- The 3rd Gen Xiaomi TV Box S is just quietly landed
- There are more upgrades under the hood to the Google TV streamer rival
- These include a stock increase to 32 GB but RAM remains the same on 2 GB
Google has its own Google TV streamer to show the capacities in Google TV, but there are now several alternative boxes available that use Google’s large screen software – and Xiaomi’s deals have just received a few welcome upgrades.
The 3rd Gen Xiaomi TV Box S is now official (via Flatpanelshd) and there are some noticeable upgrades to talk about. First, there is a new chipset on board: Xiaomi has not said what it is, but it apparently offers a 25% CPU/130% GPU boost over the previous generation (it’s probably the amlogic S905x5m).
While RAM remains the same on 2 GB, there is also a very welcome storage boost from 8 GB to 32 GB with the triple climb, which means more space for your apps and games (new Google TV devices must have at least 16 GB of storage in accordance with Google’s guidelines).
There is also Wi-Fi 6 for the first time, while 3.5mm audio port has been removed. The box again supports Dolby Audio, Dolby Vision and HDR10+ as before, while video over HDMI can come up to 4K at 60 frames per second. We are still waiting for accessibility and price information from Xiaomi.
Can we have something more please?
Xiaomis streaming box is now more on par with Google TV streamer, although the latter 4 GB RAM rather than 2 GB is likely to mean a smoother and snapper experience in general – even with the processor increase at Xiaomi.
And regardless of the relative specifications, it’s good to watch more Google TV devices on the market. Walmart has its own 4K streaming box running Google TV, and it also comes as standard on several TVs, including Sony Models.
More choices are always good, giving us a number of form factors to get our Google TV solution from – as opposed to offers from Amazon, Roku and Apple, where the hardware and software experience is very tied together.
We can only hope that Nvidia will take some time from pushing forward AI and GPU technology to building a new Nvidia shield driven by Google TV. We haven’t had a new nvidia shield -streamer since 2019, but it’s still a brilliant device for streaming, games and general tech tinkering.
