640! Like its affordable predecessor, this 49-inch TV comes with built-in Android (with MIUI TV skin), though you can easily side-load other TV apps. On the hardware side, you'll find a 4K 3D panel made by either LG or CSOT within a 6.2mm aluminum bezel, and underneath that lies a MediaTek MStar 6A918 chip (1.45GHz quad-core CPU, Mali-450 MP4 GPU) plus 2GB of RAM to drive all those pixels. On top of the built-in 8GB space, you also get to add up to 64GB of storage via microSD.
The MI TV 2 comes with a few nice goodies. Most notably, it has a Bluetooth LE remote instead of the old infrared version, and should you lose it in your room, you can even tap the bottom of the TV to make the remote beep. Alternatively, you can also install the remote app on your phone, with which you can use gestures and voice to control the TV, as well as read up related info -- some of which comes from IMDB -- about the show you're watching.
Another nice feature here is the audio feature. CEO Lei Jun said that in order to keep the TV's thickness at 15.5mm, his team decided to store the speakers in separate parts: a wired audio bar with the mid-range and treble drivers, and a Bluetooth subwoofer with the 8-inch driver. Better yet, you can also use this kit with your mobile devices via Bluetooth.
As for availability, Lei admitted that his company didn't do so well with the production rate of the original MI TV, but this time he said this should no longer be a problem, partly because he's teamed up with Wistron and Pegatron. Folks in China will be able to order one on May 27th, but for the rest of us, chances are we'll never see one outside China any time soon.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
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