This is the new Xiaomi TV Box 3. 小米盒子3增强版. I bought it from Shenzhen 华强北.
Now, at my home, I spent a lot of time on my Apple TV 4. When I travel I will bring along my Xiaomi TV Box Mini and plug it into the HDMI of the hotel TV. It’s been quite a long time I have not use Xiaomi TV Box at my home. Since this is a new product, let’s try it out and see what so special about it. It has 6 cores of CPU. And everything is enhanced. I can’t wait to see the 4K performance.
Simple packaging. Just like Apple.
It looks like a Apple TV box. Very square.
The interface is also very simple. One power, one HDMI and two USB. I wonder why they need so many USB. Interesting. Remember, you can install your APK from USB thumb drive.
They gave you 2 batteries for the remote control. A power charger, one remote, one high-transfer rated USB cable and one piece of paper instructions. That’s it. Very simple packaging.
Hold on… What battery is this?
The brand is No. 7 battery. It’s a no name China brand battery.
Wait now, what happens to the 2032 battery? Why they change it to this kind of battery? Won’t it make it big? And I like the Orange Bluetooth logo. On the new remote control, it is a transparent engrave.
Intuitively, I tie the stripe this way.
But that was the wrong way. The stripe should be click securely here.
Since this box support TRUE 4K streaming, so, I am guessing this is the 4K HDMI cable.
Let’s power up. A small light at the front.
The TV Box MIBox feels exactly the same as the Mi Box Mini. All the contents get from GITV source.
You can run the 高清播放器 (HD Media Player, Xiaomi MiBox stock app), browse and connect to your home NAS. Or you can just stick a USB thuimbdrive with the Shafa Market APK on it. And you can install the Shafa Market APK and other APKs.
Remember to allow the box to install third party APKs from external non-Xiaomi source.
After you install the Shafa Market APK, then, you go upgrade the MiBox OS.
OK. Something is not right. You can only reduce the TV display until like this. You can change the vertical length to stretch out to the top and bottom of the TV. Previously, you can change both vertical and horizontal. This new OS don’t allow you to do it. Strange.
I am guessing this is the Auto detecting my TV can do 4K video at this rate. 4096×2160.
And when you run the 4K test APK. I finally can see the 4K wordings without any problem. Last time when I run it on my MiBox Mini and Amazon FireTV as well as other box who claims can do 4K, all I can see was highly pixelated wordings. But this Xiaomi TV Mi box 3 finally give me a clear wordings and pass the 4K test. That is very good news. It means if I got 4K streaming show, I can watch it on my TV. And that also prove that the HD HDMI cable they gave is truly correct cable for 4K TV.
Unfortunately, after I played with most off the common streaming sites that claims can do 4K streaming, it does not work. These so called 4K streaming is 1080p streaming of HD movies. It is not 4K. Even when it is 4K, it is a conversion from a non-4K source to a 4K source. I also tried the YouTube 4K video, but 95% of these videos are made almost 1 years ago. Strange. No on make 4K video after that? Hahaha
OK, here is the verdict.
1. The new MiBox 3 claimed to have 6 core CPU. But seriously, I cannot see the huge difference against the previous version such as MiBox Mini.
2. I don’t like the new remote control that put bigger battery. It is not more heavier, but I don’t like because I felt a bit lag when use it. Yeap, there is a lagging when you press the button and see the action on the TV been executed. Not much difference, but good enough for you to notice it. The old remote has a solid feeling when you press down, but the new one feels light.
3. It is just another Android box. So, you can install all sort of APK on it. So, it is no difference then Amazon FireTV, or UBTV or any others.
4. But one of the outstanding thing is this box passed the 4K Video Test app. I can clearly see the 4K text and I was unable to see it on my Amazon FireTV who claims to be 4K ready and the older MiBox. So, I cannot wait to see the arrival of the true 4K streaming content which currently unfortunately not available yet.
5. Overall, I did not feel any different then the older version. I really cannot feel it is faster. I played a game on it, but I don’t see the speed increment at all.
The End